GPS to Laptop Connections

[Salty Samtwo]

I am having trouble trying to connect an 'MLR FX412 DGPS device' to my Asus EeePC which is running Win XP and OpenCPN with 'C' charts.

The OS appears to recognize that something is trying to talk to it but refuses to accept the information i.e. NEMA0183 ver2 that the GPS is trying to download.

Is there a known problem with OpenCPN regarding the above?

In order to pass the information I have used a pair of RS232 connections in between the GPS device and the Asus PC and the lead terminates in a conventional USB plug for the PC.

Is there any software or a 'Driver' that is needed to get windows or OpenCPN to actually accept the information?

Any help or light you can shed would be very helpful, many thanks in anticipation of your reply. Salty Samtwo

[rebel heart]

Make sure it's on the right com port, and turn on the output to see if anything is talking. I've got the same netbook as you, no probs with this gps: Amazon.com: GlobalSat BU-353 Waterproof USB GPS Receiver: Electronics

[Jon Hacking]

The biggest problem I've had getting charting software to work with a GPS is poor serial<->USB adaptors (& their drivers). Get a high-quality one, not the cheapest. FWIW, I use a KeySpan 4-port serial to USB, but there are other good ones.

Also, different GPSs use different "sentances" to send their data, & both MaxSea & OpenCPN sometimes need to be tweaked to listen for the correct ones. For instance, I think there are at least 5 different sentances that can include position info. You have to look at the input stream from the GPS & match it in your nav program. Most GPS sentances start with $GPxxx & the trick is getting the xxx correct. Make sure OpenCPN is looking for the same sentance that your GPS is spitting out.

[dacust]

Originally Posted by Jon Hacking

...
FWIW, I use a KeySpan 4-port serial to USB, but there are other good ones.
...

That's a nice looking unit. Too bad they don't have *nix drivers listed.

-dan

[cagney]

Originally Posted by dacust

That's a nice looking unit. Too bad they don't have *nix drivers listed.

-dan

the USA-49WG has Linux drivers. These drivers were added to Linux kernel 2.6.23

Quote from tripplite.com, see link at the end of this post.

The only problem may be that not all Linux distros has this driver in their standard kernel, in which case you have to compile your own kernel, an unusual task nowadays.

More here.

Thomas

[dacust]

Originally Posted by cagney

Quote from tripplite.com, see link at the end of this post.

The only problem may be that not all Linux distros has this driver in their standard kernel, in which case you have to compile your own kernel, an unusual task nowadays.

More here.

Thomas

Cool. Thanks.