Help for a Mac owner

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Well, prime time for me is the next dive trip, and it appears it's ready for that, more or less.
A little inconvenience getting it set up to use is a tradeoff I've decided to make, but everyone's entitled to their own tradeoff decisions.

Good points, reefduffer.

Are you only using this in US waters? Do you (or would you) set up a separate MMSI for use in other countries? Or do you just use the same Boatus.com MMSI?

Would there be anything that would prevent you from, say, reconfiguring the MMSI with just your Mac for a dive trip?
 
The instructions clearly indicate that it may not work on a Mac. READ - We don't know how to get this working on a Mac so find a PC!

Go to a library and use their computer, or find a relative/friend with a PC. Windows owns 85% of the market so you know someone who has a PC. I bought a mac a while back and don't understand the hype. :D

Anyway if this is a big priority you WILL find a way. Heck I got my wife a laptop PC for under $100.....
 
The instructions clearly indicate that it may not work on a Mac. READ - We don't know how to get this working on a Mac so find a PC!

Go to a library and use their computer, or find a relative/friend with a PC.

You're missing the point, Ron. If I let them adopt the whole "we don't know how to get this working on a Mac so find a PC" mindset, they'll never devote any resources to actually solving the problem.

If that was only for the odd firmware update, maybe I could live with that, maybe not.

But if -- hypothetically speaking -- I'd need to find a PC to update the MMSI for some remote dive destination, that would be a deal breaker. My goal is always to be as self-contained as possible.

Windows owns 85% of the market so you know someone who has a PC. I bought a mac a while back and don't understand the hype.
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Anyway if this is a big priority you WILL find a way. Heck I got my wife a laptop PC for under $100.....

So your solution is to take a second laptop computer on dive trips?

I get that you're a Windows guy, to each their own, but maybe consider that may make you less than helpful in a "Help for a Mac owner" thread?
 
Good points, reefduffer.
Are you only using this in US waters? Do you (or would you) set up a separate MMSI for use in other countries? Or do you just use the same Boatus.com MMSI?

My next trip is Key Largo, so I haven't had to think about that immediately. I definitely want it there, and I think I'm good to go.

Next is Bonaire later this fall, and I haven't decided whether to take it, and hadn't considered another MMSI. The thread http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/abc-islands/410653-nautilus-lifeline-bonaire.html is interesting reading. Bonaire diving is less likely to cause a "left behind" situation, and there's the weight restrictions, theft risk, etc. to consider. But once I've got it, it's tempting to take it for chat functionality (my wife has one also), and "just in case". Assuming anyone in Bonaire might notice a DSC call. In that thread, some experienced Bonaire hands said they'd rather carry a cell phone.

Mike Lever said in that thread that Bonaire authorities have approved the LL and it's being sold there.

My understanding is that assuming you have an MMSI entered, so the LL will send a red button DSC distress call, having a regionally correct one won't impact anyone hearing the call, understanding it's a distress call, and getting your GPS coordinates. It might impact quick ID of who you are, but that's not that important to me. And if I really do press the red button and later get fined for a foreign MMSI, so be it. It's still unique, identified as from USA, so it's not like I'm being clandestine about who I am. And I'm not really sure it's even wrong to use my "Home Port" MMSI, I think that's what I'm supposed to do.

I admit my incomplete knowledge there, and would welcome informed correction.

Would there be anything that would prevent you from, say, reconfiguring the MMSI with just your Mac for a dive trip?

I just started the app on my Mac and connected my LL. I'm given a menu in "General configuration" to change the region. Choices are limited: Bahrain, Canada, Egypt, International, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, UK/Europe. The manual says to set it to where I'm diving, but I don't know why "International" would add value over USA for Bonaire diving.

But the menu seems live, I expect it works. I don't feel inclined to test it, though. Keys trip coming up too soon to mess around.

As for MMSI, it looks like it requires Nautilus customer service (remotely, I think) to reset it so you can enter another one (for Windows users too). From page 7 of the manual:
"...You can only enter your MMSI number once, and you can only enter one MMSI number. If you need to change it or add a new MMSI number, contact Nautilus Lifeline in order to reset your MMSI number to the default 000000000. See Customer Support on page 22. ..."

There's a PITA, and an added disincentive to changing it for travel, and a reinforcement that maybe you're not expected to. I have no idea if this requires a Windows PC like the original registration, I guess that's at least plausible. You'd have to ask Nautilus.
 
Hello all, thank you for your helpful discussion and thank you for the suggestions. Apologies for the delay in jumping into this conversation.

