PSREdit300 with Wine
From The RadioReference Wiki
Contents
Introduction
This tutorial explains how to get PSREdit300 to work with Wine on Ubuntu Linux 8.10. PSREdit is an inexpensive commercial program that can program RadioShack Pro-163/164 and GRE-300/400 scanners. Though it isn't working perfectly just yet, the developer has been helpful in improving the functionality of PSREdit under Wine. See the Limitations section for more information.
Please Note: These instructions require intermediate knowledge of the software and hardware involved. It is a good idea to back up your scanner, and your Wine configuration before attempting this.
Requirements
- Ubuntu Linux Intrepid Ibex (8.10)
- Works OK on Hardy Heron (8.04) if you configure Wine to pretend to be Windows 2000.
- Other distributions that include the 'usbserial' and 'ftdi_sio' modules *should* work.
- RadioShack Pro-163/164 or GRE-300/400 (tested with Pro-163)
- Newest version of Wine (tested with 1.1.17 from WineHQ .deb packages archive)
- PSREdit300 (Costs a mere $20 * Download PSREdit300 Trial)
- Please see the Connecting scanners via USB article for USB cables to connect your PC to the scanner
Configuration
Wine Installation
- Download the latest version of Wine. (in .deb format, make sure you grab the right one for your system!)
- In a terminal, cd to the Desktop, and install the package with "sudo dpkg -i [packagename.deb]"
- You might get an error about failed dependencies which you can fix by running "sudo apt-get -f install"
USB/Serial Port Configuration
- Connect your USB cable.
- Open a terminal, and type "dmesg" to find out what device your USB cable is connected to. You should see something similar to this:
Mar 25 00:22:01 hiro kernel: [360980.395816] usb 2-1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0
- in the terminal, type the following:
ln -s /dev/ttyUSB0 ~/.wine/dosdevices/com1
- (replace 'ttyUSB0' with wherever your device is attached according to dmesg.)
Running PSREdit300
- If you haven't already, get PSREdit, and extract it to your Desktop.
- Enter the folder, and launch the .EXE file with wine. (right-click and select "Wine Windows Program Loader")
- In the program settings, configure the serial port as Com1 / USB.
You should now be able to download the data from your scanner, and edit it with PSREdit.
Limitations
PSREdit is a Windows program, and wasn't designed to be used on Linux. Wine does a pretty good job of allowing Windows applications to function, but the results can be unpredictable.
Known Issues
- Talkgroups view in PSREdit does not update when changing banks.
- If you click in the talkgroups window and "Select All" (CTRL+A) they will refresh.
- Copy/Paste is a tad unpredictable. Columns don't always translate as you'd expect.
- Other misc. wacky behaviour typical of running Windows stuff via Wine.
- May or may not work on other Linux or Unix-like systems such as BSD or Mac OSX.
- Not tested with other Linux distributions, PSREdit versions, scanners, or PC/IF cables.
Downloading from Scanner
Download from scanner doesn't always work as of PSREdit300 Ver. 1.29r1. Typically the download reaches 99%, then fails with the error "Communications error reading working memory"
To fix this, you can try disabling parity & flow control on ttyUSB0:
stty -F /dev/ttyUSB0 -parenb -ixon
Uploading to Scanner
In some Linux OS systems a higher setting of the delay in the Configuration Serial Ports communications from 100 ms to 300 ms will provide better success. In some Linux OS, especially if you already have a real serial port it is best to set the serial port to com3 or above, but never above com10.