Hi

To the extent that the device runs like a 4100 or a 6100, it does not need any software to support it. The same may be true of the 6300. They all run from a drop dead simple serial command set. On the 6100 you fire up a terminal program at 38.4 K baud 8N1 and type away. All of the features of the 4100 and 6100 can be utilized this way.  The super duper XP only software is a joke with these boxes.

On the boxes that do need software to run them, the stuff is node locked. You don’t just need the software, you also need a license key dongle(?). For boxes that are inside the support window (6300 or later) that’s roughly a $1K sort of expense. Exact cost is something I never dug into. I simply passed on the idea of one of the fancy modern boxes.

Spirent has indeed dropped all support of anything earlier than the 6300. The only exception appears to be for people who have agreements in place on specific boxes that pre-date the 6300. It is unclear how much of an extension that gives people. It’s a topic right now on the 6100 since normal support stopped at the end of 2016. Since the 4500 is still being sold, I suspect you can get a support agreement on it. I would guess the software would be available under support …. maybe not ….

Bob

Phil
Welcome to the group.
Funny you mention the Spirent. I see many available for semi reasonable
pricing though for Ham/Time-nuts a bit pricey still at $295 for a tinkerer.
And they do not come with the disk.
But as was pointed out to me by a fellow time-nut you don't need it. You
can directly control the unit by rs232 through quite simple commands. Use a
USB to RS232 converter if you do not have a real port.
You can create batch files of the comands on and on. I had downloaded the
manual to look at.
However I will not be buying a unit for quite a long time. Would need to be
sub $100 for me at least.
Good luck and have fun.
Regards
Paul
WB8TSL

On Wed, Apr 5, 2017 at 6:24 AM, Phil Parsons phil@computerhotline.co.uk
wrote:

Hi

Just to clarify a bit:

These gizmos fall into two broad categories:

1. The single sat simulators like the GSS6100 that show up cheap.

2. The full constellation simulators that show up for a bit more money.

The single sat stuff is simple to run from a serial port and limited in function. They are
quite useful for checking things like GPS week rollover or sensitivity. They will often
run in a fully autonomous mode ( = boots to full function) if desired. The target audience
is / was production testing.

The full constellation gear is a bit more complex. At least the boxes I have seen require
a computer with the proper “dongle key” to do much of anything. They will let you set up
all sorts of cool navigation processes. How long they will run those setups and with how
many satellites involved is a “that depends” sort of thing.

Within both categories you have the inevitable “how many systems?” question. Early stuff
is generally GPS / SBAS only. Later stuff has various options to let you customize the
systems it will simulate. In some cases it’s a pick them one at a time, pay for each sort of thing.
On other boxes it’s a “here they all are” license. Working out from the cryptic numbers
on the typical box which options it is / was licensed for can be nearly impossible.

Even with a support contract, getting info from the various outfits that make some of these
devices is a major hassle. Getting information without a support contract is even worse.
It is not specific to one vendor. They all seem to be focused on selling you the latest and
greatest rather than upgrading the box they sold you a couple of years ago. None of them
seem to be at all excited about supporting the surplus market.

Before we all go off on a bender about lack of support, consider how small this market
is and how fast stuff changes. The GSS6100 was brand new 10 years ago. Now it is
past end of life. It was replaced roughly 5 years ago. Other vendors have similar
cycles. There are industries out there that would consider 10 years to be a really long
support period ….

The big advantage to us of this process is that the value (to a real customer) of these boxes
goes to zero very quickly. When that happens, we get to buy them dirt cheap on the
secondary market Rather than paying $4,000, they go for $200. The odds of getting
a fully functional device are quite high even at the $200 level.

Lots of fun.

Bob

Hi Phil,

I just wanted to chime in an make a note that the STR4500 seems to have
USB connection rather than serial. The manual mentions installing a
driver. I wonder if the USB port is nothing but a glorified serial port.
When you hook it up, what does your computer report? You should be able
to get some info that way. If so, finding the 4100 manual that Bob
mentioined was not too hard, and banging away on those commands where
not too complex by the looks of it.

Tempted.

Cheers,
Magnus

On 04/05/2017 03:46 PM, paul swed wrote:

Hi

That would be yet another layer of problem. The Spirent guys used custom USB drivers for their devices. At least that is true for the boxes I have seen. They stopped issuing drivers for the 6100 with XP. I have no idea when they dropped drivers for the 4500. It’s a pretty good bet that you will need one ….

Bob

I would check if the instrument contains a  FDTI USB to serial converter
part with a custom VID/PID.  That's a common trick.  That's trivial to
work around, at least on Linux.

-ch
73 de AI6KG

On Wed, Apr 5, 2017 at 1:05 PM, Bob kb8tq kb8tq@n1k.org wrote: