USB Serial -> CalTopo - serial data bug? Rak and Heltec

[DECLLC]

Hello,

I've posted previously about trying to get serial data in to CalTopo from a Heltec device, and gave up. I've since tried with a Rak board + GPS and I'm still not having any luck.

I have configured both meshtastic devices with Serial On, 9600 baud, and have toyed with bot NEMA Positions and serial.mode.caltopo in the UI/settings to no avail.

Looking at the debug in the CalTopo console I never see anything remotely akin to the NEMA outputs I see from other devices, no does CalTopo seem to like the native setting.

I am getting these:

2025-01-14 11:20:29 APRSLocalEngine [INFO] Serial data: �[0m��[34m�DEBUG �[0m| 19:20:27 535 [Router] �[34m�POSITION node=a1ebbXXX l=22 lat=33725XXXX lon=-118045XXXX msl=0 hae=-28 geo=0 pdop=0 hdop=0 vdop=0 siv=0 fxq=0 fxt=0 pts=0 time=1736882428

And:

2025-01-14 11:21:42 APRSLocalEngine [INFO] Serial data: �[0m��[34m�DEBUG �[0m| 19:21:40 608 [GPS] �[34m�97s until next search
2025-01-14 11:21:42 APRSLocalEngine [INFO] Serial data: �[0m��[34m�DEBUG �[0m| 19:21:40 608 [GPS] �[34m�gps_update_interval >= 119s needed to justify hardsleep
2025-01-14 11:21:42 APRSLocalEngine [INFO] Serial data: �[0m��[32m�INFO  �[0m| 19:21:40 608 [GPS] �[32m�GPS power state move from ACTIVE to HARDSLEEP
2025-01-14 11:21:42 APRSLocalEngine [INFO] Serial data: �[0m��[34m�DEBUG �[0m| 19:21:40 608 [GPS] �[34m�Publish pos@6786b946:2, hasVal=1, Sats=4, GPSlock=1
2025-01-14 11:21:42 APRSLocalEngine [INFO] Serial data: �[0m��[34m�DEBUG �[0m| 19:21:40 608 [GPS] �[34m�New GPS pos@6786b946:3 lat=33.72XXXX lon=-118.04XXXX alt=-10 pdop=2.24 track=250.65 speed=0.04 sats=4
2025-01-14 11:21:42 APRSLocalEngine [INFO] Serial data: �[0m��[34m�DEBUG �[0m| 19:21:40 608 [GPS] �[34m�onGPSChanged() pos@6786b946 time=1736882500 lat=33725XXXX lon=-118045XXXX alt=-10
2025-01-14 11:21:42 APRSLocalEngine [INFO] Serial data: �[0m��[32m�INFO  �[0m| 19:21:40 608 [GPS] �[32m�updatePosition LOCAL pos@6786b946 time=1736882500 lat=33725XXXX lon=-118045XXXX alt=-10
2025-01-14 11:21:42 APRSLocalEngine [INFO] Serial data: �[0m��[34m�DEBUG �[0m| 19:21:40 608 [GPS] �[34m�Set local position: lat=337250196 lon=-118045XXXX time=173688XXXX timestamp=1736882502
2025-01-14 11:21:42 APRSLocalEngine [INFO] Serial data: �[0m��[34m�DEBUG �[0m| 19:21:40 608 [GPS] �[34m�Node status update: 2 online, 13 total

I was hoping to share a demo this week but seemingly am stuck.

Do I need to put a tranlator or something in between somehow (python listening to serial port and forwarding to CalTopo)?

[thebentern]

If you're trying to use it over USB instead of the actual UART (TX/RX pins), you'll want to set serial.override_console_serial_port to true