Mac compatibility is a top priority for us and we have been working hard on making this easier for Mac users. We have two full-time programmers who have been working on a better implementation of firmware updates from Mac OS aside from the LiveCD option located at Nautilus Lifeline Support Troubleshooting MAC Software.

For clarification on a few points raised in this thread:
1. The only feature that is currently not available to Macs is the firmware update (aside from the LiveCD method). Every other feature of the software is available to Mac owners including registration, MMSI assignment, changing the settings of your unit, etc.
2. The reason that an MMSI change must be approved by us (the manufacturer) is because this is the regulatory standard for MMSI numbers. Luckily, the Lifeline is the only device that can approve of this and allow the change without requiring the unit in our hands. This avoids sending the unit back to us because we reset the unit remotely.

We hear you and are here to help and make this easier for you. Thank you for your patience, and please don't hesitate to call us for any tech support inquiries or comments regarding the Lifeline.

Sincerely,
The Nautilus Lifeline Team
 
On my brand new Mountain Lion Macbook Air, with Parallels installed and running Windows 7 under it, the Nautilus Lifeline drivers do not install successfully. This is true even if I use the latest driver installer from the NL website and the latest version of the NL software. Thus, the radio is not recognized.

However, in exactly the same environment, it all works flawlessly on the Mac side of the parallel systems. Under Mountain Lion, the software and drivers install and the NL is recognized. All functions of the software work. The only feature missing is the absence of the NL firmware update ability. My NL has the latest 6.4 firmware previously updated from a Windows machine.

The Mac world continues to be second class citizens here and, based on my one configuration, resorting to virtualized environments does not overcome the problem. I posted this just to update interested forum members.

Have you thought about BootCamp or VM? There's differences of opinion on what works, but here's 2 links I've found to start with...

Apple - Support - MacBook Air - Boot Camp
Virtual Machines Work Great On The New MacBook Air | Cult of Mac


---------- Post added December 29th, 2012 at 09:59 AM ----------

See my reply to divin'dog where I report that using Parallels does not help in my configuration.
 
Any update / latest on compatibility Lifeline with Mac. Thinking about ordering one but am a mac user.
 
Hey Nautilus Explorer, I'm leaving for a dive trip tomorrow and am trying to register my Lifeline on my Mac. I went "uh oh" when I saw the Troubleshooting insert in the box says that they recommend a Windows computer. After about an hour of reading all the FAQs and following the directions and failing, I thought to search SB to see if anyone else had this issue. What a joke this is! I will call customer support when I return from this trip and hope they can get this to work without a solution like, "Borrow a PC to get started and every time you need a firmware upgrade" or, "Burn a CD and hold down a key while booting up, etc., etc., and forget about that anyways if you are on wireless." You said that this was a top priority, but a year has gone by. What is the deal? I really, really wanted to like this product, but right now I feel defrauded.
 
We are really sorry for the trouble you and everyone else has with interface between Mac and LifeLine. I've got a macbook pro myself so I know the frustration first-hand. I can tell you that we have been working for ages on the solving the bootloader problem (root cause of the issue with mac's). It's not a straightforward fix. In short, we are stuck with a hardware spin on the board to increase the memory for the additional space required by a rewrite of the code. That's speaking plain language without going too technical. I estimate that it will be another 5 frustrating months before we have this problem licked. That's a poor job on our part regardless of the effort we have put into it.

For the duration, please call us if you have a problem with updating your firmware on a mac - v.76 is current firmware release - and if we can't help you over the phone, we encourage you to ship your LifeLine back to us. We'll update the firmware, run a diagnostic on the electronics, pressure pot test it and make it good as new and ship it back to you without charge. That's a small way of showing that we are really sorry for the frustration our mac users are feeling.

Captain Mike
 
Hi everyone,

To answer your concerns about firmware updates on Mac, the current method is still the Live CD method, which while not ideal, does work consistently.

Please find detailed instructions here: Nautilus Lifeline Support Troubleshooting MMSI

Dorkito, we understand your frustration and still have our engineers working on a solution to this problem. Please be aware that the update will work even with a wireless connection. The only thing that won't work while booted from the CD using wireless internet is the registration and checking for software updates.

As well, if it's easier for you, we can send you an already burned CD. If you're leaving on a dive soon, don't worry, as there's nothing absolutely critical in this firmware update. Your LifeLine will still be fully functional without completing it immediately.

Any questions, please send us an email at techsupport@nautiluslifeline.com or give us a call at 604-241-1918.

Sincerely,
Tech Support
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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