Supported Devices

**chunkyks** · 05-15-2009, 06:43 PM

OBD GPS Logger *should* magically work with just about anything that claims to be elm327 compliant.

That being said, I own, and have tested my software with:

0) Note: FTDI devices

OBDGPSLogger magically works with FTDI devices, on Linux out-of-the-box, and OSX after installing the drivers from this website: http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm.

On OSX, it creates a device /dev/cu.usbserial-{serial number}, which you would put in the relevant box in the UI or pass to obdgpslogger with the -s parameter.
On Linux the device is probably /dev/ttyUSB{something}

Note: Thanks to Smokeybreeze for this one: FTDI apparently conflicts with brltty on some systems [including Ubuntu 9.04]. If you find that your FTDI-based stuff isn't working, try removing brltty and libbrlapi from your system.

1) OBDPros USB
http://www.obdpros.com/product_info.php?products_id=133

Please see note 0, as this is an FTDI device.

This is the first USB device I got, and it worked perfectly first time with obdgpslogger, without modification.

I don't know how it does it, but empirically it can sample about five times faster than the OBDKey I have.

2) Scantool.net OBDLink
http://www.scantool.net/obdlink.html

This, again, works with FTDI drivers [which is ideal!].

Note that by default, the device I have works at 38400 baud but the FTDI driver on both OSX and Linux sets the default baudrate to 9600 when I plug this device in. OBDGPSLogger takes a "-b" or "--baudrate" option to alter the baudrate on the port after opening it, or you can set it permanently through the .obdgpslogger config file.

3) OBDKey Bluetooth
http://obdkey.com/

This works well, first time. Both OSX and Linux see this as simply a bluetooth serial port, and your OS makes the actual bluetooth connections as soon as you attempt to open the device. Configuring bluetooth on linux is way outside the scope of this page, I suggest googling "linux rfcomm tutorial" if your linux distribution doesn't already make it easy for you.

I do find that this device is a fair bit slower at actually sampling the data than the others. This may be lag, or it may be that the version I have is 1.2, while the new version [1.3] has had some massive massive improvements.

I will add others to this post as I get first-hand experience with them.

Gary

**cgalpin** · 06-05-2009, 07:33 PM

Has anyone used the OBDPro USB on ubuntu 9.0.4?

It has ftdi_sio v1.4.3 but this doesn't work. From /var/log/messages

Code:

Jun  5 18:08:49 jaunty kernel: [91688.496122] usb 1-1: USB disconnect, address 11
Jun  5 18:08:49 jaunty kernel: [91688.501568] ftdi_sio ttyUSB1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now disconnected from ttyUSB1
Jun  5 18:08:49 jaunty kernel: [91688.501634] ftdi_sio 1-1:1.0: device disconnected
Jun  5 18:10:12 jaunty kernel: [91771.732072] usb 1-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 12
Jun  5 18:10:13 jaunty kernel: [91771.942520] usb 1-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Jun  5 18:10:13 jaunty kernel: [91771.945771] ftdi_sio 1-1:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected
Jun  5 18:10:13 jaunty kernel: [91771.945870] usb 1-1: Detected FT232RL
Jun  5 18:10:13 jaunty kernel: [91771.946079] usb 1-1: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB

dmesg shows a few errors not seen in /var/log/messages

Code:

[85796.271651]
[90177.127396] ftdi_sio ttyUSB0: ftdi_set_termios FAILED to set databits/stopbits/parity
[90177.127423] ftdi_sio ttyUSB0: ftdi_set_termios urb failed to set baudrate
[90177.127437] ftdi_sio ttyUSB0: urb failed to clear flow control

I'm hitting problems compiling v1.5 from ftdichip.com right now. First I had to change include/linux/modversions.h to include/config/modversions.h in Rules.make. Then it couldn't find various files under asm, so I had to make symlinks for them from /usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.28-11/arch/x86/include/asm to /lib/modules/2.6.28-11-generic/build/include/asm but now I am down to this error

