Mac port missing for AIS650

[hoppy]

I have finally installed OpenCPN on my Mac, installed the AUSENC charts and are now trying to get the GPS and NMEA data from my RayMarine AIS650 but I cannot connect.

I have connected my MacBook to the AIS650 using a USB cable. This connection works for PROAIS2 using a "virtual com port" and with MacENC using the port "usbmodem1411"

When I check the ports in the terminal I see these:

/dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port /dev/cu.usbmodem1411
/dev/cu.MrBig-WirelessiAP

All three show up in MacENC and I get 3 in PROAIS2 although it looks like it renames usbmodem1411 as "virtual com port"

In openCPN I only see 2 ports, the one I need is missing

/dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port
/dev/cu.MrBig-WirelessiAP

When I have been trying this I do make sure that MacENC & PROAIS2 are disconnected from the port.

Any ideas?

My mac is running macOS Sierra 10.12.1 and OpenCPN is 4.4.0 2016-05-31

[bcn]

Originally Posted by hoppy

I have finally installed OpenCPN on my Mac, installed the AUSENC charts and are now trying to get the GPS and NMEA data from my RayMarine AIS650 but I cannot connect.

I have connected my MacBook to the AIS650 using a USB cable. This connection works for PROAIS2 using a "virtual com port" and with MacENC using the port "usbmodem1411"

When I check the ports in the terminal I see these:

/dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port /dev/cu.usbmodem1411
/dev/cu.MrBig-WirelessiAP

All three show up in MacENC and I get 3 in PROAIS2 although it looks like it renames usbmodem1411 as "virtual com port"

In openCPN I only see 2 ports, the one I need is missing

/dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port
/dev/cu.MrBig-WirelessiAP

When I have been trying this I do make sure that MacENC & PROAIS2 are disconnected from the port.

Any ideas?

My mac is running macOS Sierra 10.12.1 and OpenCPN is 4.4.0 2016-05-31

There should be a specific driver package for macOS and the device.

You can try to get it at em-trak as well. The AIS-650 is an OEM version of their B100

Hubert

[CarCode]

Originally Posted by hoppy

I have finally installed OpenCPN on my Mac, installed the AUSENC charts and are now trying to get the GPS and NMEA data from my RayMarine AIS650 but I cannot connect.

I have connected my MacBook to the AIS650 using a USB cable. This connection works for PROAIS2 using a "virtual com port" and with MacENC using the port "usbmodem1411"

When I check the ports in the terminal I see these:

/dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port /dev/cu.usbmodem1411
/dev/cu.MrBig-WirelessiAP

All three show up in MacENC and I get 3 in PROAIS2 although it looks like it renames usbmodem1411 as "virtual com port"

In openCPN I only see 2 ports, the one I need is missing

/dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port
/dev/cu.MrBig-WirelessiAP

When I have been trying this I do make sure that MacENC & PROAIS2 are disconnected from the port.

Any ideas?

My mac is running macOS Sierra 10.12.1 and OpenCPN is 4.4.0 2016-05-31

First you might upgrade your Mac to 10.12.3. It is for free.
Next I'm clueless what is usbmodem1411?
When you say you once use once "virtual com port" and once "usbmodem1411" it seems you use a serial to USB converter.
Obvious you know how to show the ports in Terminal with command "ls /dev/cu.*".
But I don't know why the port usbmodem1411 is sometimes seen and sometimes not. And I don't know the AIS650, it might have a buildin serial/USB converter which activate the driver usbmodem1411.

Gerhard

P.S.
Check for usbmodem1411 with Google. Seems to have something to do with "Arduino" which makes trouble and is known for its instability.

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by bcn

There should be a specific driver package for macOS and the device.

You can try to get it at em-trak as well. The AIS-650 is an OEM version of their B100

Hubert

The driver must already be installed as I wouldn't be able to use the PROAIS2 software to check and configure my AIS650. em-trak also use PROAIS2

I checked the USB in system information and found

AIS Virtual COM Port:

Product ID: 0x0402
Vendor ID: 0x27c5
Version: 2.00
Serial Number: 48DE4F623230
Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: SRT Marine Technology Ltd.
Location ID: 0x14100000 / 3
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 100
Extra Operating Current (mA): 0

[hoppy]

Originally Posted by CarCode

First you might upgrade your Mac to 10.12.3. It is for free.
Next I'm clueless what is usbmodem1411?
When you say you once use once "virtual com port" and once "usbmodem1411" it seems you use a serial to USB converter.
Obvious you know how to show the ports in Terminal with command "ls /dev/cu.*".
But I don't know why the port usbmodem1411 is sometimes seen and sometimes not. And I don't know the AIS650, it might have a buildin serial/USB converter which activate the driver usbmodem1411.

