Hi:
I'm considering to buy a Dell Precision M90 laptop to replace a regular PC on a cart that was used to wheel around and program various embedded devices.
The new laptops of course don't offer old-fashioned ports like parallel and RS-232. Well, some have serial, but the M90 doesn't.
I will be getting the docking station which *does* have a parallel and serial port though, so it should be just fine. There is also the option of USB->RS-232 converters. But the dock's parallel port will be critically important to work correctly.
I will need to connect to the following devices:
Atmel STK500 (RS-232) and JTAG-ICE (USB/RS-232)
Spectrum Digital eZdsp 'F2812 (parallel)
Xilinx Parallel Cable IV (parallel)
In the future there will likely be a USB JTAG Emulator for the 'F2812, and perhaps I'll upgrade to a better Xilinx cable. Also will probably get into some Xilinx FPGAs and 3rd party development boards, but just need to be sure I can work my present tools.
Anyone have any serious problems with Dell laptops for these or other tools?
Thanks for input.