I don't have any Syntors, but I too have been using FreeDOS bootable USB drives made using Rufus with a Toughbook for years. It really is one of the easiest and most reliable ways to go about programming older radios.I have not encountered one radio that can't be programmed using a modern computer when booting from DOS, although a physical RS-232 serial port is an absolute must.
I use Rufus to create a FreeDOS bootable stick, copy all DOS programs I need and boot from USB. Toughbooks and the likes have physical serial ports, my Getac B300 has 2 of them.
I do most of my modern Moto programming under a Win7/32 VM running on a Linux machine. Never have any problems with either hardware or USB serial ports. Not tried a DOS VM yet.Not to side track this too much. I wonder if some of these old programs can be ran in memory. My idea is run them like a VM but have the memory read/write at a slower pace. This would simulate a slower clock speed. I think Moslow worked on a similar principal to run programs . Its problem was the comport settings were all wrong. With USBs it shouldnt be too hard to output compatible clock speeds. The KDFtool uses a similar concept with the interface. Note this is just a general thought with little research its not going to that simple. I dont have the free time right now to take on a new project.
The HP T5530 refered to in my other post on this thread is used by a lot of retro gamers, that's where I got the idea. There is a good youtube video.G4TUZ
I cannot recommend any modern thin client computers that will run slow enough for old DOS RSS.
The Motorola RSS's are all reliant upon slow simple processors. The Syntor's were designed at a time when Motorola was not thinking too much about field programming by customers. Thus the Syntor X 9000 RSS is pretty archaic and user unfriendly. It crashes a lot.
I am still limping along with my 486SLC IBM PS/2E which is on its last power supply. The identical spare computer hard drive froze in storage so I salvaged its PS which is unobtanium. In the meantime Andy Brinkley is doing the heavy lifting making my 128 CH Syntor X9000 code plugs saving my eyesight and sanity. I dare not turn on this computer too much though I hope at least to be able to read and write from one of my Syntor X9000' s if needed. I also have several other projects relying on that computer.
I looked into retro-pc's for gaming. There is a thread here on that. You will find that Gamers are lusting after these for many of same reasons and therefore the cost of an new old stock motherboard is atrocious. But Gamers don't care about RS232 serial ports preferring USB, so some of their solutions dont solve that equation.
I will have to build something to replace the PS/2E because not only is the PS a time bomb, the actual plastic that the computer was made from is bio-degrading as planned by IBM decades ago. The past few years have been plagued with entropy for me. Everything is breaking and grinding to a halt. New stuff wears out faster. (ask my dishwasher!)
There was another thread suggesting a new modern RSS for certain old radios. The discussion got sidetracked (probably by me) into request for some sort of finely tuned DOS BOX emulator that will replicate the environment for the RSS and RIB serial port.
One thing that did save some sanity is finding an iMation USB 3.5 inch floppy drive that actually works with my WinXP computer. Don't bother with any of the ones on Amazon that come from China. They are all worthless. Buy a genuine IBM, iMation or Dell.
Maybe there is a simpler and better way to fix this problem. I am all ears.
I have not encountered one radio that can't be programmed using a modern computer when booting from DOS, although a physical RS-232 serial port is an absolute must.
I use Rufus to create a FreeDOS bootable stick, copy all DOS programs I need and boot from USB. Toughbooks and the likes have physical serial ports, my Getac B300 has 2 of them.