WC hangs looking for weather station

[Dsbach]

New install of trial WeatherCat. WC hangs trying to access the Davis VantagePro2 data logger.
I know the USB-serial port (I have been using WeatherTracker). I choose the Davis stations (VantagePro2) and the correct serial port and WC hangs. Cannot force quit. Must power down to restart.
(I start without WeatherTracker, so it has not grabbed the USB-serial.)
Is there something else to remove or turn off?
2012 Mac Mini, OS X 10.8.5.
Indigo 6 is using a different USB-serial port to access an INSTEON power line modem.
I like what I see with WeatherCat and want to check it out, but so far I'm stumped on getting it to run.

[elagache]

Dear Dsbach and WeatherCat fans,

First welcome to the WeatherCat forum

New install of trial WeatherCat. WC hangs trying to access the Davis VantagePro2 data logger.
I know the USB-serial port (I have been using WeatherTracker). I choose the Davis stations (VantagePro2) and the correct serial port and WC hangs. Cannot force quit. Must power down to restart.
. . . . . . .

Sounds like you are having problems because the driver software for your USB to Serial dongle isn't compatible with WeatherCat.  This has happened once before that some weather software was able use a dongle with outdated drivers while WeatherCat was unable to.

Can you tell us the brand of your USB to Serial converter dongle?  That would help us determine where you could download the latest drivers.

Cheers, Edouard 

[Dsbach]

Thanks for the reply. I'm using the Pluggable Serial to USB adapter and the Prolific driver - latest one from Silicon Labs for the Prolific Serial to USB chipset.
These are working fine with WeatherTracker and have been for several months - much more stable than the previous version.
This is the latest from Silicon Laps:
  PL2303 Prolific Mac OS X 10.9 ? 10.6 v1.5.1
  Installer version v1.5.1; Build Date: 2013-09-02
  For Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks, 10.6.x Snow Leopard, 10.7.x Lion and 10.8.x Mountain Lion (32-bit and 64-bit kernel)
I know which SerialToUSB driver to choose - the same one as for WeatherTracker.
db

[Dsbach]

So....

No response?

[Blicj11]

Another WeatherCat user is having the same problem. It appears to be an issue with using the Prolific driver on Mavericks.

See the thread:

http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?topic=1006.0

[Dsbach]

However, I'm on Mountain Lion!

[Blicj11]

My suggestion is to try the driver Stu recommended on the other thread. You are on Mountain Lion, but having the same issues as the other thread. Your driver appears to be kaput.

[Dsbach]

I believe you're missing a significant point. The driver works well with WeatherTracker and the Davis WeatherLink data logger. This is not a broken driver. The issue is that WeatherCat does not work with this already functioning  PL-2303 USB-to-Serial Bridge Controller driver.
The link to a SourceForge PL-2303 driver is ancient. I tried it a year or so ago looking for a working driver and it didn't work at all with the data logger and WeatherTracker.

[elagache]

Dear Dsbach and WeatherCat fans,

Wish I had better news for you but . . . .

I believe you're missing a significant point. The driver works well with WeatherTracker and the Davis WeatherLink data logger. This is not a broken driver. The issue is that WeatherCat does not work with this already functioning  PL-2303 USB-to-Serial Bridge Controller driver.
The link to a SourceForge PL-2303 driver is ancient. I tried it a year or so ago looking for a working driver and it didn't work at all with the data logger and WeatherTracker.

If I recall correctly, this has happened at least once before.  Programs like WeatherCat and WeatherTracker use different features of the hardware driver.  As operating systems are updated, drivers don't necessary fail outright.  Some routines fail but not all.  WeatherTracker has effectively lucked out by using only features of the PL-2303 USB-to-Serial Bridge Controller driver that haven't been broken by Apple's OS updates.  However, we all know that Apple isn't very kind to those trying to use older things.  That's why I'm marooned running Snow Leopard.  If Apple had been good guys and maintained Rosetta - I wouldn't be in this mess.

I'm afraid your choice is to stick with WeatherTracker or swallow up the cost of another USB serial dongle that has better OS-X support.  Sometimes life is like that - believe me - I know!! 

Cheers, Edouard 

[jkyndt]

I'm afraid your choice is to stick with WeatherTracker or swallow up the cost of another USB serial dongle that has better OS-X support.  Sometimes life is like that - believe me - I know!! 

Cheers, Edouard 

Can anyone suggest a goof USE serial dongle that has better OSX support?

Thanks