Upgraded to SDR1.5 as well as Windows10 / Parallels, and now my mac no longer "sees" my 6700

DrJ

I was successfully running my 6700 with my MAC running VM with Parallels and Window10 (Preview).  I went to upgrade to the final version of Windows10 then everything fell apart.  Unrecoverable file problems.  I then reinstalled Windows 10 as well as Parallels and everything boots up fine but my mac no longer "sees" my 6700.  I have followed previous instructions such as adding a Network 2 and assigning it as ethernet and then making Network 1 as wifi.  Unfortunately , Windows10 won't let me bridge the two networks because only the wifi network is able to access the internet.  Windows states that two networks that are connected to the LAN are necessary to bridge and since my Network 2 can't get connected for whatever reason, I can't bridge them.
NOTE:  I connect to my router through WIFI .  It is too far away to connect it with ethernet cable.
I have rebooted everything, several times each.

If I can't figure this out, my only option is have to buy a PC and get rid of my mac.  I hate to do it cause I was running fine just a couple of weeks ago before the "upgrade".  

N3NER

Make sure the VM network interface is NOT setup as bridged. 

DrJ

Are you saying that my Network 1 should be wifi (host mode/non bridged) and Network 2 should be ethernet (6700 to Mac) only?

George KF2T

You may also want to consider the excellent DogparkSDR application for Mac. Makes life so much easier. I rarely use Parallels anymore.

If you would like to stick with Windows, though, the Flex doesn't need internet access. You can create a bridged connection from your Mac ethernet port directly to Parallels and plug the Flex in there. For internet, your Wifi should be fine, but not bridged to Windows.

My favorite option is to have an Airport Extreme set up as a wifi extender, with the Mac and Flex both plugged into it. Use a DHCP reservation for the Flex. Bridge the ONE LAN connection going to your Mac, and everybody's connected. No need to even have the Mac on if you want to use a remote client (Dogpark, K6TU, etc).

Good luck!

DrJ

I would definitely consider DogparkSDR, and indeed i may, particularly if it offers all al the functionality of flexSDR.  But I would really like to get this going, since I had it going before!

But thank you for the recommendation.  Is it available for download?  Any tips or recommendations fore dog park install?

Mike va3mw

are they the same subnet and can you use a route command to bridge the networks.

George KF2T

http://www.dogparksoftware.com/dogparkSDR.html

the unregistered version runs for 20 minutes at a time. Version 1.0 is pretty good, but not completely up to the feature set of SSDR 1.5. I use it 90+ percent of the time now.

DrJ

I tried to bridge the networks in windows but cannot since only one of them has a LAN connection.  

N3NER

In the hardware setup in Parallels, make sure the network card (wifi or otherwise) is not setup as bridged.  Is not in the windows setup, its the hardware config inParallels. 

K0GGC

I am not sure how you are set up but the way I set up my parallels is as follows.

Select the wifi network from my mac to connect to the internet. Run parallels as bridged using the wifi. That way both the mac and windows are on the same subnet and both have access to the internet thru the wifi. My flex radio is plugged directly into the router via ethernet and gets the put on the same subnet as both the mac and windows vm.

In my case all of my systems and radio are on a 192.168.0.**** subnet. 

When I went to El Capitan OS X, Windows 10, and updated parallels I had a problem with Flex VSP not starting and SDRCat crashing. I finally resorted to starting Flex VSP manually and removing SDRCat and DAX from the startup folder. Now I just have to start Dax and Cat manually before launching SmartSDR 1.5 and all works well.

DrJ

Here is how my physical system is set up.
6700 physically plugged in to the Mac via Ethernet

Here is a description of my parallels configuartion.  Can someone help me with this, as I think it is this that is messing me up.

My network 1 is setup as NIC Type: Intel Pro 1000 MT   Type: Shared Network
My network 2 setup is a NIC Type:   Intel Pro 1000 MT   Type: Ethernet 


I am able to browse the internet, but now while the radio is not seen on version 1.5, but it is seen on version 1.4.16 however, it states UPDATE is necessary, but when I hit update it states it can't and to recycle radio power, but I did this and nothing worked, then also rebooted, and nothing worked.

Help!

DrJ

Can you tell me the easiest way to program the two networks and the radio to all be on the same address? Sorry to be such a novice , but I am...

N3NER

This is very easy.  Just shut down the VM then go into configuration and you will see the network card in the left pane.  select it and use the pull down and change it to default adapter

DrJ

Do I not have to also add a "Network 2"? And if so, what are the recommended settings for that? Since I plug my 6700 Ethernet cable directly to my Mac mini I previously had to add a Network 2 since my Mac mini connects to my Apple router wirelessly via wifi. Maybe I don't have to do this with version 1.5 but it was a requirement with the same exact physical setup with SDR 1.4.16. Again, thank you to all for your help and patients. To quote Dr McCoy on the old Star Trek, " **** it Jim, I'm a doctor, not an I.T. Specialist!!!"

N3NER

No, you only need the one on that hardware page.  If you have WIFI setup on the mac mini, that's all you need.  It will pick up an IP number from your apple router which is the way mine is. 

DrJ

Indeed. It took me less than 20 minutes to set up after I downloaded it and I nap and running but yet still canno I get my virtual machine with parallels and windows done running. If that doesn't say something then I don't know what it would take to convince anyone. I am getting ready to send my $100 via PayPal to Don right now because this type of product is exactly what we need to support as OS X users.

