On Sat, 3 May 2014 00:16:33 +0000 (UTC), the renowned Calia
wrote:

On Fri, 02 May 2014 18:31:41 +0000, Cydrome Leader wrote:

that rules out ebay and amazon.

Understood.
So, doesn't *anyone* in this newsgroup who uses Windows own a bimmer?

Yeah, but mine bracket your age range. I think the BMW forums (eg
MyE28.com for my ancient one) would be the best place to get a
recommendation. Yours is an E39, so try:
http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=103

The Unix-based dealer software is a major PITA, IMHO if your
charge-out rate is more than 10-20% of mine, you might be better off
just paying a third-party dude to do it for you. There's always a risk
of bricking the car too. All I needed to do was to reset the stupid
transport mode it fell into when the battery died (due to my lack of
using a battery preserver over the winter), and it took *hours* to get
everything going. I just bought a recommended cable from an eBay
seller- it was dirt cheap, came with a couple of CDs (BMW-specific),
and works perfectly.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com