GPS Mouse BU-303

[impwatchkeeper]

Hi, there is a closed thread for the driver for a BU-303 PS mouse. I have one and before I consign it to the bin, I wondered if anyone still had the driver for this?

Regards,

Dave.

[MacBoero]

The BU-303 uses a Prolific PL-2303 USB to serial interface chip, so I reckon the Prolific drivers is all you'll need.
After that the device is a NMEA compliant device so should be sending standard NMEA sentences out a virtual serial port. I would expect it to be 4800 baud, probably 8-bit, with no parity and 1 stop bit.

You could try the US Globalsat BU-353 drivers, they might be backwards compatible.

[impwatchkeeper]

No luck with the BU-353 driver, still get the same "device will not start" error.

[FullOppositeRudder]

still get the same "device will not start" error

What is the computer program which is giving you this message? It might be helpful to also know the computer OS... The devices can be quite frustrating to start with - even the newest ones. It rather sounds like you have a functioning device. More recent Globalsat (353 onwards) have a tiny LED on the edge of the case which usually is solid when searching, and blinks when it has lock on sufficient satellites to provide a fix. There are quite a few simple GPS identification programs around which may help you ( Google is your friend ). One program called GPS Information has a GPS 'cold start' button; this may or may not help. Have a look here (https://www.oziexplorer4.com/au/) for useful information on GPS types including a port checker program. Finally here (http://www.gpsinformation.net/) is a site which would take several hours / days to fully explore, but your answer just may be in there somewhere.

Oh yes, I almost forgot. Stating the obvious here but make sure the GPS has clear access to the sky - or a major sector of it. If it hasn't run for a while (and being an earlier example of the species) it may take a while to work out where it is. It won't tell you anything until it knows that. I seem to recall that there was an 'almanac reload / update' a few weeks / months ago. I have no idea whether that's a factor, but some people in some circles I move in were discussing what to do about this.

I wouldn't give up on it just yet, but I can be a stubborn old sod when it comes to these things :suspect:

[impwatchkeeper]

Hi, I am using Windows 10. I have attached screen scrapes of the "GPS Information" tool and Device Manager.

A bit more info, google throws up loads of sites that want my credit card details, even though they state that the drivers are free... I am currently using it on my desktop inside my workshop, but once I can find the com port, I will install it on a laptop. I have a few other GPSs' so its not really a problem, I was hoping that someone may have the driver somewhere. There is a red LED on the side of the GPS that is n constant, if I recall correctly, it flashes when I have a lock.

[FullOppositeRudder]

Thank you for the update. You mentions screen scrapes, but I've not been able to see them.

Almost all the programs I have used in my GPS adventures have been free. USB GPS devices usually have to identify through a COM port which the drivers for the device should establish. My hunch is that you are almost there - you just need to find the com port which has been assigned to the USB device. This assignment often seems to be the result of a random number generator among other mysterious factors - one of my computers discovered the GPS on COM port 32!

The free program offered on this page (https://www.oziexplorer4.com/au/) will scan all of the available com ports on the machine, looking for NMEA sentences trying the usual com port speeds, and reports when it has found one. I can only add that in my experience, sometimes these devices work almost straight away; in others it can be a frustrating search for the right configuration. The most frustrating exercise has been trying to get a Garman Glo Bluetooth device to perform as is should. Windows XP and 7 were mostly co-operative. Windows 10 proved impossible and I walked away from the experiment. Only recently did I discover that drivers critical for the operation of this device were not written into Windows 10 and it's more or less common knowledge that the combination is a no-go. But I digress (again) ...

Good luck; I've a feeling that you are very close to the success you expect.