Sigh... Windows 11 and Apple M1 Mac

[W1MVY]

It's been a little while - well... quite a while based on catching up on the OpenGD77 Licensing woes.... Roger I am sorry to see all this.

I am trying to get my GD77 CPS and firmware updated now that I have a new Mac and am seeing some uh... challenges.

I have a brand new Macbook Pro M1-Max running the latest Monterey MacOS and a Radioditty GD-77 radio.

I discovered that my previous solution to running the OpenGD77 CPS/Serial Driver which was using Oracle VirtualBox to run Win 10 (x86) no longer works. I had to load the M1 version of Parallels, but when I do that, the only Windows release I can run is Windows 11 ARM version. The experimental CPS (version 2021.10.16.01) can execute, but I can't load nor find the OpenGD77 serial driver - just as as Roger indicated in his "Win 11 not supported" announcement and I can't seem to find a way to get a serial driver that would work.

So I am now looking for guidance.

The one constant in my quest is that my new computer is an Apple M1-based ARM machine running MacOS Monterey and I have Parallels 17. I can run linux (one of many ARM versions), MacOS Monterey, Win 11 ARM. I am happy to do a custom build for myself or test anything that others may have to get a CPS/Serial Driver/Firmware combo that will work. I am fine with experimenting.

What do you guys suggest as a potential path?

OpenGD77 is a great adventure!

[oh1fss]

So you can't select the COM port manually in CPS?

Another way is to use the CPS only for building your codeplug, but use Python program GD77transfer in Linux for uploading the codeplug file to your radio. You can download the latest version here: https://www.opengd77.com/viewtopic.php? ... 079#p16079. For usage, please search forum with keyword GD77transfer or see GD77transfer.py --help

73, OH1FSS

[VK3KYY]

It's been a little while - well... quite a while based on catching up on the OpenGD77 Licensing woes.... Roger I am sorry to see all this.

I am trying to get my GD77 CPS and firmware updated now that I have a new Mac and am seeing some uh... challenges.

I have a brand new Macbook Pro M1-Max running the latest Monterey MacOS and a Radioditty GD-77 radio.

I discovered that my previous solution to running the OpenGD77 CPS/Serial Driver which was using Oracle VirtualBox to run Win 10 (x86) no longer works. I had to load the M1 version of Parallels, but when I do that, the only Windows release I can run is Windows 11 ARM version. The experimental CPS (version 2021.10.16.01) can execute, but I can't load nor find the OpenGD77 serial driver - just as as Roger indicated in his "Win 11 not supported" announcement and I can't seem to find a way to get a serial driver that would work.

So I am now looking for guidance.

The one constant in my quest is that my new computer is an Apple M1-based ARM machine running MacOS Monterey and I have Parallels 17. I can run linux (one of many ARM versions), MacOS Monterey, Win 11 ARM. I am happy to do a custom build for myself or test anything that others may have to get a CPS/Serial Driver/Firmware combo that will work. I am fine with experimenting.

What do you guys suggest as a potential path?

OpenGD77 is a great adventure!

If the CPS can't find the com port named "OpenGD77", because the driver can't be loaded, then it will prompt for you to select the correct / unnamed com port


Re: CPS for other platforms

We have tied to do this, but because the CPS is a decompiled / hacked / recompiled version of the official CPS, it uses various code libraries that only seem to work on Windows.

Rewriting the CPS from scratch to make it cross platform would take thousands of hours of work.
i.e if this was easily possible, someone else would have already done it.


I also looked to see if you could run a different VM, but it looks like Oracle Virtual box does not support Apple M1 hardware either

[W1MVY]

@OH1FSS - Thank you for the excellent suggestion. I will try your suggested approach.

@Roger, VK3KYY - Understood about the unlikely rewrite of the CPS, and you are correct about VirtualBox not working on the M1 Macs - that was my first hope as that is what I used on my old MacPro.

I'll try the approach that OH1FSS suggested, creating the CodePlug on the CPS on Win 11 and then using Linux-based GD77-Transfer to interact with the GD77.

It will be interesting to see if the ODM that makes the GD77 and similar radios upgrades their CPS in the next few months/years to Win 11.

73 de Scott, W1MVY

[KC2IAO]

I just powered on my GD-77 that I haven't touched in about 3 years, and I found that I was able to use "qdmr" (https://dm3mat.darc.de/qdmr/) to read/write the codeplug on my M1 Mac.

