Run gpsfeed+ in Lubuntu 16.04

Problem:

I would like to run gpsfeed+ in Lubuntu 16.04.

I am running Lubuntu in VirtualBox. I want to output to guest COM1, and send this feed to a physical serial port on COM6 on my host machine.

Solution:

To run first time:

1. download the gpsfeed+.tcl script
2. open terminal
3. install "wish" (in terminal: sudo apt-get install tk)
4. install "libudp-tcl" (in terminal: sudo apt-get install libudp-tcl)
5. (in terminal, navigate to folder where gpsfeed+.tcl script is)
6. run gpsfeed+.tcl script (in terminal: wish gpsfeed+.tcl)

To output to COM1 in Lubuntu VirtualBox guest:

1. open VirtualBox settings for your guest machine
2. navigate to "serial ports" and enable COM1
3. to send the guest COM1 to a host serial port, configure port mode to send to host (for instance, to pipe to COM6 on a Windows host, use the settings in the screenshot below)
4. in gpsfeed+: go to Connection->Serial/IP, and set Port to "/dev/ttyS0" (see this stack exchange question on how to find your serial ports in Linux)
5. if needed, you may need to give read/write privileges to ttyS0 in terminal (make sure you know the implications first, or google them). One way is to add your user to the dialout group: "sudo usermod -G dialout -a (your username here)"
6. if all works then you should see the NMEA sentences being sent to your serial port after starting the simulation in gpsfeed+

VirtualBox settings to enable COM1 in guest and send to COM6 on host:

Gpsfeed+ setting to send to COM1 in VirtualBox Lubuntu:

Notes:

These instructions were found to work using a Windows 10 host, VirtualBox 5.1.30, Lubuntu 16.04.1 32-bit, and gpsfeed+ v0.58. A physical serial port exists on COM6 on the host machine. With other settings, your mileage may vary.

References:

• https://sourceforge.net/projects/gpsfeed/
• https://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl/UserCmd/wish.htm
• https://superuser.com/questions/131044/how-do-i-know-which-dev-ttys-is-my-serial-port