Velocitek SC-1 and Mac OS X Leopard
I managed to get the Velocitek SC-1 working on my MacBook Pro running OS X version 10.5.2 after a whole lot of effort!
Parallels 3.0 running Windows XP wouldn’t work. I tried for several hours.
I did get the Windows OS to see the units via the USB ports using Parallels and the Velocitek Control Panel software did see each of them too but the firmware update only ran to about 85% before throwing an error. Many attempts either didn’t start because of an error or it only made it to 5% before quitting. Most didn’t even attempt to start without the error message popping up.
Here’s what worked.
Today I installed VMWare Fusion for OS X and reinstalled Windows XP.
Everything went smoothly until I got to the point of doing the firmware updates. The control panel software started throwing errors and that was if it could even get started (again)!
I tried and tried everything I could think of and here is what worked:
- Turn off the Velocitek Control Panel software
- Unplug the SC-1 from the computer
- Remove the batteries
- Put the batteries back in
- Plug the SC-1 back up to the computer
- Start the control panel software
- Run the firmware update
I did this twice with two units. Only in this specific order would the firmware upgrade work but I finally got it.
I was determined to make VMWare play nice with the SC-1’s and now I’m wondering if I just didn’t give Parallels enough trial and error effort.
Anyway… tonight, I used it to map my trip home from work (max speed was 32 knots).
Again though, when plugging in the unit, I had to remove the batteries, then put them back in before plugging in to the computer and starting the control panel software to download the track.
I’ll post again after the first use on the boat, possibly Saturday afternoon. I can’t wait!
Tags: gps, sc-1, velocitek