OpenCPN + BU353S4 + MAC OSX

[rgleason]

Originally Posted by Moo

If the OP had read the manual for his/her puck they would not have had to ask any questions here. The light on the puck was telling them it had no lock....

Agreed. Brain fog about RTFM, sorry..

[champ8242]

Originally Posted by EarlWer

For me, the counter-intuitive part was:

My Samsung phone can easily get a GPS fix in my basement, but the GPS puck (which I thought was more sensitive) cannot...

Solution: Take the laptop close to a window. (it's winter here in Canada)

This should be added to the main OpenCPN page with an explanation...

"Take your computer with the GPS connected outside and wait for 5-10 minutes for an initial position to be acquired."

Creating user manual confusion here!
"My Samsung phone can easily get a GPS fix in my basement"
Is "the Samsung" getting a GPS fix or a position fix? GPS is just one (old) constellation. So if the position fix on the Samsung is acquired by other constellations, is the "puck" also designed to process these satellite signals like Beidu, Glonass, Galileo?

Or, what is the antenna quality of the used puck? Reason to move the puck to the window. There are pucks that will get a position fix on GPS in a basement but they are not $9.95

[rgleason]

I am finished with this. Other editors must step up.

[Moo]

Originally Posted by champ8242

Creating user manual confusion here!
"My Samsung phone can easily get a GPS fix in my basement"
Is "the Samsung" getting a GPS fix or a position fix? GPS is just one (old) constellation. So if the position fix on the Samsung is acquired by other constellations, is the "puck" also designed to process these satellite signals like Beidu, Glonass, Galileo?

Or, what is the antenna quality of the used puck? Reason to move the puck to the window. There are pucks that will get a position fix on GPS in a basement but they are not $9.95

The phone was probably getting an augmented fix by one of the other means a modern phone has; cell tower triangulation, WiFi triangulation, inertial navigation based on last known fix etc... The phone is a red herring in this case.

[ChrisJHC]

Originally Posted by Moo

The phone was probably getting an augmented fix by one of the other means a modern phone has; cell tower triangulation, WiFi triangulation, inertial navigation based on last known fix etc... The phone is a red herring in this case.

Agree. A better check is to use another GPS (I used my Garmin watch) and see if you still get a fix. Alternatively, put your phone in aeroplane mode as your GPS will still function but you won’t get wifi or cell tower triangulation.

I don’t think this needs to go in the manual, however maybe a line to test your GPS puck by putting it (and the computer) in a place with a clear line of sight to the satellites.

[Moo]

Originally Posted by ChrisJHC

Agree. A better check is to use another GPS (I used my Garmin watch) and see if you still get a fix. Alternatively, put your phone in aeroplane mode as your GPS will still function but you won’t get wifi or cell tower triangulation.

I don’t think this needs to go in the manual, however maybe a line to test your GPS puck by putting it (and the computer) in a place with a clear line of sight to the satellites.

Yes. That was my point. What needs to go in the manual is just a reminder to read your GPS manual and to.ensure that it has acquired a fix before panicking

[SCarns]

I’ve used that puck with my Mac before. It does take forever to get its initial “fix,” but is solid after that. I’ve even used it below deck after the fix, but it prefers a window at minimum.

[fgd3]

Originally Posted by ChrisJHC

put your phone in aeroplane mode as your GPS will still function but you won’t get wifi or cell tower triangulation.

Airplane mode turns off cellular communication but not WiFi.

[ChrisJHC]

On an iPhone the default is wifi, cellular and Bluetooth are all off, but you can choose if you want to keep some on.

I usually leave Bluetooth on so I can listen to music on aeroplanes.

Regardless, the GPS stays on.

[probb]

A big thank you to all that sorted and helped on the global sat/ mac problem. Much appreciated.

[ghughes20]

So I followed the instructions below but OpenCPN still doesn't see the puck's data port when I try to add the serial device.

I'm running Big Sur 11.4 on an older MBP. I have the BU-353S4 plugged directly into a USB port. I have added the Prolific driver and can see the hardware attached in the system report under USB. It looks like this....

USB-Serial Controller D:

Product ID: 0x2303
Vendor ID: 0x067b (Prolific Technology, Inc.)
Version: 4.00
Speed: Up to 12 Mb/s
Manufacturer: Prolific Technology Inc.
Location ID: 0x14200000 / 6
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 100
Extra Operating Current (mA): 0

Does anyone have a suggestion as to why OpenCPN doesn't see the DataPort for the GPS puck?

Also, I have a AIS receiver plugged into my laptop via a different USB port and OpenCPN is receiving messages from this device (DigitalYacht AIS100).

I last used OpenCPN 2 years ago with both this GPS puck and the AIS receiver, but I have updated the OS on my MBP twice since I last used OpenCPN.

Originally Posted by ChrisJHC

For those that want to copy what I did (basically following Ppatinka's method from #15 in this thread):

Install the driver

1. Google "pl2303 mac" and download the driver from the Prolific website
2. Unpack the Zip file
3. Open the Installation Guide
4. Follow the directions in the first three sections (i.e. Introduction, System Requirements and Mac OSX Driver Installation)
5. Do not go any further in the Installation Guide!
6. Restart your machine

Connect the GPS puck. You will probably need to use an adaptor to convert to USB-C as that is all the new Macbook Pros have.

Run a System Report to make sure your Mac can see the GPS:

• Click on the Apple Symbol at the top left of your screen
• Select "About this Mac"
• Select "System Report"
• Under Hardware, select "USB"
• Expand the USB devices until you see the one that says "USB-Serial Controller D" or similar. In my case I had to expand several "USB 3.1 Bus" options before I found it.
• Click on the "USB-Serial Controller D" and the details will show in the bottom pane. It should show the manufacturer as Prolific Technology.

