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I need to keep an old IBM Thinkpad alive with WinXP for its internal modem for the express purpose of... maintaining the DoorKing entry gate in our neighborhood

I need to keep an old IBM Thinkpad alive with WinXP for its internal modem for the express purpose of... maintaining the DoorKing entry gate in our neighborhood. The gate installer charges $350 to make remote changes to the gate programming otherwise. It has to be updated at least twice a year because daylight savings (which the 'dorking' as I like to call it don't do). It still manages to connect at 28.8 over my voip line at home, but just barely. edit: turns out to be xp not win7!!

fencepost 8y ago
Quick suggestion: image that drive and save the image, and if it's old enough to be PATA/IDE instead of SATA then hang on to a few drives from old laptops if you still have any.
- ahje 8y ago
  There are IDE-to-CF adapters so one of those and a CF card should work as a drive if no spare IDE HDD's are available.
toast0 8y ago
I'm not sure if it's worthwhile to pursue, but the doorking model I have at home has an ethernet port, if your facilities permit, you could connect over that instead of over the modem. (I don't know how terrible their IP stack is though; I don't have enough pairs going to the device) Also: they're kind of overpriced in my opinion, but you can still buy USB based hardware modems, which would allow you to move this to a newer computer if needed, without having to worry about modem drivers.
reaperducer 8y ago
My IT department maintains an old WinXP box and a single POTS line so that I can dial in to a very large machine (about 30 feet tall, ten feet wide) once a month. The company that makes the machine is willing to upgrade to a fully wireless solution, but it would require a dedicated microwave link. That's actually cheaper than paying for the phone line, but "microwave link" is scary, and management won't approve it.
- krallja 8y ago
  Call it a “wireless modem” and see if that helps

fencepost 8y ago

Quick suggestion: image that drive and save the image, and if it's old enough to be PATA/IDE instead of SATA then hang on to a few drives from old laptops if you still have any.

ahje 8y ago
There are IDE-to-CF adapters so one of those and a CF card should work as a drive if no spare IDE HDD's are available.

toast0 8y ago

I'm not sure if it's worthwhile to pursue, but the doorking model I have at home has an ethernet port, if your facilities permit, you could connect over that instead of over the modem. (I don't know how terrible their IP stack is though; I don't have enough pairs going to the device) Also: they're kind of overpriced in my opinion, but you can still buy USB based hardware modems, which would allow you to move this to a newer computer if needed, without having to worry about modem drivers.

reaperducer 8y ago

My IT department maintains an old WinXP box and a single POTS line so that I can dial in to a very large machine (about 30 feet tall, ten feet wide) once a month. The company that makes the machine is willing to upgrade to a fully wireless solution, but it would require a dedicated microwave link. That's actually cheaper than paying for the phone line, but "microwave link" is scary, and management won't approve it.

krallja 8y ago
Call it a “wireless modem” and see if that helps