Vna/J Installation Guide

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vna/J 2.8.x

Installation guide

Dietmar Krause

DL2SBA

Hindenburgstraße 29

D-70794 Filderstadt

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 Saturday, 29. September 2012

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

Table of contents

Changes ................................................................................................................................................... 3

Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. 4

Overview.................................................................................................................................................. 5

Installation ............................................................................................................................................... 6

Software for Microsoft Windows XP and newer ................................................................................ 6

Check prerequisites ........................................................................................................................ 7

Installation of Java runtime environment (JRE) .............................................................................. 9

Installation of vna/J application ................................................................................................... 10

USB driver for miniVNA and miniVNA PRO .................................................................................. 12

Software for Mac OS X ...................................................................................................................... 13

Check prerequisites ...................................................................................................................... 13

Installation of vna/J application ................................................................................................... 13

Hardware ........................................................................................................................................... 15

Application start .................................................................................................................................... 16

Windows ........................................................................................................................................... 16

Windows Explorer......................................................................................................................... 17

Batch-file ....................................................................................................................................... 18

Desktop-Shortcut .......................................................................................................................... 19

Mac OS X ........................................................................................................................................... 20

Command window ........................................................................................................................ 20

Desktop shortcut .......................................................................................................................... 23

Double-click in Finder ................................................................................................................... 25

License ................................................................................................................................................... 26

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

Changes

Date

Who

Changes

2010-11-06

DL2SBA

Initial version for MS Windows

2010-11-13

DL2SBA

Added section for Mac OS X

2011-01-01

DL2SBA

Updated link section to new website

2011-01-07

DL2SBA

Updated application start sections

2011-09-30

DL2SBA

Updated for new serial library

2012-01-22

DL2SBA

Fixed Mac issues

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

Acknowledgements

 First of all I want to thank my wife Monika, DL6SCF being incredibly understanding, suppor-

tive, and most of all, patient.

 Davide, IW3HEV and his team for these fine two little blue boxes.

 Andy, G0POY, for his permanent quality assurance of new releases, proof-reading this

document, providing an excellent installation description for SUSE LINUX and giving useful

tips regarding usability etc.

 Jan, DK5LJ, for providing installation support of 64bit versions of RXTX library

 Clive, G3GJA, for providing feedback for systems with corrupted JRE associations.

 And last but not least my cat Ina, which helped me many times solving complex situations at

the keyboard ;-)

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

Overview

The miniVNA and miniVNApro instruments by mRS http://www.miniradiosolutions.com are popular

and very useful test instruments.

The miniVNA instrument is a small blue box with two BNC connectors and a USB connector.

The newer miniVNApro is also small blue box now with two SMA connectors and much enhanced

precision.

All the control of the instrument is performed by a software application running on a PC.

Many people have contributed to the development of this software, but the focus has been mainly

on the Microsoft Windows operating system. There was a Linux based application but this is no

longer supported, and the advancement of the various Linux distributions has rendered it inoperable.

I've started in 2007 to develop a control application based on the Java programming language. Initial

ideas were taken from the Visual-Basic-Application that was provided by mRS.

Java is a cross-platform language, which allows the identical application binary to run on any sup-

ported Java enabled Operating System.

Currently I've tested the application on Windows98, WindowsXP, Windows7-32bit, WindowsVISTA-

64bit, MacOSX 32-bit versions, MacOSX 64-bit versions, UBUNTU 10.x.

Andy has tested it successful on SUSE LINUX 11.1 and 11.2

Remark:

Not all screenshots in this documentation are taken from the latest application version.

Where it is necessary for understanding, I've tried to use the latest screenshots.

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

Installation

Software for Microsoft Windows XP and newer

To run vna/J you need to install the following components:

 Java runtime environment

 vna/J application

 drivers for the serial interface

 special driver files for your specific network analyser

check JAVA version

installed

Install vna/J

Download JRE Download JRE

matching

Install specific drivers

Ftdi

drivers

vnaJ.2.81.xx

jar

Launch vna/J

Yes

Please proceed with the steps described in the following chapters.

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

Check prerequisites

The application vna/J is written using the JAVA programming language. Every application written in

JAVA needs a runtime-environment (JAVA RUNTIME ENVIRONMENT or simply JRE) to be executed on

a computer. This JRE must be installed on the computer you plan to run vna/J.

