Welcome to the new FlexRadio Community! Please review the new Community Rules and other important new Community information on the Message Board.
If you are having a problem, please refer to the product documentation or check the Help Center for known solutions.
Need technical support from FlexRadio? It's as simple as Creating a HelpDesk ticket.

FlexControl connected directly to Flex 6000 radio

DaveC
DaveC Member ✭✭
edited June 2020 in New Ideas
The Flex 6000 radios have USB connectors on them. I think you should be able to connect the FlexControl directly to the radio instead of to the PC.My PC has an issue with USB serial device, so I can't use my FlexControl with it.

Comments

  • Lee - N2LEE
    Lee - N2LEE Member ✭✭
    edited February 2017
    There are a number of reasons but my guess is that there is no way to install a USB driver for every device on the market. Remember this is not a windows box it is a dedicated OS so that would mean Flex would have to write drivers for all kinds of devices.

    Granted the FlexControl is a dedicated device so support for a single device would be a little easier.
    But using the device drivers on the PC is much easier all away around.
  • DaveC
    DaveC Member ✭✭
    edited June 2020
    First of all, it wouldn't be for every devices, just those they wish to support.

    Second, then why put two USB connectors on the radio in the first place?

    My understanding is there is some type of GPU in the Flex Radio, probable an ARM, and it would not be difficult to interface to it. A lot of these GPUs have built in hardware to support these type of interfaces. 

    In my opinion, the USBs probable came for free so they decided to put them on the board anyways, even though they had no idea what to use them for.  I suspect all the hardware is there and the only reason not to do it is time and the willingness to do it.

  • Walt
    Walt Member ✭✭
    edited July 2017
    I thought the USB ports were for the DStar dongle and I suppose the other one would be used for some other digital voice mode I have not heard of yet.

    Cheers
  • DaveC
    DaveC Member ✭✭
    edited December 2018
    Proves my point. USB defines not only an electrical interface, but also a universal serial protocol. When you plug a **** USB device into a master device, it can tell the master what it is and therefore the computer/controller set up the interface appropriately.  
  • KY6LA_Howard
    KY6LA_Howard Member ✭✭✭
    edited January 2017
    It seems to come down to the point that your USB port on your computer is on the fritz so Flex should drop everything, develop universal device drivers for USB ports so you can use your Flex control rather than you spending $15 to add a new USB port to your computer Frankly if software were so easy to develop it would already be done. But clearly it involves significant resources to develop this USB driver. Those resources can better be spent on many other Likes higher on the wish list.
  • DrTeeth
    DrTeeth Member ✭✭
    edited August 2016
    What is the problem? Somebody may be able to fix it? If not, USB cards are quite cheap and could easily fix the problem. I would imagine a PC with non-functioning USB ports would be quite a handicap these days.
  • Bob G   W1GLV
    Bob G W1GLV Member ✭✭
    edited December 2016
    Right now one of the USB ports supports a DSTAR dongle if your so inclined. The dongle has some accompanying software that supports that dongle. 
  • DaveC
    DaveC Member ✭✭
    edited May 2018
    OK I will ask a different question:

    My FlexControl does not work on my Windows 32 bit machine. It works fine on three other computers I have access to, two Windows 7 64 bits machines and one Windows 10. I also have two other serial USB programming cables for two of my radios that exhibit the same issue.  

    I also had this as a bug/service request with Flex. But they were unable to fix it.

    I have searched for MONTHS for a solution to this issue and have not been able to find one.

    So has anyone else run into this problem, and if so, what did you do to fix it?

    My computer is a refurbished Dell Optiplex 740 running Windows & 32 bit. I am desperate for a solution.

    Thank you.

    P.S. The USB ports are working correctly. Other type of devices work fine. Keyboard, mouse, USB wireless dongles, USB to parallel port cables etc. It is only those that are USB to serial that don't work
  • Tim - W4TME
    Tim - W4TME Administrator, FlexRadio Employee admin
    edited May 2018
    Dave - while this is doable, it is a low priority feature.  The operator control point of a FLEX-6000 system is the GUI software or SmartSDR.  It makes more sense to have the FlexControl associated with the actual operator control point rather than with the actual radio hardware which may or may not be co-located with the GUI.  This follows our 80/20 rule which states that we add features that address the 80% first and address the remaining 20% later.  

    One of our primary visions for the FLEX-6000 is that of a radio client-server architecture. Ideally, the operator (control point) and the radio hardware need not be at the same location.  We invision remote access as being the predominent emerging trend in operating a station.  So for the time being, you should expect operator control point devices to be either tied to the GUI software.
  • Tim - W4TME
    Tim - W4TME Administrator, FlexRadio Employee admin
    edited December 2016
    Dave - you have already isolated your issue to the Dell Optiplex 740 and  not the FlexControl.  Windows is a complex and fickle beast.  I come from a 25 year IT background and it is not uncommon for older Windows to get so mucked up that a reload of the operating system is the only viable solution to resolve the issue.  I suspect you are running XP or Vista.  Both are long in the tooth and XP is no longer supported.  At best, your 740 has an AMD 64 X2 CPU which is below the recommended minimum CPU for running SmartSDR (AMD Phenon II).  It may not be worth the effort to spend the time trying to get this particular PC beat into submission.
  • DaveC
    DaveC Member ✭✭
    edited December 2016
    Computer is about 4 years old running Windows 7 32 bit machine. Sorry if I didn't make this clear.
  • DaveC
    DaveC Member ✭✭
    edited December 2016
    OK thank you. So I am not total ****.

    I appreciate Flex's position. 


Leave a Comment

Rich Text Editor. To edit a paragraph's style, hit tab to get to the paragraph menu. From there you will be able to pick one style. Nothing defaults to paragraph. An inline formatting menu will show up when you select text. Hit tab to get into that menu. Some elements, such as rich link embeds, images, loading indicators, and error messages may get inserted into the editor. You may navigate to these using the arrow keys inside of the editor and delete them with the delete or backspace key.