DrJ

Another general question. Why don't the mainstream companies like Flex radio bother to have a OS X version of their software? I realize marketshare however there is a significant number of OS X users in the amateur radio community and although I know probably next to nothing about programming, I would think it certainly is no more difficult to develop code for this that it is for windows in fact I suspect easier? Why don't we see this from the big companies?

DrJ

Well, I had a glimpse of progress. When I adjusted my configuration just like you have it on your screen shot, the SDR software did see my 6700 but with the yellow " update" icon. I press the aloe update icon and it began updating and during the five or six minute update process the radio seem to be updating cycled on and off once and then when the yellow bar reach the 100% complete, I had a full steady green light but yet it's still read yellow "update" as if it was still updating. I waited and then clicked again on the update tab but nothing happened. I then rebooted the flex 6700, rebooted the SDR 1.5 software , And then when I did this the radio suddenly has "disappeared" and is no longer seen by SDR 1.5 again. Uuuuuuuuugh!!!!! I went back and then closed windows 10, and rebooted my mac OS X and then just for giggles rebooted the 6700 again but still no radio. I found it interesting that I was able to at least partially update the radio because it was "seen" after I first made this change. What is weird is when I previously used to have the preview version of Windows 10 when everything was working fine, only after someone suggested utilizing two networks one set to ethernet the other network 1 Wi-Fi but that does not work any long. The network settings does show in windows that I am connected to the Internet. I really thought your suggestion of just having network one only as a shared default adapter was going to work since SDR finally "saw" the radio and it definitely was updating is just that it seems just get frozen when the update bar was at 100%. I'm really looking for anyone to help here.

K0GGC

I don't know how you could have ever had this working if you only have one NIC in the mac mini. Even though you can configure a wifi network and an ethernet network they both use the same NIC. Your router that does the DHCP for your  network will only recognize one NIC not two.  

If you don't care about being connected to the internet, you could turn off the wifi adapter, plug the flex directly into the mini and set windows for shared network (ethernet). Now both the mac and Win 10 should see the flex.

If you want to put your radio on the local network, you will have to use either wifi or ethernet to connect your mac mini to your network. Connect your flex radio directly to the network via ethernet to your router. Put your windows vm as "Bridged (wifi or ethernet depending on what your mac mini is using for network access). This allows the vm to create and connect the vm via an ip address that is on the same subnet as your mac mini and your radio.

I can't see how you will ever get your radio to be seen by the local network and set up by DHCP (tethered to the mac mini with ethernet) when your mac mini is already connected to your local network and only has one NIC. If you had two NIC cards, with two ethernet adapters, you could in that case connect the mac with one NIC and the radio with a second NIC. But on the mac mini there is only one NIC card and both the wifi network and ethernet connect through the same NIC.

DrJ

UPDATE:!!!!!!!!! I finally got it going.!!!!!!! The trick was network one is the Wi-Fi network 2 is Ethernet both of them under the shared so network one is Wi-Fi share network 2 is Ethernet shared Hallelujah thank the Lord pass the ammo. !!! Of course I've only made one Q SOand will see if I have trouble in the near future. I'll update this blog over the next couple of days because I'm sure if I am having this problem others must be.

DrJ

N3NER

I hate to tell you but you're wrong, It shares the NIC card.  How do I know this? I do it all the time.  Been in IT for 30 years and this is the way Parallels works. You only need ONE network card in the mac for the VM.

K0GGC

Yeah, I know the VM shares the nic card and that you can set up the VM to have an independent ip address from the host machine. But what I am saying is that you can't get the host to have an ip address on the network, the VM to have an ip address on the network, and a radio attached to the host to have an ip address on the network.

The best you can do is have the host on the network, the VM on the network, and the VM sharing a self assigned ip address to the radio like kjaves figured out below.

This will allow the VM to run smartsdr and connect to the radio. It will allow the host to connect to the network and the internet. But the ip assigned to the radio won't be available on the network to other networked machines.

I have tried many many times and it is impossible. The best way is to just hook the radio to the router or a switch via an ethernet cable and then set up the host and VM to have independent network ip addresses. That way not only can the VM connect to the radio but any computer on the network can connect to the radio.

N3NER

I guess all my systems at work using VMware and my IMAC at home must be magic.  Sorry, you are dead wrong.

K0GGC

So you are saying you have an iMac running vmware with your iMac using the wifi to connect to the internet, your flex radio is connected to the iMac via ethernet and you can run smartsdr on another computer in your home and access the radio on the network.

If you have done this, it is a miracle, because I have tried and tried to get this to work. 

I have a mac mini in the shack connected via wifi, I have my radio connected to the mini via an ethernet cable.  I can connect to the internet. I can access the radio with the VM and run smartsdr in windows. But the ip address for the radio is unavailable to all other computers on the network. So I can't access the radio from my house with my laptop.

How do you get your router to give the radio an ip address on the network? Mine always assigns a self assigned ip by the radio. If I try to set up the ip address manually the DHCP server doesn't honor it.

Reggie-k6xr

I have a mac-mini connected to the router via ethernet cable. The radio is also connected to the router via ethernet cable. both the radio and mac are assigned ip addreses. I used a bridged network in configuration. I can get my radio from remote 150 miles away or out in the patio.

K0GGC

That's what I do and it works for me also. 

What I can't do is hook the radio to the mac via ethernet cable between the radio and the mac, connect the mac to the router via wifi, and then access the radio from a another computer on the network. 

I have to hook the radio to the router via an ethernet cable in order to access the radio from a another computer on the network.