GPS Splitter

Does anyone know how to have the GPS in a CF-18 run two different GPS software applications? Like a virtual COM port or something?

 

Gps gate. google is you friend

ohlip

 

Teo, Google or the CAP
azTony, you need to read the responses to your earlier posts,
http://forum.notebookreview.com/panasonic/556401-delormetopo-north-america-9-0-cf-18-a.html
Read post #5
CAP

 

I read right past there because I did not know what that was at the time and did not have a need for it. I am gathering a lot of information and learning as I go. I appreciate you pointing out for me that it was already there and I try to understand everything I read. ;-)

This is new territory for me and I am trying to get things together as low budget as possible.

 

..hey just to give you a heads up... Amazon has Delorme 8.0 for like $15-$30. Would you prefer v5.0, or do you just not want to buy 8.0? I am thinking of picking up 8.0.

 

User's Guide - Franson GpsGate v2.0 for Windows

 

That would certainly be worth it. There are no significant changes in the off-road portions of the USGS Topos from year to year, and it is definitely worth $15 to save on tracking down and downloading all those maps. Re: Bluetooth GPS, USB is the better solution, no batteries, no connection problems. It really sucks if you are trying to record a track and the battery in your BT GPS dies.
Edit: While we are on the subject, I have often recommended "Visual GPS", a free basic GPS app. like the "phony dashboard" one the name of which escapes me at the moment. It has a position recording capability which I believe has no size restriction. I've never used it for that, I have much better software available to me through my work. It is a pretty professional piece of gear so I'm guessing you can export saved track logs to most GIS applications. Check it out.
CAP

 

I agree about the battery GPS. I was thinking about the batteries going dead when you need it most...

 

Thanks for the pointers. I was poking around and found this
Multi Port GPS, a GPS Serial Splitter Allows Several Applications to Share GPS Data

Anyone use this? I am going to be playing with it today. I had a shoulder operation last Friday so I am bored....

 

Looks ok, let us know how it works. There is another free program called XPort or X-Port which allegedly does the same thing. I tried it and it screwed everything up taking control of my com ports and changing their assignments. GPSGate just assigns virtual ports and leaves the rest of your setup alone. Sounds like this program is similar.
CAP

 

That sounds scary... I think I will go the expensive route then. ;-)

 

I'm not talking about the one you posted, that looks like it might be ok. The one I would steer clear of is X-Port.
CAP

 

My favorite software for this purpose is the open source com0com project, which is a null-modem emulator that allows you to create an unlimited number of virtual COM port pairs and use any pair to connect one COM port based application to another. Included in the com0com project is hub4com, which makes it possible to handle data and signals from a single serial device by a number of different applications (for example, several applications can share data from one GPS device). Rounding out the project is com2tcp, which enables communicate via serial interface with TCP/IP servers.

These pieces of software can be mixed and matched, even making it possible to use the real serial ports of remote computer as if they exist on a local computer.

I recommend this software. The null-modem emulation has been especially handy to me when working with device emulators. Rather than having to adapt software to work with an emulator via a special "emulator connection" (which in the case of some third-party software, you can't adapt it), the virtual COM ports enable hooking up the application to the emulator in the exact same way it would connect to a real physical device.

(OK, geeky, I know. I'll try not to get too excited. ;-)

 

Here is some additional information on a sample com0com setup.

Attached is a screenshot of a com0com setup screen.

• Each of the virtual port pairs has been created using the "Add Pair" button
• To change the names of the virtual serial ports
  • Click a "Virtual Port Pair" node from the tree on the left-hand side (i.e. do not select an individual port node)
  • In the text boxes at the top of the right-hand side, change one or both of the virtual port names to a name you wish to use. NOTE: Some applications will require that the COM port they connect to be named COMx. Assigning a virtual port COMx name will allow such applications to see that virtual port. Before changing a port name, verify that a port with the given name does not already exist..
  • Click the "Apply" button to save your changes
• Open a Command Prompt window
• Suppose your physical GPS device is connected to COM2
• Suppose com0com is configured as in the attached screenshot
• Run hub4com to broadcast COM2 data to COM5 and COM6 (remember, COM5 and CNCB1 are paired and COM6 and CNCB2 are paired)
  • hub4com \\.\COM2 \\.\CNCB1 \\.\CNCB2
• Connect the primary GPS-consuming application to COM5
• Connect the secondary GPS-consuming application to COM6
• Note the following important items:
  • In this configuration, the application connected to COM5 (CNCB1 on the other end) will be able to send data (e.g. command strings) to COM2 (the physical GPS device) [hub4com supports several different configurations]
  • The Command Prompt window in which hub4com was started must remain open as long as your are using applications connected to any of the hub's broadcast ports. Closing/exiting hub4com will terminate the broadcasting of GPS data.

 

Hello Matthew,
You are correct, those are the ReadMe.txt files I am referring to. Well I started writing a long story to you filled with questions in the PM you sent me then I seen "one thing" that you wrote on the forum so I thought I would share with the forum.

