OpenCPN not able to read built-in GPS

[Sir Gregory Hall, Esq.]

I purchased an HP Stream 8 tablet and one of the reasons I
got it was it has a built-in Broadcom GPS. I have Open
CPN installed on my Toshiba laptop and it works great in
conjunction with my GlobalSat BU-353S4.

The laptop is Windows 8.1 and so is the Stream 8 tablet.
OpenCPN installed perfectly on the Stream as it did on
the laptop. It found and configured all the charts when
I pointed it to the chart folder.

However, OpenCPN can't seem to *find* the built-in
Broadcom GPS although it finds and works just great with
the BU-353S4, The Broadcom internal GPS connects via
COM1 serial port while the BU-353S4 creates a virtual
com port it calls COM3. The only difference I can see
is COM3 defaults to 4800 baud while COM 1 defaults to
9600. But, even if I change it from 96000 to 48000 it
still won't connect.

Anybody know why not?

As a workaround I have just ordered a microUSB thumb
drive GPS which has drivers for both Windows and Android
devices so if I can't get the OpenCPN software to
recognize the Stream's internal GPS, I'll be able
to plug in the thumb drive and it will then create
a virtual Com3 port there so the Open CPN will be
able to enjoy the benefits of GPS.

Here is the Micro USB thumb drive GPS-

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N32HKIW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Notice the price. Cheap, huh?

Oh, the internal Broadcom GPS on the Stream tablet does work
because I downloaded and installed a car GPS navigator and it
manages to see and connect to the built-in GPS.

[Duncan McCormack]

Post by Sir Gregory Hall, Esq.
I purchased an HP Stream 8 tablet and one of the reasons I
got it was it has a built-in Broadcom GPS. I have Open
CPN installed on my Toshiba laptop and it works great in
conjunction with my GlobalSat BU-353S4.
The laptop is Windows 8.1 and so is the Stream 8 tablet.
OpenCPN installed perfectly on the Stream as it did on
the laptop. It found and configured all the charts when
I pointed it to the chart folder.
However, OpenCPN can't seem to *find* the built-in
Broadcom GPS although it finds and works just great with
the BU-353S4, The Broadcom internal GPS connects via
COM1 serial port while the BU-353S4 creates a virtual
com port it calls COM3. The only difference I can see
is COM3 defaults to 4800 baud while COM 1 defaults to
9600. But, even if I change it from 96000 to 48000 it
still won't connect.
Anybody know why not?
As a workaround I have just ordered a microUSB thumb
drive GPS which has drivers for both Windows and Android
devices so if I can't get the OpenCPN software to
recognize the Stream's internal GPS, I'll be able
to plug in the thumb drive and it will then create
a virtual Com3 port there so the Open CPN will be
able to enjoy the benefits of GPS.
Here is the Micro USB thumb drive GPS-
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N32HKIW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Notice the price. Cheap, huh?
Oh, the internal Broadcom GPS on the Stream tablet does work
because I downloaded and installed a car GPS navigator and it
manages to see and connect to the built-in GPS.

Your workaround is what I do with OpenCPN. Never had a problem with the
virtual com port method - but make sure it's supported for the OS (ie
Windows 8). I'm running it just fine on Windows 7.

And note also (thought I doubt it will help) that OpenCPN just came out
with a new major release - V4...

http://opencpn.org/ocpn/download

[Sir Gregory Hall, Esq.]

Post by Duncan McCormack

Post by Sir Gregory Hall, Esq.
I purchased an HP Stream 8 tablet and one of the reasons I
got it was it has a built-in Broadcom GPS. I have Open
CPN installed on my Toshiba laptop and it works great in
conjunction with my GlobalSat BU-353S4.
The laptop is Windows 8.1 and so is the Stream 8 tablet.
OpenCPN installed perfectly on the Stream as it did on
the laptop. It found and configured all the charts when
I pointed it to the chart folder.
However, OpenCPN can't seem to *find* the built-in
Broadcom GPS although it finds and works just great with
the BU-353S4, The Broadcom internal GPS connects via
COM1 serial port while the BU-353S4 creates a virtual
com port it calls COM3. The only difference I can see
is COM3 defaults to 4800 baud while COM 1 defaults to
9600. But, even if I change it from 96000 to 48000 it
still won't connect.
Anybody know why not?
As a workaround I have just ordered a microUSB thumb
drive GPS which has drivers for both Windows and Android
devices so if I can't get the OpenCPN software to
recognize the Stream's internal GPS, I'll be able
to plug in the thumb drive and it will then create
a virtual Com3 port there so the Open CPN will be
able to enjoy the benefits of GPS.
Here is the Micro USB thumb drive GPS-
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N32HKIW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Notice the price. Cheap, huh?
Oh, the internal Broadcom GPS on the Stream tablet does work
because I downloaded and installed a car GPS navigator and it
manages to see and connect to the built-in GPS.

Your workaround is what I do with OpenCPN. Never had a problem with the
virtual com port method - but make sure it's supported for the OS (ie
Windows 8). I'm running it just fine on Windows 7.

It works just fine on my Win 8.1 laptop using the COM3 port
the drivers for the GlobalSat Bu-352S4. It also works just
great on the Stream 8 Windows 8.1 tablet.

I was hoping to avoid having something stuck into the miniUSB
port since the Stream 8 has a built-in GPS but it's beginning
to look as if there is no other way at this time. As least the
mini USB GPS is quite small but if it gets dropped on it probably
it will ruin the mini port itself - bend it or break it.

Post by Duncan McCormack
And note also (thought I doubt it will help) that OpenCPN just came out
with a new major release - V4...
http://opencpn.org/ocpn/download

I doubt they did anything different concerning internal
device USB implementation recognition. The problem seems
to be too new.

The road navigation program I installed has no trouble finding
and configuring itself to use the internal Broadcom GPS. It
must include some subroutine that knows how to connect to
COM1 which is what the Broadcom internal GPS is using.

The good coders at OpenCPN need to copy and include that
subroutine as tablets with internal Broadcom GPS are
certainly not a scarce commodity.

[Sir Gregory Hall, Esq.]

On Mon, 12 Jan 2015 13:45:02 +1300, Duncan McCormack <***@work.ok>
wrote:


Oh, FYI in case you or anybody else in interested in the
Road navigation program that has no problem finding and
using the internal GPS and displaying the GPS information
number of satellites, etc in the Windows 8.1 OS, it
is called NavigatorFree.exe - that's the name of the
install program.

http://navigatorfree.mapfactor.com/en/

It has free downloadable maps so it can be used without
any telecom or wi-fi connections.

The only limitation I have found so far is it seems
to limit you to two maps at a time. If you try to
download more it downloads two more but deletes the
two you already downloaded.

I created a new folder and copied the maps to it
as a back up so when it deletes them from the
default download folder I still have them. They
are large so downloading them uses up a lot of
megabytes. Not good for those of us who pay
by the gigabyte of date.

The maps are .mca format. Hmmm, I wonder if
they make marine charts in that format???