+frefel Posted August 1, 2004 Share Posted August 1, 2004 Help please. I've got a serial-USB cable connecting my Garmin eTrex GPSr to a Win XP laptop (no serial connector). I'm trying to move a WP from the GPSr to the NatlGeo Topo program but I get either a Com port ''busy'' or a "'no response from GPSr" message for each selected port.. I checked the Device Manager status and it is working on Com 8. The GPSr is on and on Garmin interface. I have no PDA program running to tie up the port and in fact it seems that the port recognizes the Garmin but sees it as improperly connected or off. What else might I do? Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment
+Desert_Warrior Posted August 1, 2004 Share Posted August 1, 2004 Congratulations. You have just stumbled on the bain of NG-TOPO. It does not work with USB, although it might in the near future. Do not waste your time contacting them. Their support guy, Michael Wildshut, is a real piece of art. When I tried to get the information from him last year, he INSISTED that NG-TOPO would work with a USB connection, if and only if I used the USB cable drivers that were provided with my USB cable. What drivers? A USB cable HAS NO DRIVERS!!! If you must use NG-TOPO right now, you will need to get a serial cable If you have a computer that does NOT have a serial port, you are out of luck. Again, do not waste your time with Michael Wildshut at NG-TOPO support. But then again, why not? It is cheap amusment! Quote Link to comment
+frefel Posted August 3, 2004 Author Share Posted August 3, 2004 Actually my USB serial convertor came with with drivers and is described as "a bridge between one USB port and standard RS232 Serial Port to contact your PDA to the USB Port on your MAC or PC". I do have the driver installed so that isn't the problem. Other ideas? Quote Link to comment
+Alan2 Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 I don't know if this will help as I connect to my etrex Vista thoguh my PC's serial port.. But I do have NG Topo that I upgraded to download maps and routes (but not waypoints) to my Pocket PC so you can hook up a GPS and see your position on the NG Topo map in the PPC. The PPC connects to my computer through the USB so somehow the upgraded NG Topo does "talk" through a USB. Not sure how this info might help you with you problem though, but I hope this little fact helps somehow. Good luck Alan Quote Link to comment
+Desert_Warrior Posted August 4, 2004 Share Posted August 4, 2004 (edited) FREFEL You are still using a serial cable,using RS-232 protocols and speeds, and NG-TOPO sees the adapter as a serial port. This can be done, but it is not really a USB connection, you have an adapter in the line. Not real clear on your setup, so no other ideas. Maybe the best bet is to just wait (and wait and wait) for the next upgrade of TOPO. ALAN2 The PPC may work on the USB port, but the GPSr connection is still serial. This doesn't help him. Bottom line - right now the only way to get NG-TOPO to talk to a GPSr is through the serial port. However, for the entertainment value alone, it is worth contacting Michael Wildshut at NG-TOPO support and asking him. Just to make it interesting, tell him you have the drivers, but TOPO still don't work! What a work of art he is.... Edited August 4, 2004 by Desert_Warrior Quote Link to comment
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