Gewitty

GPSBabel was initially developed on Linux and a version has always been available. I didn't make up the numbers. So if you're a product manager and responsible for paying for the development, would you really justify the development costs that, if you got 100% of that market, would be between two and four percent of the total? I really wasn't inferring that you made up any numbers. Nor was I looking for an argument. Just trying to make the point that application developers should pay more attention to the Linux market than many of them do now. MS isn't going to be around forever and is already showing signs of fatigue; so a superior OS, such as Linux, is bound to emerge as a serious contender before long.

The stats you quote seem to be taken from figures collected regarding which OS's actually use GPSBabel currently. If that's the case then they can't be used to assess the size of the potential market amongst Linux users. If GPSBabel don't offer a Linux version, but do offer Win and Mac options, then it naturally follows that there will be very few Linux users appearing in the usage and support stats. To accurately gauge the potential market, you need to know how many installed Linux systems there are are globally and that's difficult to pin down. Current estimates put the figure between two and four percent of the total, say around 21 million users. Not an insignificant figure, especially if you then factor in the demographics. Linux users tend to adopt, own and use more gadgets than those on other OS's, so products like GPSBabel will be in higher demand amongst them. Add to that the fact that Linux usage is growing at 2/3 times the rate of the other platforms and you might just conclude that it's a market worth targeting.

Actually, the problem is the other way around. It's not that Ubuntu and Suse don't support Mapsource and Base Camp, but that Mapsource and Suse don't support Linux! If some of the application developers out there took the trouble to check the statistics on just how many Linux users there are now, they might just realise that they're missing out on a very large market sector.

One of the best mapping applications that I've come across is Quo from a company called Mapyx (www.mapyx.com) The Quo application is extremely powerful and uses both OS and Open Source maps, as well as offering the ability for users to scan and calibrate their own maps. There is a plug-in which supports the import of Geocaching files, as well as numerous other facilities, such as route and track plotting, import/export, etc. The complete range of OS maps (1:25000 Explorer and 1:50000 Landranger) are available for purchase as 'tiles', which are only £1.89+VAT and £0.92+VAT each, so you only need to buy tiles for the immediate area you are interested in. Best of all is the fact that the Quo application is completely free. The only downside is that currently the program only runs under Windows. However, I got around that by using VirtualBox in Ubuntu and installing Quo in XP running on a virtual machine. Highly recommended and well worth a try.

Thanks for that. The cache is back again. Maybe the way to re-enable caches should be reviewed though, as the solution turned out to be pretty obscure (unless you've done it before!) and I couldn't even find any reference to it in help sections.

I recently had to temporarily make a cache unavailable whilst some repairs were done. When I logged in today to re-enable it, I was unable to find any way to do this. Another post I found mentions that there should be an 'Enable Cache' button on the edit page, but there is no sign of it. I've searched everywhere, but can't locate any way to get the cache live again. Anyone got any ideas on how this can be done?

The question arises from a discussion on another topic thread recently. I'm doing a bit of research to discover how many geocachers users Linux rather than Windows. Most of the GPS manufacturers make software and firmware available for Windows users, but very few offer support to Linux converts. The rationale seems to be that there are so few Linux users out there that it's not worth their while to offer Linux versions of their apps. But times are changing and Linux is becoming a significant force in the market. Given the techno-savvy nature of geocachers, it occurred to me that this particular demographic might just have a higher than normal percentage of Linux users. So, if you are a Linux user, maybe you could just reply with a quick post and also state which flavour you use. I would have done this easier as a poll, but this forum doesn't seem to support them, so I'll have to do the sums by hand! Regards, Dave

Hmm. Keep an eye on the statistics and demographics for Linux uptake. It's user base is growing at a remarkable rate. Given the enquiring minds and innovative nature of geocachers, I would be interested to see just how many already use Linux as opposed to Windows. Maybe there's a case for a poll here!

Your facts are a bit off. It works fine with Firefox, and Garmin says so on their website. It's the Communicator Plug-in that's Windows Only. The facts are essentially correct. It may have been my original description of the problem that was not clear. It is not possible to use the Communicator Plugin for Firefox when running a Linux OS. The plug-in is only available for Windows or Mac OS's.

I'm a Linux (Ubuntu) user for quite some time now and find that pretty much everything I used to (try) and do in Windows can be done at least as well and for a lot less outlay than when I was stuck with MS. However, one thing that does still defeat me is the ability to download waypoint data directly from the site to my Garmin HCx, When I try to do this, I get a pop-up window that tells me that Garmin doesn't support my browser, which is Firefox. This seems pretty daft to me, given the popularity of Firefox, so I'm wondering if anyone else has confronted the issue and come up with a solution. Or is the Evil Empire going to win this one