May want to try that.

[n1id]

I am using a M1 Mac and windows 11 Arm. I can load the firmware with it as well as use the cps on the GD77. With the cps I have to select the com port. Roger made that change to prompt.. I am using the dec 13th cps and dec 19 firmware

Also using parallels 17

Let me know If I can help

[W1MVY]

@N1ID,

I just returned to my GD77 effort and saw that Roger (and community) had updated the CPS to work again.

I would like to understand how you got the CPS to work on Windows 11 hosted in Parallels 17.1.1 on an M1 Mac. I have worked all afternoon to try to get things to work and am stuck on getting a COM port to show up both in the hosted OS as well as within the CPS. I have confirmed that MacOS see's both my USB Hub and a device called "USB COMPOSITE DEVICE" within the Win 11 Device Manager - this is the device that is the (Open)GD77 radio in firmware download mode. This device, however, is not a COM PORT according to the OS and CPS.

For all the others in this thread, many thanks for the viable replies. One issue that I see with all of them is that although I can see the codeplug with my existing OpenGD77 firmware, I can't update to later releases without getting the CPS working again. Ugh.

In looking at other radios on the market I can see that they are likely to have WIN 11 issues too. Ham developers simply don't make MacOS friendly equipment - very frustrating.

I am very interested in how you got everything working on your M1 Mac with Parallels.

- How did you install?
- What drivers do you see/use on Win 11?
- What do you see for a COM port in the CPS?
- What version of Parallels 17 are you running (I am on 17.1.1)?
- What CPS and OpenGD77 firmware versions are you using?
- Did you have to do any unique configuration in Parallels 17 to get the COM port / driver working?

Thanks in advance!

Scott, W1MVY

[VK3KYY]

@N1ID,

I just returned to my GD77 effort and saw that Roger (and community) had updated the CPS to work again.

I would like to understand how you got the CPS to work on Windows 11 hosted in Parallels 17.1.1 on an M1 Mac. I have worked all afternoon to try to get things to work and am stuck on getting a COM port to show up both in the hosted OS as well as within the CPS. I have confirmed that MacOS see's both my USB Hub and a device called "USB COMPOSITE DEVICE" within the Win 11 Device Manager - this is the device that is the (Open)GD77 radio in firmware download mode. This device, however, is not a COM PORT according to the OS and CPS.

For all the others in this thread, many thanks for the viable replies. One issue that I see with all of them is that although I can see the codeplug with my existing OpenGD77 firmware, I can't update to later releases without getting the CPS working again. Ugh.

In looking at other radios on the market I can see that they are likely to have WIN 11 issues too. Ham developers simply don't make MacOS friendly equipment - very frustrating.

I am very interested in how you got everything working on your M1 Mac with Parallels.

- How did you install?
- What drivers do you see/use on Win 11?
- What do you see for a COM port in the CPS?
- What version of Parallels 17 are you running (I am on 17.1.1)?
- What CPS and OpenGD77 firmware versions are you using?
- Did you have to do any unique configuration in Parallels 17 to get the COM port / driver working?

Thanks in advance!

Scott, W1MVY

I have been informed by N1ID the CPS does work under Parallels, but not the COM driver.
Parallels does not support X86 drivers.


However Parallels installs an unnamed / generic com port driver for the GD77, and you need to manually check what COM port number has been assigned to the GD77, and then manually select that COM port number when using the CPS

This is not a limitation of the CPS or the driver, its a limitation of Parallels to support x86 drivers.

[W1MVY]

@VK3YY,

I have checked to see if any COM ports are available in the hosted Windows 11 image and there are none. The CPS does not offer any COM ports and neither do Device Manager or the USB options in Control Panel.

I just deleted the CPS from my Windows 11 image and reinstalled. What I see is the same as before. The GD77 device is identified in Device Manager and Control Panel as "USB COMPOSITE DEVICE" - not a COM port. It also claims that the generic driver for the USB COMPOSITE DEVICE is up to date. I think that this at least proves that the VM is seeing a device but does not ID is properly. Other drivers for the network ports on my dongle are properly identified and work correctly. The GD77 CPS does not see a COM port and there are no COM ports to offer to it.

Perhaps there is some obvious Windows 11 trick that I am missing?

Thanks again,

Scott, W1MVY

[VK3KYY]

I do not have a M1 Mac. I was only reporting what I have been reliably told by several hams using M1 hardware