Blue Opal/Electronics/ShipModul: Difference between revisions
(Created page with "The ShipModul MiniPlex-3 is a device for multiplexing and converting NMEA0183 and NMEA2000 data signals. It relies on Windows software for management, but all the controls are just proprietary NMEA0183 sentences. Blog posts with all the exploration and poking: https://www.cricalix.net/2023/05/07/miniplex-and-linux/ and https://www.cricalix.net/2023/05/08/miniplex-and-linux-the-socat-edition/ = Configuration via Wine = The MiniPlex configuration software can be run on a...") |
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With the registry keys loaded, it's a matter of running '''MPXConfig3''', configuring the software to use COM1, and it should be able to communicate with the MiniPlex-3 that's plugged in to a USB port on the computer. | With the registry keys loaded, it's a matter of running '''MPXConfig3''', configuring the software to use COM1, and it should be able to communicate with the MiniPlex-3 that's plugged in to a USB port on the computer. | ||
[[File:MiniPlex-on-Linux.mp4|thumb]] |
Revision as of 07:10, 1 September 2023
The ShipModul MiniPlex-3 is a device for multiplexing and converting NMEA0183 and NMEA2000 data signals. It relies on Windows software for management, but all the controls are just proprietary NMEA0183 sentences.
Blog posts with all the exploration and poking: https://www.cricalix.net/2023/05/07/miniplex-and-linux/ and https://www.cricalix.net/2023/05/08/miniplex-and-linux-the-socat-edition/
Configuration via Wine
The MiniPlex configuration software can be run on a Linux machine using Wine. You should probably use a WINEPREFIX to isolate this configuration from other uses of Wine.
Communication details
The MiniPlex-3 uses a FTDI chip to present a serial port over USB, running at 406,800 bits/second. Modern Wine will map ttyUSB
devices to COM ports, making the Linux serial ports available to programs running in Wine. Depending on machine setup, COM1
may be mapped to /dev/ttyS0
or /dev/ttyUSB0
automatically by Wine.
The only caveat is making sure the logged-in account is a member of the dialout
group (on Debian/Ubuntu; other distros may use a different group for serial ports).
Registry keys
The following registry keys need to be loaded into the Wine instance to set up the relevant parameters for the serial port.
Wine\Ports maps COM1
to /dev/ttyUSB0
, on the assumption that the MiniPlex is connected via a USB serial converter that was assigned to /dev/ttyUSB0
(you may need to check syslog/journalctl to be sure).
The next one sets up the expected FTDI configuration, and the next two make the port available to the configuration software in the manner that it expects (the config data especially).
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wine\Ports]
"COM1"="/dev/ttyUSB0"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4d36e978-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\0001]
"ProviderName"="ShipModul"
"MatchingDeviceId"="ftdibus\\comport&vid_0403&pid_fd4b"
"DriverDesc"="MiniPlex-3 Serial Port"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\FTDIBUS\VID_0403+PID_FD4B+3B020373A]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\FTDIBUS\VID_0403+PID_FD4B+3B020373A\0000]
"ClassGUID"="{4d36e978-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}"
"Driver"="{4d36e978-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}\\0001"
"FriendlyName"="MiniPlex-3 Serial Port (COM1)"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\FTDIBUS\VID_0403+PID_FD4B+3B020373A\0000\Device Parameters]
"PortName"="COM1"
"PollingPeriod"=dword:00000000
"ConfigData"=hex:01,03,3f,3f,06,40,06,40,06,40,06,40,06,40,06,40,06,40,06,40,\
06,40,06,40,06,40,06,40,06,40,00,00,06,40
"MinReadTimeout"=dword:00000000
"MinWriteTimeout"=dword:00000000
"LatencyTimer"=dword:0000000a
Running the configuration program
A WINEPREFIX is recommended, to keep the configuration separate from any other Wine configurations that are needed.
export WINEPREFIX=$USER/.wine/miniplex
wine regedit a_file_with_that_registry_content.reg
wine MPXConfig3.exe
With the registry keys loaded, it's a matter of running MPXConfig3, configuring the software to use COM1, and it should be able to communicate with the MiniPlex-3 that's plugged in to a USB port on the computer.