StickMover under OSX

Sun Aug 12, 2018 12:51 pm
#1
Al

I have a stickmover, that works well under OSX with the Avirem software, but i cannot get it to run under neXt in OSX. I have gone to the settings and 'stickmover on' with the stickmover plugged in on starting the application. I am running OSX 10.13.6 and version 1.520 of neXt (from the AppStore).

Any suggestions please? :)


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Sun Aug 12, 2018 1:01 pm
#2
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Please excuse me for this strange behavior. We already know that a Bluetooth keyboard and / or mouse causes these problems. Simply unplug all Bluetooth devices and try again. This is only during the first use of the StickMover. The neXt stores the StickMover COM port in the settings and remembers it.

Align T-Rex 700X, Goblin Black Thunder T Line 710, MR25, Katana S 33%

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Sun Aug 12, 2018 2:11 pm
#3
Al

I have turned off bluetooth on my iMac and then started neXt up. Still no luck. I know it is on cu.usbserial-DN2EA3JH

Can I manually add it to the prefs.ini file or wherever it is stored?


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Mon Aug 13, 2018 5:29 pm
#4
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Thank you very much for bringing a bit light into this bug.

The StickMover Com port is listed twice on my OSX 10.13.6 system. As cu.usbserial-xx and tty.usbserial-xx. I guess, when you list them in the Terminal with "ls /dev/", you'll see only the cu.usbserial-xx version and not the tty.usbserial-xx?

Have just watched at the program code and found out that the com port is only saved on a Windows system.

Align T-Rex 700X, Goblin Black Thunder T Line 710, MR25, Katana S 33%

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Mon Aug 13, 2018 5:52 pm
#5
Al

Thank you for the quick reply. Sorry yes I do have the tty.

iMac27:dev alastaircormack$ ls tty.us*
tty.usbserial-DN2EA3JH
iMac27:dev alastaircormack$ ls cu.us*
cu.usbserial-DN2EA3JH

if I run an app that enumerates all serial ports such as arduino studio. It lists the standards OSX bluetooth port(you can't delete this): cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port and the stickmover on cu.usbserial-DN2EA3JH

Cheers,
Alastair


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Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:17 pm (Last edited: Mon Aug 13, 2018 6:32 pm)
#6
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Hi Alastair,

neXt takes the first port with name "tty.usbserial-*". I guess this is the problem on your system, because there is another port with the same name pattern. Can you remove these device?

I thought about an workaround on my side, but I think, it should work automatically. I can add a serial port selection... if necessary.

All the best,
Klaus

Align T-Rex 700X, Goblin Black Thunder T Line 710, MR25, Katana S 33%


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Mon Aug 13, 2018 7:09 pm
#7
Al

I only have one tty with that name pattern (I have done a * after the tty below):
iMac27:~ alastaircormack$ ls /dev/tty.*
/dev/tty.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port /dev/tty.usbserial-DN2EA3JH

I can use the screen command to attach to the port. eg:
screen /dev/tty.usbserial-DN2EA3JH 9600
It display nothing as I assume I have the wrong serial speed or you need to send something to make it stream anything back. But it does not say it is locked or anything

Not sure what is causing neXt not to work then but AVIRem works with no problem.


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Mon Aug 13, 2018 7:37 pm
#8
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Then it should work. When you enable the StickMover in the tab input device, it searches for these port and starts sending immediately. But when the Mono serial port library is crashing, you'll see nothing... also with the screen command. I don't know why AVISoft is working and neXt not.

I guess you have installed any serial device drivers.

I found this in a forum:
What seems to have worked for me is actually removing the FTDI driver (/Library/Extensions/FTDIUSBSerialDriver.kext), after finding that Apple ships an FTDI driver with the OS itself (/System/Library/Extensions/AppleUSBFTDI.kext).

Helps this?

Align T-Rex 700X, Goblin Black Thunder T Line 710, MR25, Katana S 33%

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Mon Aug 13, 2018 8:19 pm
#9
Al

Thats kind of what I had to do to make it work with AVIRem as I had the standard chipset provided FTDI driver that worked with arduino studio but did not work well with AVIRem. So I removed all the 3rd party FTDI pieces. If only it was as simple as deleting the kernel extension! I now only have the apple FTDI kernel extension running.

Other thought is that I have a version from the AppStore.. would Apple sandbox it so that serial port access was disabled? I've alway done development locally and never put on app store.. so don't know if Apple messes with the binaries.

Sorry to be a pain! Thank you for your help. I might just buy the non AppStore version and run in the WindowsVM.


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Mon Aug 13, 2018 10:46 pm (Last edited: Tue Aug 14, 2018 2:49 pm)
#10
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Oh... on my Mac, I do not need a FTDI driver... I still use the driver provided by OSX and AVISoft and neXt are working fine.

But you can check this by yourself. Simply go to this site: dl.next-sim.eu and click on further versions. There you can download the OSX version (without installer). The StickMover also works in the demo version.

Align T-Rex 700X, Goblin Black Thunder T Line 710, MR25, Katana S 33%


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Tue Aug 14, 2018 10:01 am
#11
Al

After plugging in the StickMover I ran:
sudo kextunload -b com.apple.driver.AppleUSBFTDI
AVIRem stopped working
then running: sudo kextload -b com.apple.driver.AppleUSBFTDI
to reload the FTDI driver. AVIRem world again. So the FTDI driver is needed for me with my Stickmover (I have no other serial drivers running).

But now for the good news!! The Download from your website worked! Very strange the Appstore version does not work but the download does.


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Tue Aug 14, 2018 10:04 am
#12
Al

Looks like I need to buy the licence from you :) Thanks again for the help.


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Tue Aug 14, 2018 2:48 pm (Last edited: Thu Aug 16, 2018 9:02 am)
#13
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Thank you very much for digging into this problem. I have just took a look at the Entitlements definitions and saw that there is no serial bus access for the AppStore build. Please excuse me for that. Maybe I can change the Entitlements for the AppStore build.

Align T-Rex 700X, Goblin Black Thunder T Line 710, MR25, Katana S 33%


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Tue Aug 14, 2018 3:47 pm
#14
Al

No problem. Glad I could help. Really wanted to get it working as my son is still on school holidays at the moment and thought it would be a good tool to get him flying. Hopefully you can get something up soon :)

Thanks for making a great sim!!

Cheers,
Alastair


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Wed Aug 15, 2018 7:19 pm (Last edited: Thu Aug 16, 2018 9:01 am)
#15
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Dear Alastair,

at the moment I'm working on a big update and I cannot publish anything. Maybe in 2 or 3 weeks.

And yes, you're right, StickMover support is not listed as a feature in the AppStore version. But do not worry, I will add it for free as always.

All the best,
Klaus

Align T-Rex 700X, Goblin Black Thunder T Line 710, MR25, Katana S 33%


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