Connection Tips for Attorneys
Frustrated that your court reporter can’t connect your laptop to LiveNote?
Here are some tips for you:
Tip # 1 – Check to make sure the laptop to be used in the realtime session has a serial port which looks like this.
Many of the new lightweight laptops do not have serial ports. If your laptop does NOT have a serial port, you will need to have a USB-to-serial converter (see below) and also be sure to have the software driver loaded which allows this piece of hardware to work.
Our realtime reporters typically will have these converters with them. HOWEVER, in order to install these on your laptop, they need to be able to install the driver, so be sure to check BEFORE you get to the deposition that there are no restrictions on installing software set forth by your Network Administrator (NA). If so, be sure to have the admin password with you so the reporter can install the necessary drivers which allow the USB- to-serial converter to work.
UPDATE for Windows 7 – if you are using a Windows 7 laptop, be warned that most USB-to-serial converters are not yet compatible with Windows 7.
Tip # 2 – Check the Windows device manager to confirm which COM port the USB-to-serial adapter is connected on and make sure that matches the COM port selected in the connection screen of LiveNote.
Tip # 3 – While this may seem obvious, be sure to check the laptop to be sure a working copy of LiveNote or another realtime application is installed on the laptop. We have seen many attorneys show up to realtime depositions with laptops that did not have any realtime software installed.
Tip # 4 – Make sure that there is no PDA synch software such as Blackberry synch manager running in the background on your laptop, this needs to be disabled to receive realtime.
Tip # 5 – Don’t bring a MAC, it won’t work with LiveNote!
