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15 December 2010

Started work on AirSpace.

01 March 2009

GeoPS gets the website upgrade that Human Software had last week.

18 May 2008

GeoPS 1.2.0 is available for download.

4 April 2008

GeoPS 1.2.0 Beta 1 is available for download. This version adds Flarm support

Frequently Asked Questions

Why doesn't my logger respond?

Let us assume that you connected the logger to a USB-Serial adapter.
Let us assume that the USB-Serial adapter is connected to your Macintosh.
Unfortunately the USB-Serial adapter developers do not always choose a sensible name for the Serial Port ... USA19QW1912P1.1 is not very usefull, is it? That is the name Keyspan gives its serial port: USA = USB Serial Adapter, 19QW is the version of the hardware and so on. Luckily new versions of the drivers give the port a more sensible name.

It could be that GeoPS is barking up the wrong tree: It talks to the wrong Serial Port. Lets first test that:
Launch GeoPS. Select the serial port that you want to use. What is the name of that serial port? Remember that name.
Now quit GeoPS, unplug the USB-Serial device from the Mac and relaunch GeoPS. This leaves us with two possible scenarios:

Name changed or disappeared from Serial Port menu.

GeoPS was apparently communicating with the right device.
You can now re-connect the USB-Serial converter.
I would now focus on the order in which you are dong things. Here is how it 'should' be done:

  1. Launch GeoPS
  2. Select the right Serial Port
  3. Unplug the power from the logger if it is powered.
  4. Plug the power in the logger.
  5. Wait till the logger displays: wait for PC...09 (or similar in another language)
  6. Now click 'Connect' in GeoPS.
  7. GeoPS will now show a Progress bar and will try to connect to the logger.

If all this fails, please contact me so we can look into this together.

Name is still in the Serial Port menu.

The selected port was not the thing that you just unplugged.
This could mean:

  1. You selected the wrong serial port: Select another serial port and try again.
  2. The serial port you are using is not in the Serial Ports drop down menu. In that case, please check Why does GeoPS not recognise my USB-Serial adapter?

Why doesn't GeoPS recognise my USB-Serial adapter?

GeoPS asks Mac OS X for a list of Serial Ports. In principle that means that if a USB-Serial adapter is connected to your Mac and the software for it is installed correctly, GeoPS should show the Serial Port in its Serial Ports drop down menu.

If you do not see the Serial Port in the Drop Down menu, this could mean 2 things:

  1. The drivers for the USB Serial adapter have not yet been installed on your computer: Please do so and try again.
  2. It happens that the installer of the USB Serial adapter 'forgets' to set the permissions of the driver properly. I have noticed that with the USB_G4 installer. If this is the case there are some things that you can do: This requires some Command prompt typing. You will need your administrator password. If you are uncomfortable with that, contact me and maybe I can help out ...
    1. Locate your Driver ...
      Adapterdriver
      KeyspanKeyspanUSAdriver.kext
      SweexProlificUsbSerial.kext
      USB_G4USBSerialDriver.kext
    2. Open the Terminal application. (in the Applications/Utilities folder) Type the following things in the Terminal and fill in the drivername where I type drivername
      Press 'Enter' after each line.
      1. cd /System/Library/Extensions/
      2. sudo su
        Computer will now ask for the Administrator password ... please type that and press enter.
      3. chmod -R og-w /System/Library/Extensions/drivername
      4. chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/drivername
      5. Restart your computer.

      Further information can be found on:
      Adapterwebsite
      USB_G4http://pfranc.com/usb/macs.htm
      Prolific based
      adapters like
      Sweex.
      http://www.macosxhints.com/comment.php?mode=display&sid=200309231754060&pid=27912
      If that does not help ... please contact me so we can look into this together.

Where can I find a user guide?

The user guide can be found here.

Can GeoPS visualise the log file in any way?

Nope. GeoPS is a pure 'Logger Communication Application'.
Currently, the best app to do this on Mac is FlightTrack.
But ... you never knows what the future brings!

Why does my Colibri not respond when connecting over USB?

There can be 3 problems here:
1. No (or wrong) driver installed
The Colibri contains a chip to support USB. That chip requires that the computer that needs to access the Colibri contains a driver for that chip. Luckily there are 2 drivers to choose from, and therefore it is possible to choose the wrong driver ...
From the ftdi website select 'Drivers'. Then select 'VCP' ... this should result in this page, but I might forget to update this page when their website updates ...
From this page, please select the driver you need (depending on OS version and Processor type). Please download and install this driver.
Installing this will create a new Serial Port (probably named usbserial-0000101D or something) when the Colibri is connected. Just connect the Colibri, launch GeoPS and you should be in business!

2. My Colibri beeps continuously when connected
When the Colibri beeps continuously when connected to the USB, even without launching GeoPS, we probably have a Power issue.
The Colibri is designed to draw power from the USB port. It should be able to draw enough power from the USB port to allow GeoPS to do its thing. Unfortunately lots of computers have USB ports that are unable to give enough power to the USB to satisfy the needs of the Colibri. In this case you should connect the Power Adapter (or another power source that does the trick) to the Colibri so that enough power is available. The Colibri should now stop screaming and should be able to do what it should.

3. GeoPS does not show the Serial Port
Are you sure you installed the correct diver? Please read the first item in this section ...

You are sure ... ok, it must be something else.
Make sure you connect the Colibri before you launch GeoPS; Connecting the Colibri will cause the drivers to create a new Serial Port. GeoPS might miss the serial Port when it emerges after it launched ...

Ok, so you did that ok too ... this is gonna get tough ...
Please read the following Question: Why doesn't GeoPS recognise my USB-Serial adapter?

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