Motorola APX CPS, MacOS, M1/ARM and Virtual Machines

[Anderegg]

I opted out when they went $100 a year, and just put Bootcamp on my 16" intel MBP.

If they could just figure out to pass a USB serial connection, would solve so much CPS compatibility issues.

Paul

 

[aliby19]

Hi all!

I too recently got an M1 MacBook Pro and had trouble getting APX CPS to work/run like I had using either VMWare Fusion and/or VirtualBox before.

After some reading, I realized UTM allowed you to both emulate and virtualize different versions of Windows. So I set out to try it...

What Didn't Work - Virtualized Win11 ARM Install
I first tried the virtualized route, which uses the native Mac ARM CPU architecture and installed the Windows 11 ARM version. I was able to successfully install Windows 11 and the APX CPS (v29.00.03) but like others in this thread, could not get the USB cable/drivers to work properly.

Every time I connected my programming cable, it would come up as a USB to Serial converter, and not the Motorola APX Networking Adapter.

What Worked - Emulated Win11 x64 Install
Given that the Win11 ARM route didn't work, I figured I'd give emulating a "normal" x86_64 version of Win11 a shot. I ran into all kinds of trouble trying to get my emulated version of Win11 running on UTM. It would install but get stuck on "Getting Ready" after the install.

It wasn't until I came across this GitHub issue and corresponding Win10 VM template from user Conath that I was finally able to successfully install Win11 x86_64 emulated via UTM.

Steps I took to do so:

1. Downloaded the Win10 VM UTM Template from Github and double clicked it to import it into UTM
2. Modified the UTM template slightly to have 8 GB of Ram and 4 CPU cores. and added a 128gb IDE hard drive.
3. I also adjusted my networking settings to use bridged as I wanted the VM to show up as a normal device on my network.
4. Downloaded the Win11 install ISO (Win11_22H2_English_x64v2.iso) from here: Download Windows 11
5. Selected the ISO as the CD/DVD, booted the vm, and pressed any key to begin setup. Followed the normal Win11 setup process, and was glad when it finally completed, rebooted, and got past the "getting ready" screen where I was stuck.

Once Win11 was up and running, I installed APX CPS v29.00.03 and plugged in my programming cable, which showed up correctly as the Motorola APX Networking device. I then tested reading my APX radio, which was successful.

Please note - In my experience, the emulated version of Win11 runs somewhat slow. It seems to take a while for APX CPS to load and/or click through menus. It's not great, and not pretty, but it worked for me.

Hopefully this helps!

 

[wa8pyr]

Wonder how much the Parallels extortion ("annual subscription") plan will rise in light of this development. I don't fault a developer making money, and certainly can afford it. But at $99-129/year or so, they can keep it

When I bought Parallels for my M1 Mac Mini, one of the options was a one-time charge. I don't subscribe to software, or much of anything else for that matter..

 

[bfeinzimer]

Hi all!

I too recently got an M1 MacBook Pro and had trouble getting APX CPS to work/run like I had using either VMWare Fusion and/or VirtualBox before.

After some reading, I realized UTM allowed you to both emulate and virtualize different versions of Windows. So I set out to try it...

What Didn't Work - Virtualized Win11 ARM Install
I first tried the virtualized route, which uses the native Mac ARM CPU architecture and installed the Windows 11 ARM version. I was able to successfully install Windows 11 and the APX CPS (v29.00.03) but like others in this thread, could not get the USB cable/drivers to work properly.

Every time I connected my programming cable, it would come up as a USB to Serial converter, and not the Motorola APX Networking Adapter.

What Worked - Emulated Win11 x64 Install
Given that the Win11 ARM route didn't work, I figured I'd give emulating a "normal" x86_64 version of Win11 a shot. I ran into all kinds of trouble trying to get my emulated version of Win11 running on UTM. It would install but get stuck on "Getting Ready" after the install.

It wasn't until I came across this GitHub issue and corresponding Win10 VM template from user Conath that I was finally able to successfully install Win11 x86_64 emulated via UTM.

Steps I took to do so:

1. Downloaded the Win10 VM UTM Template from Github and double clicked it to import it into UTM
2. Modified the UTM template slightly to have 8 GB of Ram and 4 CPU cores. and added a 128gb IDE hard drive.
3. I also adjusted my networking settings to use bridged as I wanted the VM to show up as a normal device on my network.
4. Downloaded the Win11 install ISO (Win11_22H2_English_x64v2.iso) from here: Download Windows 11
5. Selected the ISO as the CD/DVD, booted the vm, and pressed any key to begin setup. Followed the normal Win11 setup process, and was glad when it finally completed, rebooted, and got past the "getting ready" screen where I was stuck.

Once Win11 was up and running, I installed APX CPS v29.00.03 and plugged in my programming cable, which showed up correctly as the Motorola APX Networking device. I then tested reading my APX radio, which was successful.

