Open CPN and wireless keyboards

[nhschneider]

I must be the last person in the world to download Open CPN but I did last night. Everything was working fine until this morning when I booted up my computer (Stealth 12v PC running Windows XP). The cursor was freaking out, jumping all over the screen and ignoring my commands. I think what is happening is that the computer sees the GPS sentences as keyboard and mouse commands. My wireless keyboard/mouse pad combo has a small USB 'dongle' and when the computer boots up and recognizes, albeit inaccurately, a stream coming in on a serial port, the PC assumes its the keyboard/mouse talking.

I suppose I could turn my chartplotter (Standard Horizon CPV350) off until the PC has booted except its a piece of doo-doo and the 'power off' function doesn't work. That's right, we leave it on, 24/7/365. If push comes to shove and I'm forced to shut it down, I have to disconnect the power leads, which is kind of a hassle.

Is there a way to tell the computer that the keyboard/mouse will always be USB and that the input on the serial port will always be GPS sentences?

Thanks for the help. Fair winds and calm seas.

[bcn]

Try here:
Jumping Mouse

bcn

[Hakan]

bcn's link can be useful although sometimes hard to catch and set up.
I use to constantly move my USB connected mouse back and forth while the PC is booting. To "humanize" the machine I suppose Windows then recognize what's a mouse and what's not?
The other more boring advice is to not switch on any NMEA source until boot is completed.
Håkan

[edsailing]

Com Port plug and play blocker worked for me - description below


What does it do?
The Stentec Plug & Play Blocker can prevent Windows from detecting a GPS mouse as a 'Microsoft Ballpoint Mouse'. Because of this problem the mouse pointer in Windows can get out of control and seems to have a life of its own. This can be prevented by blocking the Plug and Play detection of the Com port on which the GPS mouse is connected. By using the Stentec Com Port Plug & Play Blocker this can easily be done.
How do I use it?
After starting the application you will be presented with a list containing all Com ports on your system for which you can block the Plug and Play detection. Every line has a checkbox. If you want to block the Plug and Play detection of a port you check the checkbox, if you want to unblock it you simply clear the checkbox. By pressing the 'Apply' button the changes will be applied.

!!! Important !!!
You need to restart Windows for the changes to take effect.
Why aren't all my system's Com ports shown?
Stentec Com Port Plug and Play Blocker can only block the Plug and Play detection of Com ports that are managed by Microsoft's 'Serenum' filter driver. This filter driver is responsible for searching and detecting devices connected to the Com port and it has the option to enable or disable the Plug and Play detection. Most motherboard Com ports and USB-To-Serial Com ports that use the Prolific PL2303 controller, including many USB GPS receivers, are using this filter driver. By default, the application only shows the Com ports that are managed by this filter driver. By choosing the option 'Show all Com ports', all Com ports on your system will be shown. However, you cannot change the Plug and Play detection for these ports. Though, the problem hardly exists on ports using a different filter driver.

[Hakan]

Ed...
Nice tip. Now installed on my W7 and I will test it for a couple of days.
Thanks
Håkan