To check, whether a compatible JRE is installed please execute the following steps:

1. Open a command window by pressing the Windows-Key together with the R-key

or use the RUN entry in the Windows start menu.

2. The RUN window opens .

3. In the entry field Open enter cmd

4. Select the OK-button

5. Now a command window is opened:

6. In the window simply enter java -version (in words: java blank minus version) and press the

enter key

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

You should get something like java version "1.6.0_18"

If the printed version identifier is greater or equal to "1.5…." the installed JAVA environment is fine

for running vna/J. Continue installation with chapter "Installation of vna/J application"

If not, please install the latest JRE according to next chapter "Installation of Java runtime environ-

ment (JRE)".

If an error is printed, that the entered command java cannot be found, please install the latest JRE

according to next chapter "Installation of Java runtime environment (JRE)".

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

Installation of Java runtime environment (JRE)

Open this website in your favourite browser: http://www.java.com/de/download/index.jsp

Select the download button :

Validate that the correct version of your operation system is detected

If the correct operation system version is displayed, select again the "download"-button. In Firefox

now a windows opens asking for saving this file.

Select "SAVE".

When download is finished execute the downloaded file by double-clicking the filename.

Now the JRE download should start:

and the JRE is automatically installed.

To verify that the installation was successful, you can check it by reexecuting the steps described in

chapter "Check prerequisites".

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

Installation of vna/J application

Base application installation

First decide where you want to install the vna/J application.

For demo purposes, I’ve simply installed it in a new folder on the Windows desktop. You can choose

any folder, on which you have read and write access.

For this documentation I use this folder on my desktop:

Simply create this folder by right-clicking on a free Windows desktop area and select New and

Folder. Enter a meaningful name for the new folder.

The complete vna/J application is contained in a single file - a Java ARchive (basically a ZIP-file with

.jar-extension). You require the following file to run the application:

vnaJ.2.7.5.jar

which denotes version 2.7.5 or any later archive.

You can download always the latest version from my website:

http://vnaj.dl2sba.com

Store the downloaded file in the previously created folder.

There are also two additional MS Windows batch-files.

start_vnaJ.cmd Launches the application by directly calling the JAVA runtime

environment.

start_vnaJ_echo.cmd Launches the application by directly calling the JAVA runtime

environment but leaves a command window open to see the

messages issued by the application.

You need to download them only, if you encounter problems during application launch (see chapter

"Application start" non page 16.

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

Hint: Please ensure that you download all file with the mentioned extension. If you don't see any

extensions in the Windws explorer window, please check in the explorer options that exten-

sions of known file types are not suppressed:

You can find this dialog (folder options) in the EXTRA menu in any file explorer window!

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

USB driver for miniVNA and miniVNA PRO

To gain access to the miniVNA interface, special drivers for the USB-interface of the miniVNA are

needed.

You have to download the so-called VCP driver for windows from the manufacturers homepage:

http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

Always download the latest driver version!

You can select either an OS-specific ZIP-file or simply use the so-called "setup-executable" which

guides you through the installation or update of the drivers.

After successful installation open again the system-information dialog and start the device manager.

In the section "COM & LPT" you now should see only the currently available COM-ports.

Now plug in the miniVNA (PRO) into a free USB port on your computer. You should get a message in

the windows taskbar area, stating that a new device is detected and successfully installed.

Re-check the device-manager. You should now find the serial port added for the miniVNA (PRO):

Remember the name of the newly added COM-port - here COM10. It will be later used inside vna/J

application to select the correct COM-Port for the miniVNA.

Hint: If you later plug in the miniVNA (PRO) into a different USB port on your computer, you may

get a different COM port number assigned to it.

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

Software for Mac OS X

Check prerequisites

The application vna/J is written using the JAVA programming language. Every application written in

JAVA needs a runtime-environment (JAVA RUNTIME ENVIRONMENT or simply JRE) to be executed on

a computer. This JRE is pre-installed on every Mac.

Currently I’ve used an MBP with this JAVA version installed:

Updates are available from Apple via the regular system maintenance procedures.

Installation of vna/J application

Base application

First decide where you want to install the vna/J application.

For demo purposes, I’ve simply installed it in a new folder on the Mac OS X desktop. You can choose

any folder, on which you have read and write access.

For this documentation I use this folder on my desktop:

Simply create this folder by right-clicking on a free desktop area and select New and Folder. Enter a

meaningful name for the new folder.

The complete vna/J application is contained in a single file - a Java ARchive (basically a ZIP-file with

.jar-extension). You require the following file to run the application:

vnaJ.2.7.5.jar

which denotes version 2.7.5 or any later archive. You can download always the latest version from

my website:

http://vnaj.dl2sba.com

Store the downloaded file in the previously created folder.

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

USB driver for miniVNA and miniVNA PRO

To gain access to the miniVNA interface, special drivers for the USB-interface of the miniVNA are

needed.

I’ve tested the application also with the Apple Mac OS X. I’ve downloaded the FTDI VCP driver version

2.2.10 dated 6th August 2008 from

http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

and installed it. Any newer version should also work fine!

Depending on the which type of operating system running (32bit or 64bit) please select the correct

download from FTDI website:

The port names on the Mac are a little bit different from the ones on Windows.

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

Hardware

The miniVNA simply needs a free USB port at your computer. Connect the analyzer via a high-quality

USB cable to a free USB port on your host computer.

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

Application start

Windows

There are three ways to start the application:

1. Start by double-click in explorer window

2. Start via a shortcut on the windows desktop

3. Start the application with one of the provided batch-file

I suggest to try first version (1). If you do not encounter any problems, I suggest to create a shortcut

on your windows desktop to launch the application (2).

In case of problems, please try to launch the application with the batch-file (3).

If this also fails, please refer to chapter " Reporting a problem" in the vna/J-User Manual for further

support.

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

Windows Explorer

Open a Windows explorer windows to the direc-

tory, where you've download the files from the

website.

Now simply launch the application by double-

clicking the downloaded JAR-file, here

vnaJ.2.8.0.h.jar

The application should start and show the main

window.

 If this works, you can create a Desktop link as described in this chapter "Desktop-Shortcut"

on page 19

 If this fails, try to launch it by launching one of the provided batch-files as described in this

chapter "Batch-file" on page 18.

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

Batch-file

On the website two MS Windows batch-files are provided:

start_vnaJ.cmd Launches the application by directly calling the JAVA runtime envi-

ronment.

start_vnaJ_echo.cmd Launches the application by directly calling the JAVA runtime envi-

ronment but leaves a command window open to see the messages

issued by the application.

First try the batch-file start_vnaJ.cmd. Start this file, by double-clicking on it in the MS Windows file

explorer. If This works, you can create a desktop shortcut to this file (and not the JAR-file) as de-

scribed in chapter "Desktop-Shortcut" on page 19.

If this also fails, please refer to chapter " Reporting a problem" in the vna/J-User Manual for further

support.

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

Desktop-Shortcut

Create a new shortcut on your windows desktop by right-clicking a free place on your windows desk-

top.

- Select NEW/SHORTCUT in the appearing popup-menu.

- In the dialog select the jar-file you've downloaded previously:

- Click NEXT and give the shortcut a meaningful name.

- Doing a regular left-double-click on the newly created shortcut should start the application.

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

Mac OS X

Command window

- Open a command window (Shell, Terminal, …):

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

- In the opened window, please navigate to the directory, where you've downloaded the JAR-

file.

- Launch the application by entering:

java -jar vnaJ.2.8.0.jar

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

- The application should now start successful.

If the application launches successfully, you can create a shortcut on the desktop, as described in

chapter " Desktop shortcut" on page 23.

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

Desktop shortcut

 Open the previously created installation folder in the finder:

 Select the downloaded JAR-file and right-click on it:

 In the popup select Create Alias.

 Drag the created alias to the desktop.

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

 Rename the alias to a meaningful name:

 You now can launch the application by double-clicking on the created alias on the desktop.

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

Double-click in Finder

 Open the previously created installation folder in the finder

 Launch the application by double clicking on the JAR-file, here vnaJ.2.8.0y.jar:

vna/J - Installation guide - V 2.8.x

License

Dutch

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Namensnennung-NichtKommerziell-

KeineBearbeitung 3.0 Niederlande License. To view a copy of this license, visit

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/nl/ or send a letter to Creative Com-

mons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.

English

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Namensnennung-NichtKommerziell-

KeineBearbeitung 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons,

444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.

Deutsch

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Namensnennung-NichtKommerziell-

KeineBearbeitung 3.0 Deutschland License. To view a copy of this license, visit

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/de/ or send a letter to Creative Com-

mons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.

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