FREE COM multiplexer software!

[Nevyn]

So I wanted to run multiple adapters to wardrive, but the only laptop I have with a serial port is Windows XP. This limits me to NetStumbler, which only supports one adapter at a time.

I can run multiple copies of NetStumbler, yes, but only one gets the GPS feed. That's no good, so I went digging and found this little gem:

http://www.eterlogic.com/Products.VSPE.html

Eterlogic Virtual Serial Port Emulator. It lets you take one COM port, and in "Splitter" mode, replicates that data to a virtual COM port that it then splits and feeds to multiple apps - in my case, multiple instances of the same app.

I plugged in/turned on all 3 wifi adapters, started the VSPE.
Created new emulation, type of "Splitter," feed data from COM1 to COM7, at 115200 (speed of GPS). Initialized the COM split. All apps get set to the same port for this software; for me COM7.

Start first NS instance, set to Dell. Set GPS to COM7, picked up lock.
Start second NS instance, set to WG111T. Set GPS to COM7, picked up lock.
Verified that Dell still had GPS lock - YES!
Started third instance, set to WG111v2, GPS on COM7 - lock.

Verified - three adapters, three NS instances, three GPS locks, ONE GPSr unit!

The only thing I noticed is that when shutting down, you MUST "FILE-->EXIT" Netstumbler otherwise NetStumbler locks up - it looks like it closed, but the process is still running in task manager.

A small price to pay, I think. By clicking on the running emulation in VPSE, and then clicking the blue circle with an "I" in it, you can look at all the processes that are utilizing that specific emulation. You can have more than one emulation running at a time, too.

I figured that this was well worth sharing!

[Petzl]

I did use many serial ports programs before, they all crashed ...

GPS gate is the only good solution i know

[AZ_WD'er]

I did use many serial ports programs before, they all crashed ...

GPS gate is the only good solution i know

XPort3 works well and it is free. http://curioustech.home.insightbb.com/xport.html

[Petzl]

the problem i had was when i diconnected my usb gps whithout closing the program, and when i plugged it in again i had also problems ...

whit gps gate is dont need to open a port again and i had also less blue screens

Last edited by Petzl on Sun Oct 12, 2008 10:11 am, edited 1 time in total.

[Nevyn]

GPSGate is only a 14 day trial now.

[tropicdog]

I've had good luck with the Delorme serial emulator available from Delorme's site. Of course it may not work with anything but Delorme, I know my Garmin hockey puck antenna didn't play well with it. The serial emulator allows splitting up to 4 COM ports.

That's my 2¢ worth.

My next generation wardriving rig will have a Trimble Placer and GPS that will take care of splitting signal from one GPS antenna to 3 devices. Trimble Placers can be picked up off eBay relatively cheap.

One of the things I enjoy reading about here is the many different solutions for setting up war rigs. I've seen some pretty inventive things out there. One of these days I need to gather some pics and post my own rigs to share too.