Delorme Topo USA 8.0 + BU-353 + Acer Aspire One = Compatible?

Ya but nope, not there. This may be the difference between Windows 7 and Windows 7 Starter.

Could be. I don't have a copy of W7 Starter so maybe someone else could check.

Terry

Thanks Terry

Strange that you can change the buffers through the device manager but not through "Devices and Printers" in the start menu...

I suspect that reconfiguring this helped on the driver front, but I still had a few issues, like failing to center on GPS and not displaying the little arrow (or litle car/truck) symbol in 3D nav mode. Then it locked up after fiddling wih the options for the dozenth time that session. This was with flow control = hardware, but no buffer change.

I've got starter and it was in my list in the device manager.

Control panel>>Hardware and sound>>Device manager (under "Devices and printers" heading)>>Ports (COM & LPT)>>Prolific USB-to-serial (com__)>>Port settings tab

Flow control = "Hardware" then press "advanced" button and set the buffers both down to "1"

Well, even changing the flow control and buffers, I could still get features to drop off and the whole thing to lock up when changing options while tracking in nav mode. Perhaps the Aspire can't handle all that's going on tracking GPS in nav mode with few user requests thrown in (as Terry said, above). I see spikes in some of the graphs in the Resource Monitor about the time the program locks up.

Could it be that, as the Aspire doesn't have a physical COM or LPT port, they are disabled in the BIOS? Then there would be no reason to show them in Device Manager. A check in your BIOS could tell you.

Terry

Faster way to Device manager is right click 'Computer' and select Properties.

Terry

Attached Thumbnails

 

Finally got the port to show using a different USB port. Don't know why. Drove around last night and so far so good. Didn't use Nav but usually don't need it. I use the head unit for that. My use is mainly getting to fishing spots I've discovered at home.
Fingers crossed.

Steve

I now think my issue may be related to the driver for the GlobalSat BU-353 antenna/GPS, though I'm not really that tech-savvy, so I can't say for sure.

Here's why I suspect the driver: The driver tricks the computer into thinking that the USB port the antenna is plugged into is a COM port, since the Aspire doesn't have any real COM ports. Using only the BU-353 driver to accomplish this eventually results in Topo 8.0 locking up or the whole computer to crash while GPS tracking. BUT...

I installed GPSgate software so I could share the GPS signal and monitor the BU-353 through GlobalSat's GPSinfo utility while simultaneously tracking in Topo 8.0. GPSgate tricks the computer into thinking the GPSsignal is coming over 3 (virtual) COM ports instead of just one. It seems that the Aspire w/Windows 7 starter and/or Delorme Topo 8.0 likes the GPSgate COM port trickery much more than it likes the BU-353 driver's single COM port trickery--I haven't had a lockup or crash since I began running it through GPSgate. Perhaps the BU-353 driver isn't as compatible with with Windows 7 as is suggested by the GlobalSat? I really don't know. All I know is that it works through GPSgate so far.

To summarize: When using an Acer Aspire One (Windows 7 starter version) with DeLorme Topo 8.0 and a GlobalSat BU-353 GPS/antenna, I need to run the signal through GPSgate to keep the system from eventually crashing or the program from eventually locking up in GPS tracking mode. So far anyway... I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Nice find. Does GPSGate work like a driver that you download or do you have to be online (server)?
What does it cost?
Also, do you think Xport would do the same thing?

GPS Gate takes the GPS data from any COM port and allows it to be used on one or more other COM ports. I can't see why it would help keep Delorme Topo from crashing but anything is possible.

Terry

Nope, you don't need to be online for the basic features of GPSGate to work. That's only required if you want to get into the more exotic stuff like vehicle location tracking. The Express version is pretty cheap. It was about $13 when I registered my copy. But that was awhile ago.

Pretty much. It's missing two features of GPSGate. One is that it won't convert NMEA protocol to Garmin protocol .. usually not an issue. And unless it's been added to recent versions it does not find devices that have a straight USB connection. It needs to see a COM port, so the device needs its own USB-to-COM port driver.

It's this last feature that might be the positive influence with crusader's problem. If crusader is letting GPSGate find the direct USB connection for the BU-353, it's bypassing the GlobalSat USB-to-COM port driver. If there are issues with that driver on his system, this takes it right out of the picture.

...ken...

Gps Gate will only find Garmin USB devices. It would only see the BU-353 because the Prolific driver provides a COM port.

Terry