PSREdit300 with Wine

Screenshot of PSREdit300 in Ubuntu Linux

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.

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.
• 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)
• RadioShack 20-047 USB/Serial Scanner Programming Cable or Equivalent.

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" Here's what the developer had to say about that:

"The upload/Download image size changed from CPU Firmware 1.4 to 1.6. There's code in there to handle the difference, but if you have 1.6 in there then that code shouldn't come into play. It's possible that some of the data is being dropped in the transfer, it's also possible that the timeout is a little short for the program running under Wine... I can increase that timeout for the next release, and we'll see if that helps." -Mike

As a workaround, you can download from your scanner to a Windows PC, save the file and then work with it in Linux. The upside is that it is still far easier than programming your scanner manually. The downside is that it requires Windows...

Updated by --Natrixgli 18:49, 26 March 2009 (CDT)

More Information

• PSREdit300 Home Page
• PSREdit300 Yahoo! Group
• WineHQ Website
• Ubuntu Linux Website