uTracer in MAC OSX without Bootcamp but with WINE

[Mike Foo]

This one is for users who want to use uTracer on a MAC system, without resorting to booting into Windows via bootcamp.

I managed to get uTracer working in MAC OS. I can stick to MAC OSX and yet run uTracer. I use WINE. The link for WINE is http://wineskin.urgesoftware.com/tiki-index.php?page=Downloads.

You can see a screen capture of my MAC (Maverick OS 10.9.2) running a curve trace of an EL84.

Part 1 - Create a pseudo-Windows environment for the Windows application with the WINE wrapper 

1. Download and install Wineskin Winery. Download one of its engines and one of its wrappers also. I have success with these versions WS9Wine1.7.6 and Wineskin-2.5.12. WS9Wine1.7.12 seems to give me problems on OSX 10.9. 

2. Run the Wineskin Winery application and select "Create New Blank Wrapper" to create an empty wrapper first. Give the wrapper a name when prompted (Eg. uTracerGUI.app). The wrapper wraps around the Windows application and creates a pseudo Windows environment and interfaces with the MAC OSX.

3. Once the blank wrapper has been created, execute the wrapper.  

4. Since it is still an blank wrapper, install the uTracer software using the "Install Software" option. Select "Setup.exe" from the uTracer installation files.   

5. Once the uTracer software has been installed, you can run the uTracer.app application, however you will notice it cannot communicate with the uTracer hardware because serial communications has not been setup. Therefore the next step is to setup the communications interfaces for the uTracer hardware.

Part 2 - Create hardware interfaces for the uTracer to communicate 

6. The uTracer software will have to use COM ports to communicate to the uTracer hardware thru the MAC's recognised communication devices. 

7. In my setup, I'm using the FTDI USB to Serial cable to interface with the uTracer. I need to find out what this device is listed as in my MAC. To check, I open "Terminal" and type in "ls -l /dev/". This will list all the available devices in my MAC.

8. Fortunately, I see only two devices related to USB Serial, namely "cu.usbserial-FTTE9TWP" and "tty.usbserial-FTTE9TWP" appearing in the list. I do not know which one represents my USB Serial cable, so I proceeded with the next few steps by trial and error. 

9. Now the WINE wrapper creates a Windows environment for the uTracer GUI. The devices that has been defined for the Windows environment is shown in /Applications/uTracerGUI.app/Contents/Resources/dosdevices. In "Terminal", change to the "dosdevices" directory. There shouldn't be any COM port defined yet.

9. I wish to use COM3 port to communicate to the uTracer software. So I define a COM3 device as a symbolic link in the "dosdevices" directory to the USB Serial device listed in my MAC's /dev/ directory.

10. So while I'm in the "dosdevices" directory, I type "ln -s /dev/cu.usbserial-FTTE9TWP com3". I would need Root privilege on my MAC to do this.  

11. After this when I list "dosdevices" directory, I should see "com3" and it is a symbolic link to /dev/cu.usbserial-FTTE9TWP on my Mac.

12. Now when I run the uTracerGUI.app, I select COM3 port to communicate with the uTracer hardware. So whenever data is routed to COM3, it is actually routing to the USB serial. If this doesn't work, I will try linking COM3 to "tty.usbserial-FTTE9TWP" instead. 

Cheers,

MIKE

 

[Mug]

Thanks. Super Tip! I had the enough with trouble installing BootCamp and Parallels on my Mac. (just sold my MacMini with PC start-up partition) Now again it is fine working behind my iMac OSX (El Capitan) and the uTracer. I got uTracer with WineSkin working using your explanations. Now write down the workflow so can do it quick again if I need to do an re-install in the future. The last steps (driver) are the most difficult. 

[Mug]

Home brew manual for use uTracer on Mac in the attachment. Suggestions for improvement are welcome.

[lfusari]

HI i have found an error in the attached guide.

In the last terminal command is missed cu.

the correct command is

ln -s /dev/cu.usbserial-FTHBOXEA com3 

[lfusari]

Hi Mike,

tank you for your useful guideline.

I have found an error in the last terminal command. It is missed cu

the correct command is 

ln -s /dev/cu,usbserial-FTHBOXEA com3 

On Wednesday, March 5, 2014 at 1:02:07 AM UTC+1, Mike Foo wrote:

[lfusari]

On Wednesday, March 5, 2014 at 1:02:07 AM UTC+1, Mike Foo wrote:

[Mug]

I did update my MacBook. Now with MacOS 'High Sierra' you need slight different workflow.

I update my document . See the attachment 

The µTracer is still working fine in MacOS operating system. 

Op vrijdag 20 mei 2016 23:53:41 UTC+2 schreef Luca:

[Clemens Mug]

I bought a new (old 2015) MacBook. Now with MacOS 'Ventura'. You need big different workflow to get uTracer working. 

Wine is not working anymore.  I now use Sigkarugir .

[Martin Manning]

I recommend you give Ihor Smal's uTracerJS for MacOS a try: 

https://boffin.nl/wp/

After start-up in a terminal window, it runs from a browser. Nicer looking UI with some extra features.

MPM

[Clemens Mug]

Yes, Ihor Smal's uTracerJS is serieus alternative. But I was used to to it the WINE way. Did not compare these. 

I make a mistake in my previous PDF in the GUI version. I install the pré 3+ version (and needed the 3+ version). So I have make the install again and update my PDF  

Op woensdag 25 februari 2026 om 14:34:00 UTC+1 schreef mman...@fuse.net: