Comments on: Any OBD-II software for OS-X?

Question: Any OBD-II software for OS-X?

Jon-o — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 19:12:49 -0800

Can anyone help me find some OBD-II software for the Mac?

I love my Mac laptop and it does about 90% of what I need from a computer. However, I can't seem to find any software (or hardware, like a USB adapter for the 16 pin datalink, for that matter) that'd give my Mac some scan-tool capabilities.
I'm not looking for a cheap global code reader, though. Those are a dime a dozen from any auto parts store. The software would have to be pretty professional quality, with a lab scope, dmm, the works.
Really, I'm trying to save myself from having to get a second computer or spend a big, sad, pile of money for some Snap-On product.

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 19:32:36 -0800

" OBD-II to DB9 serial adapter

" KeySpan serial-to-USB adapter

" How to grab serial port data in Terminal.app

" FreeDiag an open-source tool for sending ODB-II commands

" Chart and graphing tools for Mac OS X

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 20:06:43 -0800

I'm with Blazecock; the Keyspan serial adapters are the ones you want for use with a Mac. There are some others around, but I've had really mixed results with them. The Keyspan drivers give you a regular UNIX-style device (/dev/ttyUSB0 or something) that should work with all POSIX-compliant software.

I cheaped out and got a generic serial adapter to use with my GPS, and I never got the thing's kernel modules to load...anyway, don't cut corners there.

By: joeblough

joeblough — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 20:25:31 -0800

yeah i had a cheap prolific one and although it works great under windows, the KEXTs they supplied caused the trackpad to go all jumpy. at least on a powerbook G4. i dont know if the drivers have been updated for intel macs.

do you have a macbook? because today i sucessfully got CAN bus dumping on the prius working with a CAN232 and the above mentioned usb/serial converter. of course i had to use parallels + windows for this, so you'd need a macbook and not a powerbook.

By: wzcx

wzcx — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 10:18:11 -0800

Funny, I too just bought a keyspan serial-to-USB adaptor yesterday to replace the Rat Shack one whose drivers have been crashing XP. I am using it with an Innovate Motorsports LC-1 wideband O2 sensor. I also am able to skip the usb->serial step on OBDII with a Tactrix cable. (I'm interfacing with a Mitsubishi Evo, and it's pretty easy.) The reflashing software can run emulated in OSX, apparently, though I use windows. What car are you trying to interface with?