[Ham-Mac] has anyone tried... Mac/Doze file transfers?

[Jack Brindle]

Steve;

I agree. The Keyspan devices have always been excellent and their  
support has been top-notch. The state of the web page is indeed a  
shame, and I really hope that this is not indicative of the general  
state of Keyspan.

The problems with the Keyspan drivers with VMs is very well  
documented. The Parallels folks have had to do special coding to work  
around the problem, and I suspect that VMWare has done something  
similar. The VirtualBox developers have not added this. There are work- 
arounds involving the use of named pipes, but these are a pain to  
create and can be rather problematic. Even though I am very well  
versed in this area (and Mac development in general), I found it much  
easier simply to go with one of the development devices that FTDI  
offers as a better solution. Keyspan gives us wonderful utilities to  
monitor the state of their devices, but sometimes the utilities get in  
the way. This is one of those times.

As for my use, I prefer the FTDI devices and drivers at this time, and  
actually have for several years. It is far easier to use one of their  
devices in a design, which means that folks can use their drivers  
instead of me having to create new ones for whatever platforms that  
are needed. As a developer, the down side is that you have to use only  
the features of their devices and not be able to create new ones that  
properly fit the product.

In any case, it is best to use whatever device/product that solves the  
requirement. For my ham radio needs, that currently means a Mac mini  
with VirtualBox and FTDI-based serial devices and an external USB  
sound interface (among other things). It works very well, is low power  
and so far handles everything I throw at it. By the way, the rig here  
is a choice of Elecraft K3 or K2. For contesting I use N1MM logger, at  
least until SkookumLogger or something else catches up on the Mac. For  
almost everything else I use Mac-based software. And when my  
development tools (other than Xcode) become available on our platform  
of choice, I will finally be able to retire Windows...

As for the 64-bit issue, remember that the Mac has been 64-bit for  
some time. Existing drivers work quite well under Snow-Leopard (I'm  
not currently under NDA, so I can speak), and we should not expect any  
change, or anything similar to what the Windows folks are seeing. I  
honestly don't expect much of a change for Snow Leopard, with the  
possible exception that applications that need lots of memory (mostly  
graphics apps) which are written in Cocoa will be able to take  
advantage of a very large memory space and will gain the additional  
registers the processor allows when 64-bit is enabled (meaning the app  
will run a bit faster). Everything else will continue to run quite  
nicely.

Thanks for the info!

On Jul 1, 2009, at 8:40 PM, Steve Hellyer wrote:

> Hi Jack,
>
> The Keyspan (now triplite) drivers in Mac OS X do not block use of  
> serial ports in a VM.  I use Parallels (v4) to access an older  
> Keyspan 4 port serial adaptor.  You do have to install the Keyspan  
> drivers in Windows. Same as you have to on a PC.
>
> <Attached is screen shot of Parallels VM running HamRadioDeluxe  
> controlling my Kenwood radio via Keyspan adaptor>
>
> I agree with you FTDI has some great drivers.  Wasn't the case a few  
> years ago when I wanted a 4 port adapter to control a number of  
> devices. They have picked thing up to match growth in Mac OS X  
> market share. :-)
>
> If you have an ICOM you may want to have a look at this as it uses  
> FTDI drivers and make thing a little cleaner as you can go direct to  
> CI-V interface. http://www.blackcatsystems.com/usbciv/
>
> Also agree since the purchase of Keyspan by TripLite the serial  
> adaptors have not seen the attention like when Keyspan marketed  
> them.  (I wonder why they purchased Keyspan given there lack of  
> marketing there new adaptors????)
>
> It's important to note that if a USB device has been "captured" by  
> the VM then Mac OS can't use it and vice versa. So if I am running  
> the VM I can't run MacLoggerDX and have it also use same USB serial  
> adaptor.
>
> <pastedGraphic.jpg>
>
>
> We have lots more choices now but the Keyspan drivers were developed  
> first for Mac OS X and then they added Windows.
> They are very good drivers.  Question is will they remain that way?  
> Wondering because 10.6 (snow-leopard), due this September, will be a  
> full 64 bit OS which mean we will want 64-bit version of the  
> drivers. 10.5 is a hybrid 64/32 OS which has a 64 bit memory model  
> but uses 32 driver model (printers, scanner, etc..)
>
> Developers have snow-leopard now so there is good time to recompile  
> for full 64 bit.  Snow Leopard will also be Intel only so it should  
> also be easier to develop, compile and test drivers one type of CPU.  
> Will be interesting to see what TripLite, FTDI, and Prolific have  
> ready.
>
> Cheers & 73
> Steve - VA3SPH
>
> On 1-Jul-09, at 9:53 PM, Jack Brindle wrote:
>
>> One of the few problems I have found is the use of Keyspan serial
>> ports. Keyspan has a utility that runs on the Mac that blocks the use
>> of the driver by the VM client. The solution is to use a serial port
>> made by someone else. As someone else noted there are USB serial
>> adapters that will do the job quite nicely. My favorite are those
>> using the FTDI chips - the drivers are the best around. Keyspan  
>> serial
>> adapters used to be my favorite, but since their purchase by  
>> TrippLite
>> things seem to have gone down hill. Finding anything about the  
>> devices
>> on the web site is very difficult. I recently bought an FTDI adapter
>> from Mouser for $18 - it works exceptionally well on both the Mac and
>> Windows side.
>>
>> - Jack B, W6FB
>


-Jack Brindle, W6FB
=======================================================================