I had the pairs sup up correctly, a no brainer. The help files for the hub4com leave much to be desired. I read everything and I seen it was working but "I closed the window" before I tried the ports. If I leave the window open (command window that the hub4com was executed in) it works, almost. I have 2 GPS software programs and I am new to both and I have the Delorme program seeing the GPS but I do not have the OziExplorer seeing it. Then again, I am trying to learn OziExplorer so I am assuming I am doing something wrong inside Ozi.

I did notice that the physical com port (COM3 in my case) is disabled from communication when broadcasting to the 2 virtual paired ports.

Thank you for helping me out but I have one other question. How did you get a GUI interface for the com0com setup?
Best regards
Tony

P.S. Now to get this to run in the background and get a start and stop button/command to work

 

When I ran the installation, it put a shortcut to the GUI under Start > All Programs > com0com > Setup. On the file system, the GUI executable installed to "C:\Program Files\com0com\setupg.exe".

Also, have you tried Delorme on the other hub4com broadcast port, just to verify that that other port works?

 

I think I'll stick with Franson GPSGate no setup or futzing about required. It just runs in the background automatically. azTony, did you try the other one you posted?
CAP

 

No setup? ;-) Just one screenshots from the GpsGate Getting Started page.


"If you need to create more ports you can do that from the Settings Dialog at any time."


I've never had any real problems with com0com, hub4com, or com2tcp. Within Windows, hub4com can be setup to run automatically in the background, too. Plus, because it is Open Source, I've even been able to modify the code on occasion when I've had a need for slightly different behavior. To me, this type of software stuff is analogous to the hardware hacks and mods found on this forum. ;-)


Seriously, though, if you're looking for something completely GUI-based, hub4com doesn't yet have that. Also, because hub4com is more flexible and broader-purposed than just GPS devices, GpsGate can hide some details that hub4com exposes. And granted, even though I couldn't resist a little ribbing about the GpsGate setup [hope you didn't mind that too much ;-) ], because GpsGate can hide a few details, its setup process will be a little simpler.

Also, another important consideration is the availability of support (especially if it is related to a key part of your job), and a commercial product with service/support guarantees may provide a necessary layer of insurance against potential problems.

 

Your right, when I ran the setup it told me I needed a .NET that was not installed at the time and apparently skipped the GUI install. I have tried both virtual ports using Topo and they work fine. I am sure it is just me being new to Ozi. I will get it figured out.

I am interested how you get hub4com to run in the background if you have already done that. I would like it to run as a service when you boot so I always have it.

 

YES! It was me and not knowing that much about Ozi. I now have them both (DeLorme and Ozi) using the same GPS on the same Toughbook. Now I am going to work on getting this to run in the background as a service...

 

Yeah, that's it, all done. Click finish and it runs in the background. If you forget the com port numbers you just click on the icon in the tool bar. Your description of the other program sounded like Gork! with Ubuntu. I'm old and lazy.
CAP

 

I have already spent more than my budget on the Toughbook and just trying to reduce the overall cost.

I have it working but I have a command window that has to be opened the entire time I am using the GPS and multiple applications. I want it to run in the back ground as a service.

Thanks for your input though, always good to hear different perspectives.

 

Done! I wrote a batch file, put it in my Startup directory and it starts hub4com as a service using runassvc quietly in the background. This allows my COM3 physical port connection to the internal GPS to broadcast to the two virtual COM ports and allows me to use 2 (or more if I set up more virtual ports) applications that can access the GPS at the same time.

 

This thread is so timely! I was just getting around to attempting all this. Let's say I have the com0com pairs:
COM50 <--> COM51
COM60 <--> COM61
COM70 <--> COM71

I would like to use hub4com to map:
COM51 <--> [COM60,COM70], so I can have the master application on COM50, and two other applications on COM61 and COM71.
Everything works the way it's supposed to if I do:

Code:

hub4com.exe --bi-route=All:All \\.\COM51 \\.\COM60 \\.\COM70

However, I don't want All:All, I want a bi-directional splitter, not a 'hub' that talks between all ports: i.e. I think I only want --bi-route=COM51:[COM60,COM70], but I can't get the syntax correct. Anyone have an idea about this?

Also, azTony, I'd love to see your code. Thank you in advance!

 

I hate it when I do this; I just figured it out.
The routing lists are based on the index of the ports as you input them into the hub4com command, so to answer my own question:

Code:

hub4com.exe --bi-route=0:1,2 \\.\COM51 \\.\COM60 \\.\COM70

Thanks all!

 

This is the .bat file I have in my Startup directory

sc delete hub4com
C:\runassvc\RunAsSvc.exe --install --displayname "hub4com" --description "Routes the GPS data from COM3 to virtual COM5 and COM6" --exe "C:\com0com\hub4com.exe" --params "--baud=9600 --route=0:All \\.\COM3 --baud=9600 \\.\CNCA0 --baud=9600 \\.\CNCA1" --workingdir "C:\com0com" --quiet

I delete the service before I start it each time just for a CYA to make sure it is not still there from the previous session.