Get the GPS running in OpenCPN (copied from the OpenCPN help page with one addition):

1. Start OpenCPN
2. Click on the Options Icon
3. Select “Connections”, and “Add Connection” and “Serial”
4. Under “Data Port” select the port displaying the BU353
5. Check the baudrate is 4800
6. Choose OK
7. Select "Show NMEA Debug Window" and check that a series of messages are scrolling by. These are the data flowing from the GPS to OpenCPN. Click the box again to turn it off.

Final step:

• Take your Mac with the GPS connected outside and wait for 5-10 minutes for an initial position to be acquired.
• You will have succeeded when the GPS "ball" changes to bars and goes from red to green.
• Also the "Own Ship" icon will display at your location
• Pat yourself on the back for being a Mac genius!

[Alf1966]

Same problem as ghughes20. Opencpn does not find the BU-353S4 dataport.

I am using macOS Big Sur 11.6.2

Solved it by doing the following.

Downloaded driver from Products

http://www.prolific.com.tw/UserFiles...0_20210311.zip

Unpack the Zip file

Install the driver

Restart your macbook.

Connect the GPS puck.

Run a System Report to make sure your Mac can see the GPS:

Click on the Apple Symbol at the top left of your screen
Select "About this Mac"
Select "System Report"
Under Hardware, select "USB"
Expand the USB devices until you see the one that says "USB-Serial Controller D" or similar.
Click on the "USB-Serial Controller D" and the details will show in the bottom pane. It should show the manufacturer as Prolific Technology.

So far this is the same as you have already done. Can't see the port in opencpn. Here's the solution;

Go to https://www.mac-usb-serial.com/docs/...-coolterm.html

Download "CoolTerm" and run the .dmg them try to run the CoolTerm.app . It will say "you don't have permission to open the application"

Open the macOS app "Terminal" (found in launchpad in other) and type the following command "sudo spctl --master-disable" hit enter.
type in your macbook password and hit enter.
type in "sudo chmod -R 755"
Drag the CoolTerm.app into Terminal and place it behind the command above. This will load the path to CoolTerm.app behind the command. Hit enter.

Now you can run the CoolTerm.app

(for a youtube video on getting past the permissions issue watch-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWSySXfR17c

)

From the main CoolTerm.app screen click "Options"

Click on Serial Port in the left hand menu, Click Re-Scan Serial Ports at the bottom, then in the Port box find your USB serial port for the BU-355S4. In my case it was "usbserial-1420". Set baud rate to 4800 and click OK.

Back in the main CoolTerm.app menu Click on "Connect" and watch the GPS data stream. Unplug your puck and it will stop the data stream. Plug the puck back in, watch it stream then disconnect the port in CoolTerm. You must disconnect the port so opencpn can use it. You can now close CoolTerm.app.

Run opencpn and go to "Connections" "Add Connection" Click on "Serial" and in the DataPort box type the BU-353S4 port name you found with the CoolTerm.app, in my case it was "usbserial-1420" so I would type it as "/dev/cu.usbserial-1420" into the DataPort box. You need to type this in, it won't just show up on its own. Make sure Buadrate is set to 4800. Click OK.

Click on "Show NMEA Debug Window" and you should see the GPS data stream.

Opencpn now works with BU-353S4 on macOS Big Sur.

Don't forget to go back into your macbook System Preferences--> Security & Privacy and set "Allow apps downloaded from:" to a more secure level than "anywhere".

Cheers.

[rgleason]

OpenCPN manual has
https://opencpn.org/wiki/dokuwiki/do...up#gps_devices

Help all mac users. What is missing from these instructions?

[CarCode]

Alf1966 has done it the hard and rather complicated way to install a GPS device on a Mac for OpenCPN. Sadly there is no sufficient explanation at the tons of OpenCPN documentations.
Once when needed the correct driver for macOS is installed and the GPS device is connected simply open the Terminal app and issue the command:
ls /dev/cu* (in words: char "l" + char "s", space, backslash+chars"dev"+backslash+chars"cu*")
Type return. As an example only you will get something like this:

MacBook-Pro ~ % ls /dev/cu*
/dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port    /dev/cu.XGPS160-459E56-SerialPo
/dev/cu.Qstarz818XT-SPPslave    /dev/cu.usbmodem00000000050B1
/dev/cu.RO4800-BT-DevB

Choose the guessed name of your GPS device including the prefix "/dev/cu." and write it into the dataport box of OpenCPN in Connections/Serial/ e.g. "/dev/cu.XGPS160-459E56-SerialPo" in this example.

[LFA]

Before Christmas I gave up! But I thought that I would give it a new try now that we have moved in to 2022. I was finally able to install the new driver with help from a post earlier in this tread.

After that I found your post.

And now it works! Thanks!

/LFA

Originally Posted by CarCode

Alf1966 has done it the hard and rather complicated way to install a GPS device on a Mac for OpenCPN. Sadly there is no sufficient explanation at the tons of OpenCPN documentations.
Once when needed the correct driver for macOS is installed and the GPS device is connected simply open the Terminal app and issue the command:
ls /dev/cu* (in words: char "l" + char "s", space, backslash+chars"dev"+backslash+chars"cu*")
Type return. As an example only you will get something like this:

MacBook-Pro ~ % ls /dev/cu*
/dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port    /dev/cu.XGPS160-459E56-SerialPo
/dev/cu.Qstarz818XT-SPPslave    /dev/cu.usbmodem00000000050B1
/dev/cu.RO4800-BT-DevB

Choose the guessed name of your GPS device including the prefix "/dev/cu." and write it into the dataport box of OpenCPN in Connections/Serial/ e.g. "/dev/cu.XGPS160-459E56-SerialPo" in this example.