UPDATE
soooooooo... i gave up trying to make this seamless, so here's the dirty:
ON THE MAC
- re-installed the mac drivers from the digi site:
XCTU
NOTE: installing this version will force a restart. use this opportunity to unplug ANY and ALL usb devices connected to your machine.
WHY? (this is ONLY A THEORY) because when you try to install new usb devices in Windows 2000, it will automatically defer to Microsoft drivers if it can
IN WINDOWS 2000 via VIRTUAL PC 7
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(with NO usb devices connected to my mac) i uninstalled ALL usb drivers using DEVICE MANAGER
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i removed any/all usb drivers i had installed myself (from previous failures) using ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS
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i uninstalled all the usb devices using ADD/REMOVE HARDWARE (even if they aren't connected, they MAY show up here)
NOTE: when you get the list of devices, be sure to click SHOW HIDDEN DEVICES. this is where the USB SERIAL CONVERTER (shows up as a usb device) and the USB SERIAL PORT (COM 3) (shows up as a com port) that i've been so desperately seeking will be hiding out. be sure to scroll ALL the way down and uninstall ALL usb devices (and that one com port). (unfortunately, ADD/REMOVE HARDWARE will only let you get rid of these one at a time, so you'll be opening this over and over until you've gotten rid of all the usb devices. ugh!)
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plug in your XBee/XBee Explorer USB
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go to DEVICE MANAGER and under ACTION choose SCAN FOR HARDWARE CHANGES.
it should detect your XBee/XBee Explorer USB and automatically open FOUND NEW HARDWARE WIZARD
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when you are asked what you want the wizard to do, select SEARCH FOR A SUITABLE DRIVER FOR MY DEVICE (this is the default selection
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on the next screen check only SPECIFY A LOCATION
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navigate to wherever you stored the windows drivers from the digi site (the link above)
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finish up installation as directed
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once that's done, you will find another FOUND NEW HARDWARE WIZARD underneath. repeat steps 5-9 as directed.
WHY? i suspect it's because there are two new devices-in-one: USB SERIAL CONVERTER (the XBee Explorer USB )and USB SERIAL PORT (COM 3) (the XBee itself)
NOTE: you may get a warning about overwriting an existing and newer version of the driver... i went ahead and overwrote it, and it seemed to work fine.
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check your work: give DEVICE MANAGER a few seconds to refresh itself.
expand PORTS - you should see SERIAL PORT (COM 3) added there
expand UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS CONTROLLERS - you should see USB HIGH SPEED SERIAL CONVERTER added there
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open XCTU, et voila! you should have access to SERIAL PORT (COM 3) and your Xbee for configuration
NOTE: now it's safe to plug in your other usb devices
~~~ if this doesn't work, i have no idea what to say... rinse and repeat? ~~~
NOW... VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: before going back to work on the mac (which i guess you want to do) ...
- BE SURE TO PROPERLY UNPLUG YOUR XBee/XBee Explorer USB DEVICE
- strange: i've had to go though this a couple of times, and it randomly chose to either
a) let me just pull the device out without procedure (meaning it's hot-swappable) OR
b) force me to use that little "remove device" icon in the lower right-hand corner of Windows (meaning it's NOT hot-swappable)
- either way, be sure your XBee/XBee Explorer USB is unplugged.
- THEN (and ONLY after you've unplugged your device) be sure to SHUT DOWN your virtual PC before going back to mac, and SAVE PC's STATE. you can decide if you want to quit Virtual PC 7 or not. it doesn't matter.
WAIT! NOT DONE YET...!
here comes the REAL pain in the a$$...
BACK TO THE MAC
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when you go back to your mac you have to (re)install the latest FTDI drivers so your mac can see your XBees! GROAN!
http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm
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after installing the drivers and plugging in your XBee/XBee Explorer USB, you should be able to see your device using Terminal (ls /dev/tty.*)
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here's the REAL kicker here: in order to go back to Windows in VPC and use XCTU...
YOU HAVE RE-INSTALL THE OLD MAC DRIVERS from the original digi site!
YES! YOU WILL BE FORCED TO RESTART YOUR MAC! this means
YES! EVERY SINGLE TIME you have to reconfigure your XBee YOU WILL BE FORCED TO RESTART YOUR MAC!
awesome...
AGAIN, between shutdown and restart be sure to unplug your XBee/XBee Explorer USB. your other USB devices can stay plugged in at this point. it's all about what Windows in VPC thinks is happening at that point. i.e. when you shut down your virtual PC in step 14, you had your XBee/XBee Explorer USB UNPLUGGED and all other usb devices plugged in. you just have to make sure when you restart your Windows in VPC, things are as they were when you shut it down.
ARDUINO
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somewhere between steps 12 and 13 above i configured both my XBees using the USING THE MAXSTREAM SOFTWARE part of this tutorial:
Trossen Robotics Community Database Error
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i wired one XBee to my Arduino using my XBee Explorer using the CONCEPT of STEP 4: WIRE UP THE REMOTE UNIT of this tutorial:
http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/tutorial_info.php?tutorials_id=122#Step3
(a link from this tutorial: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/tutorial_info.php?tutorials_id=122)
NOTE: i used a breadboard instead of soldering... i have commitment issues
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i plugged the XBee/XBee Explorer USB into my computer
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to get them talking to each other i used the very bottom of this tutorial:
Xbee Adapter
... a friend once called me a pragmatist. i wasn't sure how i felt about that... until i read this:
A pragmatist would never plant such a messy tree, but I like its flowers.
i try to make things as simple and clean as possible. barring that, i will get to where i want to be regardless of the route.
it's messy, but it works!
i call it The Frankenstein Approach.
hope this helps, folks!