Please note - In my experience, the emulated version of Win11 runs somewhat slow. It seems to take a while for APX CPS to load and/or click through menus. It's not great, and not pretty, but it worked for me.

Hopefully this helps!

Did you try using Bluetooth to write to your APX using UTM? I've gotten Win 11 ARM installed on Parallels and VMWare but having separate issues. BT seemingly won't work in VMware but will in Parallels, but I cannot get my R29 APX CPS to open on either VM, it just goes to the splash screen and quits.

 

[bfeinzimer]

Quick informational follow up and question:

I could not get CPS to launch on 2 different Win 11 VM's (ARM). it would not open the main window after the splash screen. I made a Win 10 VM on an intel Mac which CPS opened, but I cannot get my APX7000 to connect to the Mac's bluetooth.

The Mac and radio see each other but the radio times out during "Pairing in progress..." and fails eventually after repeated attempts of initiating the pairing from the Mac, from the radio and from the Windows VM (via VMWare). Has anyone else had luck bluetooth pairing their APX radio to a Mac? The Mac and Windows VM say the radio is paired but it constantly fails radio side.

 

[billatq]

Did you try using Bluetooth to write to your APX using UTM? I've gotten Win 11 ARM installed on Parallels and VMWare but having separate issues. BT seemingly won't work in VMware but will in Parallels, but I cannot get my R29 APX CPS to open on either VM, it just goes to the splash screen and quits.

I got this to work on my M1 Mac with Win 11 ARM on an XPR7550, but I needed to buy a USB bluetooth dongle to share into the VM first. I've had decent luck getting Windows 7 to work with the CPS as well, and it's fast enough given that it's lighter weight.

 

[ChristianPeri26]

Yeah I just ran into this issue with my newer 2023 MacBook Pro with the M3 Pro chip. Tried out Parallels Desktop to then only find out it won't recognize the USB programming cable because of the non support for the x64 drivers or whatever. Good thing I kept my little bit older 2020 Intel MacBook Pro with bootcamp and Windows 10. Thats always worked great for programming my Motorolas.

 

[billatq]

Yeah I just ran into this issue with my newer 2023 MacBook Pro with the M3 Pro chip. Tried out Parallels Desktop to then only find out it won't recognize the USB programming cable because of the non support for the x64 drivers or whatever. Good thing I kept my little bit older 2020 Intel MacBook Pro with bootcamp and Windows 10. Thats always worked great for programming my Motorolas.

Yeah, you pretty much have to run windows in full non-accelerated emulation mode in order to use the x64 driver at all, and it's ridiculously slow.

 

[bfeinzimer]

I got this to work on my M1 Mac with Win 11 ARM on an XPR7550, but I needed to buy a USB bluetooth dongle to share into the VM first. I've had decent luck getting Windows 7 to work with the CPS as well, and it's fast enough given that it's lighter weight.

I'm ordering a dongle to try this. Are you on Parallels or VMWare? VM is free so..hopefully that.

 

[billatq]

I'm ordering a dongle to try this. Are you on Parallels or VMWare? VM is free so..hopefully that.

I used the free UTM software, which uses qemu. I didn’t know that VMWare is free these days.

 

[wa8pyr]

I used the free UTM software, which uses qemu. I didn’t know that VMWare is free these days.

VMWare Fusion "Reader" (or whatever they call it) is free, and is perfectly fine for most users; works fine for me. The full (paid) version is primarily for those folks who need to do development work, as I understand it.

 

[marcotor]

VMWare Fusion "Reader" (or whatever they call it) is free, and is perfectly fine for most users; works fine for me. The full (paid) version is primarily for those folks who need to do development work, as I understand it.

VMWare Fusion Pro, and VMWare Workstation Pro are now free, as in no charge. VMWare Player and Fusion Player (not Pro) were the no charge versions for Windows and MacOS prior to acquisition by Broadcom, who then changed the licensing requirements to concentrate on Enterprise customers. Workstation Player and Fusion Player have been discontinued.

 

[bfeinzimer]

quick update, I got bluetooth via parallels using a USB bluetooth dongle. I disabled the mac's bluetooth and used the dongle and was able to get everything to pair up and work. I need to try it still via vmware since I don't want to pay for parallels and am running the trial.

 

[marcotor]

I can confirm using an ancient Broadcom dongle on an M4 mini, VMWare Fusion and UTM (both are running Windows 11 ARM 24H2) will connect, read, and write to APX Bluetooth enabled radios. Nice sleuthing work @bfeinzimer!

 

[bfeinzimer]

thats helpful, with that I can ditch my intel mac I was using only to make a VM for radio editing. any idea if I can get ASTRO25 CPS to work on Windows 11ARM to work on an old XTS5000? gonna try it but wanted to check around...