On Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:07:46 -0400, Maurice Batey wrote:

> Anyone here using TomTom Home 2.3 on WinXP under VirtualBox on
> Linux?
> Works OK apart from the option to simulate operation of the
> sat-nav on the PC screen - which hangs.

I don't have any gps devices, but is this a usb connection? If so, you must ensure
the device is not in use by the host system. Connect the device, watch /var/log/syslog
to see if it gets registered, and any kernel modules loaded. Unload any modules that
get automatically loaded, as well as any such as usb_storage, before attempting to
activate the device in the VirtualBox.

Trying to activate the device in VirtualBox, while it is in use by the host will result
in VirtualBox getting stuck in a host kernel level device wait, requiring a reboot, to
clear.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

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On Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:03:19 -0400, David W. Hodgins wrote:

> I don't have any gps devices, but is this a usb connection?

Yes

> If so, you
> must ensure the device is not in use by the host system.

I just did the same as for any other USB device (e.g. flash
drives, printer) that I use under VBox, i.e. Go to VBox's
'Devices' and select the USB device.

> Connect the
> device, watch /var/log/syslog to see if it gets registered, and any kernel
> modules loaded. Unload any modules that get automatically loaded, as well
> as any such as usb_storage, before attempting to activate the device in
> the VirtualBox.

That would be too much of a palava! This particular function
is not one that I would use very much, and I'm happy to forgo
it (or use laptop with real Windows).

I was just curious to see if anyone else had found the same
problem, or whether there was some cause peculiar to my system.

Many thanks for the suggestion, though, Dave - much appreciated.

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On Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:03:19 -0400, David W. Hodgins wrote:

> is this a usb connection? If so, you
> must ensure the device is not in use by the host system. Connect the
> device, watch /var/log/syslog to see if it gets registered, and any kernel
> modules loaded. Unload any modules that get automatically loaded, as well
> as any such as usb_storage, before attempting to activate the device in
> the VirtualBox.

Dave, as I don't have to do that for the other USB devices I
use under VBox (flash drives, printer), why would I need to do
all that for the sat-nav?

(N.B. All the functions doing I/O from/to the sat-nav do work -
except for the one operating the sat-nav via PC screen and
keyboard, which hangs before trying anything.)

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On Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:47:58 -0400, Maurice Batey wrote:

> Dave, as I don't have to do that for the other USB devices I
> use under VBox (flash drives, printer), why would I need to do
> all that for the sat-nav?

It depends on whether or not the kernel module will have the device locked. With
most storage devices, it should be ok, as long as it isn't mounted. With the printer,
not having the printer in use by cups, should be enough. While debugging problems I,
and others, have had with usb devices and VirtualBox, I've come to the conclusion that
it's best practice to unload the kernel modules, to ensure the device is not in use.

It may work with the kernel module still loaded, but may not. When it doesn't, you
have to reboot, before you can restart VirtualBox, as you cannot kill the copy that's
stuck in a kernel level device wait. In my opinion, it's a good idea to unload the
modules before trying to use the usb device in VirtualBox, and reload them, when done.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

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On Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:17:03 -0400, David W. Hodgins wrote:

> It depends on whether or not the kernel module will have the device
> locked.

What puzzles me is that the sat-nav support software on the PC
provides several functions - including reading from & writing to
the device - and they all work except for the one I mentioned
(which also involves reading from/writing to the device).

Perhaps the kernel is locking some system service that the
support program needs to use for that function but not the
others, but I can't imagine what that might be, as it is
essentially a read/write function, updating info in the device
as changes are specified on the PC.

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On Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:19:56 -0400, Maurice Batey wrote:

> Perhaps the kernel is locking some system service that the
> support program needs to use for that function but not the
> others, but I can't imagine what that might be, as it is
> essentially a read/write function, updating info in the device
> as changes are specified on the PC.

If you run lsusb -v, there will be one Device Descriptor, for the device,
but it may have multiple Interface Descriptors, each of which can be locked
separately. That is the case for my printer/scanner. I'd try unloading
all usb related modules, for a test, to see if that makes a difference.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

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On Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:07:46 +0100, Maurice Batey wrote:

> Works OK apart from the option to simulate operation of the sat-nav on the
> PC screen - which hangs.

Looking afresh at this with VBox 2.0.2, I'm beginning to suspect it's
the (USB) mouse interface that's the problem.

When I tried this function just now, it locked up as before when I
clicked on the device screen image to start the function.

Looking at VBox's 'Devices' USB menu I noticed that "Microsoft Basic
Optical Mouse' was not selected (though the mouse does work for
normal purposes!). So I selected it, upon which the mouse pointer
froze and never moved again..
BUT with some R.clicks I started to see some of the device's menu
appearing on the screen (not seen before), as it should, though with a
dead mouse pointer there was nothing useful to do.

As I said before, the device works perfectly well for e.g. updating
its maps from the internet, reading its contents and writing updates.

It's just the simulation of the device on the PC screen that's no go
under Vbox (no problem under native WinXP or Vista).
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