Laptop or Desktop PC? Does it have a serial port? If there is one, it'll probably be a DB-9M with (possibly) a "IOIOI" label. If there's a DB25 connector on your PC it's probably a Parallel Printer port, so whatever you do, don't use that!!!

If it's a desktop and doesn't have a serial port, I'd recommend you go to Fry's or the like and buy an aftermarket serial card as opposed to using a USB to Serial Convertor. If it's a laptop, I'd recommend a PCMCIA to serial adapter (Quatech makes a good one... not cheap, but good).


You'll need communications software. Some guys use Hyperterminal (free with Windows), but there are better ways to go, such as ProCOMM or you could even go with something like Predator CNC Editor, which is much better than Notepad, and includes backplotting and communications.

You'll need a cable. You can buy or build this, depending on your soldering or crimping skills. It will have a DB-25M on the Fanuc end, and DB-9F on the PC end.

If you're going to build your own, buy good quality 24 or 22 GA stranded/shielded cable and wire as follows:

Fanuc <------------> PC

1 <----- shield ----- (no connection)
2 <-----------------> 2
3 <-----------------> 3
4 & 5 jumpered ----- (no connection)
6, 8, 20 jumpered --- (no connection)
7 <-----------------> 5

You'll need to set your I/O device to 0 (it's probably set for 4 now to use the card), and match the Fanuc's communication parameters to match the comm software. Some comm software is easier to set than the Fanuc's parameters, so you may want to match it to the Fanuc.

Good luck, and yell if you get stuck.