Re: Driving and Sailing ... where to go from here(?)


"David" <invalid@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:v3uet2h5hm087qg7plektbt0ul02rn1005@xxxxxxxxxx
On Fri, 16 Feb 2007 17:56:12 +0000 (UTC), dold@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:

Jack Erbes <jackerbes@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
David wrote:
<snip>
..So I bought an USB to Serial converter. And
another. And another. After three tries, and many, many hours, I
finally
just gave up and returned the new laptop, because that was the main
application that I wanted it for.

I suppose an alternative would be to buy a laptop with a serial port.
That might be more expensive, and less satisfying, than buying a new GPS.

Your results are uncharacteristic. I own three different serial to USB
adapters and all of them worked on the first try.

David made four posts here, and even went so far as to ask for the brands
other people are using, but we still have no idea which brands didn't
work
for him.

http://www.pfranc.com sells a USB adapter that works for GPS for many
users.

I have the Radio Shack Model 26-183 (prolific) adapter, and have no
trouble with it.

I had the mousey problem with a real serial port starting with Windows
2000. It was not "fixed" in any version of WinXP, as far as I recall,
but
allowing it to be detected and then disabling it worked for me.

I have had problems with my laptop crashing during Google Earth, but that
is due to a bad video driver. The video vendor has an upgrade, but it
won't load on my private labeled laptop.

Thanks, dold,

The last of the three converters that I tried was also a "Prolific",
however I can't find any other identifying information on the package. It
is not from Radio Shack though. The other two, unfortunately, I just
don't
remember. (At the time, I didn't think that I would ever need to -- just
as long as I tried something different.)

But, FWIW, I took the laptop in to a very reputable local computer shop,
and they tried to install both of those two. And got the same results, as
previously discussed....

Re your last point, and at COMPAQ's recommendation, I even downloaded and
reinstalled all of the video board's chipset drivers. No joy.

You are probably beginning to sense a bit of my frustration by now...

I think it is time to begin investigating new USB GPSr's and laptops.
Grrrrrrr.

Best regards,
David

It occurred to me that trying to get Oziexplorer to download the NMEA
sentences (without success) is not always the fault of the USB-serial
converter. You may have to try umpteen different port settings in the
configuration program before you get the signal. Yesterday I tried for quite
some time to get a connection on a new installation using a new Toshiba
laptop, and eventually found that com6 was the only one to work. I think it
has something to do with WinXP allocating diferent (virtual) com ports to
different devices as and when they are plugged in.

DP


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