Code:

gcc -Wall -D__KERNEL__ -DMODULE -I/lib/modules/2.6.28-11-generic/build/include -D__SMP__ -DSMP -DMODVERSIONS -include /lib/modules/2.6.28-11-generic/build/include/config/modversions.h -I/usr/src/linux-2.6.28-11-generic/drivers/usb/serial/ -O   -c -o ftdi_sio.o ftdi_sio.c
In file included from /lib/modules/2.6.28-11-generic/build/include/asm/bitops.h:13,
                 from /lib/modules/2.6.28-11-generic/build/include/linux/bitops.h:17,
                 from /lib/modules/2.6.28-11-generic/build/include/linux/kernel.h:15,
                 from ftdi_sio.c:251:
/lib/modules/2.6.28-11-generic/build/include/asm/alternative.h:180: error: expected declaration specifiers or '...' before 'size_t'

And just FYI, if I don't have gpsd running, I get a segfault when killing obdgpslogger with ctrl-C

Code:

obdgpslogger[5420]: segfault at 2768 ip b7eafe27 sp bfc1e8b0 error 4 in libgps.so.17.0.0[b7ea5000+2e000]

**chunkyks** · 06-06-2009, 05:27 PM

I haven't tried it with 9.04 yet; doesn't ubuntu come with a built-in ftdi driver? There's another open-source driver at http://ftdi-usb-sio.sourceforge.net/, but I haven't tried it.

Gary (-;

**cgalpin** · 06-07-2009, 09:36 PM

Yes it comes with a ftdi driver but it isn't working with it (see the log output above). I also tried the software that came with it under wine and it isn't working either. If you have some troublshooting tips for the obdlogger, let me know otherwise I'll try the sf one and/or try again to get 1.5 to build.

**chunkyks** · 06-07-2009, 09:50 PM

Sorry, hardware problems are a bit out of my realm.

Googling for your specific errors, "ftdi_set_termios FAILED to set databits/stopbits/parity", I found lots and lots of answers, but I don't know how many of them will apply to you. Perhaps you could look at a few solutions there?

Gary (-;

**chunkyks** · 06-07-2009, 09:52 PM

You might also try asking on the OBDPros forum?

Gary (-;

**cgalpin** · 06-07-2009, 09:54 PM

No problem just figured I'd ask since I got the same hardware as you had thinking it was the safe way to go

Do you know what baud rate it should use or is that vehicle specific?

I did look at their forums, but there is little to no mention of linux even. I might ask there though.

The worst thing about this is I have to plug it in for it to go live and my little webpad isn't the easiest thing to work on (i usually ssh in). Not getting a strong signal out in the car

thanks,
charles

**chunkyks** · 06-07-2009, 10:12 PM

No problem just figured I'd ask since I got the same hardware as you had thinking it was the safe way to go

Man, now I feel bad! Wish I had more advice for you. Thus far, my OBDPro device has been fantastic, but to be honest I haven't got an Ubuntu 9.04 box yet. Perhaps it's time to try out virtualbox serial or USB proxying stuff, too.

Do you know what baud rate it should use or is that vehicle specific?

Actually, it's specific to your OBD device. Currently I don't look at, or change, baud rate. [such changes are coming soon for performance reasons, though] IIRC the OBDPro usb device defaults to 38400, I'm told 9600 is another common one.

The worst thing about this is I have to plug it in for it to go live and my little webpad isn't the easiest thing to work on (i usually ssh in). Not getting a strong signal out in the car

Yeah. Pain in the ***, huh? I've finally got round to ordering a simulator [cheapest decent-looking hardware one I could find], but they're still stupid-expensive. Really I need another couple, but there's no way I can afford that.

Gary (-;

**cgalpin** · 06-07-2009, 10:15 PM

Sorry, didn't mean to make you feel bad sorry (and please don't).

Are there not any software simulators? Unless you are trying to test usb/serial communication it seems a software simulator would be the way to go..

**chunkyks** · 06-07-2009, 10:29 PM

I've seen a few. Malcolm2073 has one linked from here: Affordable OBD Simulator?

There's others around. I've had teething problems so far...

Gary (-;