Wednesday 25 November 2009

Toneport UX2 4.2.5 Beta drivers

I tried installing the newer Toneport UX2 4.2.5 beta drivers to see if it fixes the current problem with the 4.2.4 beta drivers. For me, this is: if you disconnect the UX2 USB device and reconnect it, it starts making the choppy noise again. You then have to restart your MacBook with the USB device connected to get it to work properly again (which is a real pain as you have to start all your apps again).

My spec: MacBook Intel '09, OSX 10.6.2, Toneport UX2.

Didn't realise the beta drivers existed until today as they are not well publicised. Remember to click the "beta" tick box on the Line 6 download page:


At first attempt I installed them over the 4.2.4 drivers that I installed, but this doesn't work. I got choppy noise again, but not the same as the first time with the 4.2.4 drivers. Ended up having to uninstall everything and start again.

To anyone from Line 6 reading this: Why don't you supply an application to clean up all traces of Line 6 applications? Dragging applications to the trash can won't delete all files on a Mac. Most of the hassle I have had was figuring out that you need to remove stuff from /Library etc, and that you need to do a clean install. This might stop a significant number of complaints, which I'm sure is losing you customers. I'm only a casual musician, but I'll bet more dedicated musicians are much more frustrated at the situation.

I had to use AppCleaner to get rid of everything (otherwise "kext error" appears):
  • Restart (so we start with clean slate).
  • Run AppCleaner.
  • Uninstall Line 6 Gearbox using AppCleaner.
  • Uninstall Line 6 Monkey using AppCleaner.
  • Restart.
  • Uninstall Line 6 drivers (Use program in Line 6 directory in Applications).
  • Restart (to start again with no Line 6 software).
  • Install latest Gearbox (3.70, contains 3.4 drivers).
  • Install latest (4.2.5 beta) drivers (over Gearbox drivers).
  • Restart.
Don't install Line 6 Monkey. Apparently the current version can't recognise half the hardware and don't know what other problems it causes.

So, the good news is that you no longer have to restart to get the UX2 to work if you unplugged it.

The Line 6 site claims:

This driver addresses the following issue:
* Various audio pops, clicks, and glitches - FIXED
I'm not quite sure what problem they are referring to, unless other devices besides the UX2 weren't fixed with 4.2.4. The problem I had was disconnecting the USB device.

The bad news is that the drivers still aren't there yet as they aren't 64 bit. I.e. you can't run your MacBook in 64 bit kernel mode where it is something like 30% faster in some cases. Snow Leopard defaults to 32 bit mode for safety, which a lot of people won't even realise. You can tell whether you have 32 or 64 bit kernel mode by doing:

Apple menu > "About this Mac" > "More info..." > Software (In "Contents" left bar) > "64-bit Kernel and Extensions"

You'll see:

To use your Line 6 device this must say no. Line 6 haven't added support for the new Snow Leopard 64 bit kernel yet.
  • To boot into 32 bit mode (default) hold down "3" and "2" keys when restarting your Mac.
  • To boot into 64 bit mode hold down "6" and "4" keys when restarting your Mac.



Tuesday 10 November 2009

Two routers, one network

I had two routers, an old wired one and a wireless one. The wireless one is the one connected to the internet, and I want to connect a couple of computers in a different room using the second router as a LAN. The older one (D-Link DI-604) doesn't have a "client mode" (i.e. will automatically work as an extension) so need to do some work. Was a bit of hassle to get working, as I'm not a network expert.

This diagram shows the arrangement to get it working. The following notes are how to plug a router into an existing (working) router:
  • Router B should be added as another client on the LAN, and the output of router A is a LAN input on B (i.e. not the WAN input).
  • Give router B a valid static address on the subnet of A. So if a has mask 255.255.255.0 and an IP 192.168.1.1 and a DHCP range of 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.200 you are free to give router B an IP of 192.168.1.210.
  • Disable DHCP on router B. Force the DHCP lease to renew on clients plugged into it if they won't connect.
And bingo, it should work! You lose two LAN ports, but this the only way I could get it to work.