Need Help connecting Toyota 830/820 to PC, What software Do I need?

I am having a heck of a time finding ways to connect these to my computer.

I need to know what software I need. I have Talked to a few people, about it.

One fella has a pre-loaded computer with and older version of Pulse, but when I asked him if it came with software disks, he said it doesn't.
So when I buy a faster computer, or need to reboot I'm screwed there. No disks, mean no long term ownership of the software. Also he said there is no "Dongle" and that pulse doest need one. I was sure most embroidery programs used security devices.

Another fellow at the Toyota distributors said he would sell me a program for 500$ that simply connected the machines to my computer. That doesn't seem like a very good deal since I can buy a brand new version of the viking/pfaff 3d for 700$.
The question is this, will a digitizing program {Pfaff 3d/4d, Pulse, etc} be able to send to my machines? How do I connect them and get them talking?

I also downloaded Embird, and it seems to only output to bardun machines.

Please, any input would be greatly appreciated! I also read my manuals, and they use a program referred to as AMC 382, and AMC 388 to connect. I couldn't find anything on this, so again, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Location: 
United States

Quote:
The question is this, will a digitizing program {Pfaff 3d/4d, Pulse, etc} be able to send to my machines? How do I connect them and get them talking?

That is a good question... When I hook my little home machine to my computer, it registers as a "removable disk". I copy and paste the files to that directory and I'm off. I connect directly through USB.

Does your machine have any USB or serial ports? If not, I have no clue how you can connect them unless its wireless or takes a card.

There you go... You need a serial cable. I've used a usb to serial cable for programming microcontrollers and they are really easy to get. I would imagine that any program that will save the Toyota file type will work so long as you can communicate to machine itself. And it looks like we've solved the comm. problem anyway.

Ok, well I have serial cables, 7 pin that came with the machine. {Its actually the 25 pin, but there is only 7 left in it...}

And I found a cable that is 9 pin {From my COMM 1 port on the back of my PC} to the 25 pin serial for the back of the machine.

I am having issues getting my free Embird program to talk to my machine. {I know that the comm used for that program says Baradun, I was hoping it would work anyways haha}

My issue is buying a program for a few thousand, and finding out it doesn't send to my machine.

I see that lots of programs {Mostly all of them} SAVE to all file types, like .dst, .10o, etc. The question is sending to my machine.

I think that in theory, they should be able to communicate, and hooking it up through a serial cable would be easy as that.

I am looking for more knowledgeable opinions, however.

If you run an old 830, how are you connecting? With a specific Toyota Program? Or simply a digitizing program like Viking 3d, Pulse, Wilcom, or even Embird?

Thanks!

Oh and thanks for the help Caffeine, You help me every day! , Oh wait thats my coffee!