Mavericks and d2xx with enttec dmx usb pro

[jan]

Hi all I am building a project in Mavericks which uses QLab to control mini stage console which is using an Enettec DMX USB pro to output the DMX

However since Mavericks apple have replaced the d2xx USB drivers making the enttec unusable, I dialled the current driver via a fix on the enttec site but now I need to get the d2xx drivers running however I am not sure what to do based on the instructions for installing them on mac os as they seem different in Mavericks

I would get and install an older OS however I would rather try a work around as this is not my laptop

any advice apriciated 

[Chris Ashworth]

Hi Jan,

That sounds like something worth checking with Enntec about, or possibly the creator of Mini Stage Console.

Best,

Chris

=

[jan]

Thanks Chris will do although really it's an apple FTDI issue I suppose but I doubt ill get any response from those guys, I am hoping someone here will have had to wrestle with the same issues and can tell me to abandon all hope or keep playing :3 

[Douglas Heriot]

Hi Jan,

Yes, there is a lot of confusion around this.

In summary – miniStageConsole uses the ‘VCP virtual COM port’ driver, which Apple now includes with Mavericks – everything should just work fine out of the box. If you have used Enttec’s tool to disable Apple’s driver, you should re-enable it, as it’s a good thing. Do not install any drivers from FTDI or Enttec – Mavericks comes with everything you need already.

Reference – note it says you need the VCP driver, and not D2XX: http://www.chromakinetics.com/DMX/miniStageConsoleMac.html

They should update the miniStageConsole website to say you no longer need to install or touch anything.

The long version:

Before Mavericks, FTDI provided 2 different and incompatible drivers for working with FTDI-chip based USB devices (like the Enttec USB DMX Pro). There is:

- ‘VCP’ (Virtual COM Port) driver, as a kernel extension you have to install

- ‘D2XX’ dynamic library, that application developers simply include in their apps, so users don’t have to install anything new.

The D2XX driver was generally the recommended one for apps to use, as there’s no extra things users have to install. However, say 50% of software still used the VCP drivers. Once a user installs the VCP drivers to make one bit of software work, the other 50% of software using the D2XX drivers will break.

In OS X 10.9 Mavericks, Apple has included their own VCP-style driver, which breaks the D2XX drivers as before. However, as this is part of the OS, there’s no easy way for users to choose to uninstall it to get their D2XX software working again.

Some D2XX software is changing over to use Apple’s new VCP drivers, so they can continue to work (eg. SyntheFX Luminair’s LCompanion). Other software has not made the change (eg. Enttec D-Pro). Enttec has released a little tool for turning Apple’s FTDI driver on and off:

http://www.enttec.com/support-center/kb/article/108-OS_X_Mavericks_(10.9)_-_IMPORTANT

If you don’t want to use Enttec’s tool you can type in these commands in Terminal, to unload/load, respectively. (Has to be done after each reboot – Enttec’s tool simply seems to rename the kext, so it won’t be loaded again on next boot)

sudo kextunload -b com.apple.driver.AppleUSBFTDI

sudo kextload -b com.apple.driver.AppleUSBFTDI

Personally, I like Apple’s move, and believe lighting software should use the VCP serial port method, instead of the D2XX driver. This makes it easier to work with other FTDI usb-serial devices, for configuring network equipment via serial port, etc. – FTDI drivers are for more than just Enttec DMX devices.

My own lighting software, DMX Assistant, only works with Art-Net over a network, and not USB devices, to avoid all this confusion. (Although I do plan to support USB devices sometime…)

Does that make sense? – I hope that clears things up.

Douglas

http://douglasheriot.com/

[jan]

Douglas that is more than kind, thanks for taking the time to go through it all, it's exactly what I needed to know, Ill see if I can get the Enttec tool to reinstate the driver permanently and see if that works

Best

Chris