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Your thoughts on running SDR on a Mac

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VE3WDM

Your thoughts on running SDR on a Mac

Good morning, I am the proud owner of a KX3 and was wanting to give the SDR capabilities of the radio a go. I own an Imac computer so I am in the market for Mac friendly SDR software. The only program I have come across is DL2SDR's program....
1. Has anyone used this program and if so what are your thoughts?
2. If you are a KX3 owner and used DL2SDR how was the setup?
3. Is there any support (Yahoo group, other email groups) for this program?
4. Are there any other Mac SDR programs out there...I was only able to find DL2SDR's?

The other option I was considering was purchasing Parallel desktops 8 and running a windows SDR program on the Mac.
1. Is there Mac owners out there who have run Parallels....what are your thoughts on the program?
2. Which windows SDR program are you running on your Mac?
Thanks for your input
Mike
VE3WDM
http://ve3wdm.blogspot.com

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Bayard Coolidge, N1HO

Re: Your thoughts on running SDR on a Mac

I know nothing about SDR, and I own a K3, not a KX3.

But I do have a 27 inch iMac running Mountain Lion, with Parallels 8 and
Windows 7 64bit Home Premium installed.

It was working beautifully with RMS Express, HRD, and the Elecraft utilities, etc.
...until yesterday (or late Tuesday), when I swallowed the latest update to Parallels
(build 8.0.18345), which has a bug in it that prevents Windows 7 from being able
to "see" the USB/Serial FTDI-based cables/chips properly and messes up the drivers.
The issue has been raised to Parallels support and a fix is in the works, I think. Someone
just posted a workaround on their user forum indicating that installing the FTDI driver
on Mac OS X and creating a serial port on the VM will work, but it's limited to two of them.

So, basically, I can't control the K3 using its serial port, nor can I use my Signalink USB,
for the time being. Yes, I need to spend a few hours pawing through my Time Machine
backups to find the most recent working .pvm file, etc., but it's time I don't have right now.

I allocate one CPU core and 4GB of memory to the Parallels virtual machine, and that's
given me very good performance (when it works!). One criterion for me is the time it
takes HRD to switch modes between, say, PSK31 and RTTY-45 - there is a pregnant pause
of several seconds on my Acer netbook (32 bit Atom processor at 1.66GHz, 2GB memory),
but barely a blink on the iMac. Startup times for HRD and RMS Express are also impressive.

Personally, I would recommend you stick with a Windows 7-based solution for your SDR
work until Windows 8 has been shaken out a bit - when you start adding layers of complexity
like this, it becomes difficult to troubleshoot as there are likely multiple problems/interactions.

HTH,
Brandy, N1HO
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Charles Johnson

Re: Your thoughts on running SDR on a Mac

Another idea:

I am a registered Apple developer and was a beta tester for Parallels 8. If you are NOT running Windows 8, then Parallels 7 is the virtual platform of choice. It is still available from retailers at substantial discounts to version 8. Almost all of the changes incorporated into Parallels 8 were because of Windows 8 compatibility. Version 7 of Parallels is much more stable, and runs Win XP, Vista & 7 very nicely on most any Mac.

73, Charlie, K4ZRJ

On Nov 29, 2012, at 8:34 AM, Bayard Coolidge <[hidden email]> wrote:

> I know nothing about SDR, and I own a K3, not a KX3.
>
> But I do have a 27 inch iMac running Mountain Lion, with Parallels 8 and
> Windows 7 64bit Home Premium installed.
>
> It was working beautifully with RMS Express, HRD, and the Elecraft utilities, etc.
> ...until yesterday (or late Tuesday), when I swallowed the latest update to Parallels
> (build 8.0.18345), which has a bug in it that prevents Windows 7 from being able
> to "see" the USB/Serial FTDI-based cables/chips properly and messes up the drivers.
> The issue has been raised to Parallels support and a fix is in the works, I think. Someone
> just posted a workaround on their user forum indicating that installing the FTDI driver
> on Mac OS X and creating a serial port on the VM will work, but it's limited to two of them.
>
> So, basically, I can't control the K3 using its serial port, nor can I use my Signalink USB,
> for the time being. Yes, I need to spend a few hours pawing through my Time Machine
> backups to find the most recent working .pvm file, etc., but it's time I don't have right now.
>
> I allocate one CPU core and 4GB of memory to the Parallels virtual machine, and that's
> given me very good performance (when it works!). One criterion for me is the time it
> takes HRD to switch modes between, say, PSK31 and RTTY-45 - there is a pregnant pause
> of several seconds on my Acer netbook (32 bit Atom processor at 1.66GHz, 2GB memory),
> but barely a blink on the iMac. Startup times for HRD and RMS Express are also impressive.
>
> Personally, I would recommend you stick with a Windows 7-based solution for your SDR
> work until Windows 8 has been shaken out a bit - when you start adding layers of complexity
> like this, it becomes difficult to troubleshoot as there are likely multiple problems/interactions.
>
> HTH,
> Brandy, N1HO
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

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Bayard Coolidge, N1HO

Re: Your thoughts on running SDR on a Mac

I was able to work around the issue by viewing Parallels' Knowledge Base article #114449 at
http://kb.parallels.com/en/114449

which is entitled "Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac does not start after upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion"
and discusses the fact that users needed to get an updated version of Desktop 7 to run under ML,
and provided a clickable link. I downloaded and installed ParallelsDesktop-7.0.15107.796624.dmg,
and it brought up my Windows 7 Home Premium installation very nicely. I tweaked a couple of
parameters (i.e., pointed it to the USB/Serial adapter), rebooted Windows, and then check its
settings. I then tested it by first bringing up the Elecraft K3 Utility, discovering in the process that
the new K3 firmware had been released. That was successful as far as I can tell - I haven't explored
all of the firmware changes/features yet, but the radio still works. I then brought up Ham Radio DeLuxe,
adjusted it to point to the "new" COM port and the USB Audio port, and it appears to work fine.
Finally, I did the same with RMS Express and tested it with a WINMOR connection, and it's fine.

I don't know if there is a later build of 7.0 out there, nor do I particularly care at this point. I can
only hope that further investigation will glean what updates within the Parallels 7 release stream
are available, what their designations are, and whether I can selectively update without having to
be nagged about migrating to Parallels 8.

Bottom line appears to be that users of Windows 7 should NOT migrate to Parallels 8 unless/until
they are actually going to immediately migrate to Windows 8 as well. Obviously, some extensive
research of the vendor documentation, and full backups of the current working environment,
will be needed.

My thanks to everyone with whom I've exchanged e-mail both on and off the list about this issue.

________________________________
From: Charles Johnson <[hidden email]>
To: Bayard Coolidge <[hidden email]>
Cc: Mike Weir <[hidden email]>; "[hidden email]" <[hidden email]>
Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2012 1:00 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Your thoughts on running SDR on a Mac

Another idea:

I am a registered Apple developer and was a beta tester for Parallels 8. If you are NOT running Windows 8, then Parallels 7 is the virtual platform of choice. It is still available from retailers at substantial discounts to version 8. Almost all of the changes incorporated into Parallels 8 were because of Windows 8 compatibility. Version 7 of Parallels is much more stable, and runs Win XP, Vista & 7 very nicely on most any Mac.

73, Charlie, K4ZRJ

On Nov 29, 2012, at 8:34 AM, Bayard Coolidge <[hidden email]> wrote: