Suunto Gekko with OSX
I’ve just stumbled across the fact that my dive computer, a
Suunto Gekko, does indeed support data transfers – event to my Mac. While the manual (and web site) states the exact opposite, it seems like this limitation was just introduced
through the Suunto PC software. This original software is Windows only and DiveLog a 3rd party software to manage dive logs does not come with
this limitation. DiveLog’s user interface is quite terrible – but it does the trick. In order to connect the Suunto you need a cable. While the original Suunto USB cable costs
big bucks I can recommend the “Smartinterface” which is compatible but much cheaper. You need to install some drivers, reboot your
machine and you are almost there to have your dives saved on your Mac. So let me guide you through the details…
First you need to download the drivers for the “cable” as this really is a USB serial adapter. The “smartinterface” uses
the same chipset as the orignal converter. So in either case you will need download and install the drivers from here. Open the
installer and just follow through the instructions. Provide your admin password when asked and confirm the reboot at the end of the installation. Please finish this installation before
you connect the adapter to your USB port.
Once you machine has rebooted set you dive computer into “PC” mode. See the manual on how do that. (probably MODE, 1 MEMORY, 3 PC-SET) Then connect the dive computer to your Mac and go into the “System Prefences”. Pick “Network” and a little box should pop up telling you that a new port has been detected. Click OK. On the top “Show” drop box select “Network Port Configuration”. Then check the box for the new “usbserial” port. Apply and you are done.
Start DiveLog and in the “Computer” menu select the correct brand and the port you just enabled. Then go on “Transfer” and you should should see your dives getting downloaded to your Mac. Yay!
Update: Turns out there is also an open source program called JDiveLog that should work. Unfortunately it requires manual installation of some libraries first. And at least in the 2.7 release the JavaApplicationStub needs to be made executable to make it even start.
Update 2: A while ago I’ve switched to MacDive. Highly recommended!