GPS Puck for Linux Mint 18.3

[clausont]

Well, believe it or not, I have searched the OpenCPN section here, but don't find the answer.
There are so many USB GPS pucks available, I don't know which one to get. I used OpenCPN on our Ingrid 38 several years ago in PNW. I really liked it and it appears to have undergone continuous development so want to start using it again after a number of years not sailing.
My question is, what is a good USB GPS antenna to use with Linux Mint 18.3? I would guess I'm not the only one using Linux by any means.
Thanks

[SevenCs]

Signed in wrong last time. Curious about this issue.

[sy_gilana]

Navibe...or any other PL2303



lsusb reports:
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 067b:2303 Prolific Technology, Inc. PL2303 Serial Port

Its treated as a serial port. Make sure your group has dialout privileges, or under users and groups>Advanced settings>check "Connect to internet using a modem"

Then you can set it up in O (it should even reveal itself)

[burgoynebc]

I have tried 4-6 different GPS pucks but on windows, and have not yet tried on linux (going to convert).


The best puck I have found is the " Globalsat" and has A-1 quick fix and best stability wrt the following below. Stay clear of the microsoft units.




On windows, they are all a problem due to "com port migration". I do not know if this occurs on Linux, but I suspect it does as the issue traces back to the USB protocol.


On Win each time you plug a device into a USB port, the devise ID is logged against the port number. After several months you get a huge number of "registered" devices. Eventually the PC gets confused and the result is that the puck antenna is recognised incorrectly. Most frequenetly it shows on device manager as "serial ball mouse", but can also make your mouse itself unuseable (crawls all over, jumps etc).
The solution is a small free program caledl "Usbdeview". It has to be used with admin priviledge. It shows every device registered ( after a yr of use of a PC this may literally list "pages" of devises due to the combinations of port and device). Simply uninistall all and let Win re-find only what is connected.
I realize that some of this may not apply to Linux but it may indeed be helpful to Win users




I am currently running a GY-NEOGMV2 module packaged with a USB to TTL adapter as an alternative to my Globalsat puck. Still USB as this is only interface possible but hopefully will avoid the port migration problem.

If you can find an optional plug/protocol rather than USB it would be even better (not sure if WIFI will help - probably will as the central issue is the UART (serial to USB hardware on a PC).


Richard
SV Zolanda

[nohal]

On Linux the "Migrating COM ports" issue known from Windows does not exist - getting a stable device assignment regardless of where and how you connect the USB puck is trivial using the udev rules.
Simply installing the gpsd package is usually enough to make it transparent for the user as it contains predefined rules for many common GPS receivers.
In case you are not that lucky, there are plenty of instructions for creating the rule for your unit on the internet, for example Configuring a U-Blox 7 GPS Receiver on Raspbian Jessie

[burgoynebc]

That is good to know - this has been an ongoing problem for me on windows that lead to many work abouts. Hopefully your comments along witth mine will alert others to the issues and value in changing to linux
Richard
SZ Zolanda

[gonesail]

I really liked mint 18.3 but had to upgrade when I bought new machine. I ended up moving to Kubuntu since mint no longer supports KDE. I like it a lot. If you have problems an upgrade may help.