Gerhard

P.S.
Check for usbmodem1411 with Google. Seems to have something to do with "Arduino" which makes trouble and is known for its instability.

It is strange that I see usbmodem1411 in the ports list and "AIS Virtual COM Port" in the system information

[CarCode]

Originally Posted by hoppy

It is strange that I see usbmodem1411 in the ports list and "AIS Virtual COM Port" in the system information

Regarding the threads in Google about that thing it seems this driver is buggy. That explains it is once seen and once not. Try to find an updated driver.
Better to address this issue to the manufacturer. He is responsible to deliver a working driver.

Gerhard

[CarCode]

Digging further into your problem it might be a problem of the Sierra OS.
I suppose your MacBook is Sierra compatible.
Mine is not and I have to use a patched Sierra version therefore. This patched version alters the USB part of the kernel to use the old usb.kext.
Because of these USB changes in Sierra your driver doesn't work as expected.
So first thing I would do is to update Sierra from your current 10.12.1 to actual 10.12.3. If this doesn't help you would need a new driver which supports Sierra.

Gerhard

[bcn]

And just in case you want try another option:
https://em-trak.com/support/can-down...0-cd-contents/

This is the download link from em-trak with the content of their CD.
Should contain the macOS driver. Perhaps they have a more recent version...

Hubert

[hoppy]

I upgraded Sierra to 10.12.3 and also tried the latest ProAIS2 from RM & em-trak (both were 1.04)

Still no change. MacENC works perfectly getting GPS and AIS data from my AIS650 via the mysterious usbmodem1411 and proAIS2 works with "AIS Virtual COM port".

The fact that MacENC & proAIS2 work fine, listing all 3 ports whilst OpenCPN refuses to show the usbmodem1411/AIS Virtual COM port suggests to me that the driver for the AIS650 USB interface is ok and there is something incompatible in OpenCPN that is stopping it appearing.

[bcn]

And if you input the port manually instead selecting it from the drop down list?
Anything in the OCPN log file?

[CarCode]

Originally Posted by bcn

And if you input the port manually instead selecting it from the drop down list?
Anything in the OCPN log file?

In my own version of OpenCPN using wxWidgets 3.1.1 and Xcode 8.1 I am not able to write the port manually into the drop down list. But my list shows any port available for the system. I don't guess the OpenCPN log provides any hints for this case. However the Apple Console app might show something perhaps. Indeed very strange this problem...

Gerhard

[bcn]

With 10.11.6 (El Capitan) and OCPN standard 4.4.0 I can edit the input field and create entries for the connection panel.
Such is live...

Btw.: what is the best way to maintain parallel OCPN installs under macOS?

[CarCode]

Originally Posted by bcn

Btw.: what is the best way to maintain parallel OCPN installs under macOS?

The problem is only the different way the different versions of OpenCPN and its plugins stores supplemental data in different places. From the beginning on there was no definition given where to store such data in Mac OS X (called macOS now). This is still the case for plugins, although it is a little better now for the main program.
As for any other OS such data should never be stored in the systems folders nor in the applications folder. They have to be stored in the user data folder or in the data folder for all users if the software was installed for all users. Further on there is no installation available for macOS version of OpenCPN although I have pointed to such an installer times ago. This makes it even more difficult to do a nice installation.
As far as I know also the Linux or Windows versions does not allow to run several different preferences files for different OpenCPN versions. So it is possible to have several OpenCPN versions with different names in the macOS application folder but they all start with the same preferences file. Because of often changed settings items this sometimes caused crashes and it is therefore problematic to run different OpenCPN versions on the same machine. That's just the way a do-it-yourself software is...

Gerhard

[toddster8]

I've found that the driver supplied by em-trak is very flaky. I think it has something to do with assigning virtual serial ports to the available physical USB ports. For example, if the computer is ever allowed to enter "sleep" mode, the virtual port will disappear, a new "usbxxxx" number will displayed on the interface, and communication is lost. Sometimes, I can switch the cable to the other port and re-initialize communication. Most often, the computer and the AIS unit both have to be rebooted before they will talk again. The only workaround I've got so far is to set the computer to "never sleep" which is a huge power sink. And unsafe, too, because the link will be lost at a critical moment, and I can't always leave the helm to screw around with it.

[bcn]

Toddster8 - you are on Windows?