I picked up a used Bernina 180E sewing machine and would like to do embroidery designs from the internet. My machine came with a 9-pin cord to connect from the PC to the sewing machine. I have heard of a dongle but don't know what it is and if I must have one to embroider designs from the internet. Thanks for your input! :)

THe dongle is for the Bernina embroidery software, it won't run without it. Your machine will work just fine all on its own.

So I can't even do designs I've pulled down from Bernina's website without a dongle? How do you go about getting one?

No, that's not what I said. You need to the dongle to use the Bernina embroidery software. You do no need software to use your machine, hence you do not need a dongle. The software is for digitizing and editing. You can do some editing right in your machine, or stitch designs out just as they are when you buy them, no software is needed.

What you do need is a way to send the designs to the machine from your computer. I honestly can't remember how that works on the older machines... if the design you download is an older version of .art (2 or 3 maybe?) you might be able to simply send it over, but your machine won't read the newer versions. I don't know if one of the magic boxes is all that you need, or if you will require Bernina's free artlink software, which I believe you can download on the Bernina website.

You probably need to call a Bernina dealer and ask them what you'll need. My 170 has been gone for 6 or 7 years nows and my memory fails me, I'm sorry!

OK, great thank you. My machine came with a CD called Customized Pattern Selection Software v 3.1 and I put that on my PC. I also downloaded V6 of Artlink (free) from Bernina's site. I wanted to buy some designs from www.emblibrary.com since they have some really cute ones. OK, I will check with the LQS that sells Bernina machines.