Adrenalynn
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Posts posted by Adrenalynn
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>> pay for a full blown high end Garmin GPS which is far more capable of handling outdoor conditions
But entirely incapable of performing the tasks of the Trimble.
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Well, there is the option of your licensing the database from Groundspeak and developing your own competing app. I suspect it will cost a wee bit more than $6/mo for that license, and with 30 years of software and embedded firmware development behind me, I _know_ your development costs will exceed that. So you might want to recuperate those costs by offering it for sale. So now you need to build the infrastructure to support it.
$6 < many hundreds of thousands of dollars - so I'm good with it.
Or there is the questionable GCzII which is a really nice app breaking the TOS. When it works, awesome. But I can't expect more from it than that, or even its long-term-ness. Or he could license the database from Groundspeak - and now you're back into that $6/mo [or more].
It really is a catch-22.
Paying $60-70 for a mobile app is very uncommon. Plus it's not $60-70, it's $6 a month. Most of us have been doing and plan to do this for more than a year. My caching has been supplemented by a mobile device since I started in 2004.
That doesn't even cover the fact that GZcII blows the trimble app out of the water with features and functionality.
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Looks like I got tricked by going to the geocachenavigator site and then looking at the supported phones and carriers. Seems they list the phones that their OTHER apps are supported on. I didn't go through all the phones either. Glad I didn't try to buy it for my phone, I'd have been annoyed.
When I was using it, it was on a dumb Nokia. Must be running Java mobile profile, surely it was on my handset. Which means that with a bit of monkeying with it, it would likely run on Windows or Android, but hardly worth it with GCzII running so well.
Incidentally, I hardly see the $6/mo as excessive. Paying $60-70 for a software license is not uncommon, and given that they're having to make a business case for it whilst still giving GC their pound of flesh, it's probably pretty reasonable.
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More than a handful of the supported handsets are WM/Wince-based. And iPhone. And even the Nexus One. A lot more than just Crackberry!
If you can tell me of a suitable program I can use on my Windows mobile device in the mean time (which is as good as GCzII), then please let me know.
There is Trimble Navigator...
I don't think it's nearly as good, it's commercial, and it runs on a very limited number of carriers - but if the stars line up for you, then it might work out.
I'll keep using GCzII myself.
There's a WINDOWS MOBILE version of Trimble Navigator? I thought that was just for Blackberries (which is still toss out your phone, break your cell contract and shell out for another device, just for one app to a current Windows Mobile user)
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If you can tell me of a suitable program I can use on my Windows mobile device in the mean time (which is as good as GCzII), then please let me know.
There is Trimble Navigator...
I don't think it's nearly as good, it's commercial, and it runs on a very limited number of carriers - but if the stars line up for you, then it might work out.
I'll keep using GCzII myself.
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attach file is somewhere around here, but it only works for zips.
anyway, here's what went down:
1. the first time around, when you scanned the outcropping, a message appeared: "You have discovered a cute but unidentifiable creature. (...)"
Did you see this message? Did you click "Ok" to continue?
2. the second time, when this message appeared and you clicked "Ok", another message appeared: "New Task: 'Scan' Alien with Transponder to name it"
after this, the alien was moved into the inventory.
the first time, for some reason, the callback was never initiated.
this happens to be the same problem that we saw on Android. i'll look into it in more detail, perhaps there is some kind of race condition that is killing the callbacks ... blah blah. i now have a pretty good idea of where the problem is lurking.
but you have to tell me: did you see and click through the dialog i mentioned?
Hi again,
Yes, I did see the message "You have discovered a cute but unidentifiable [...]" both times. Both times I clicked ok. And your assumption is correct - it was only moved into the inventory the second pass through, after restarting the engine and trying again.
As an aside, I headed out this afternoon and did a "real" Wherigo cache. It was pretty simplistic, just a virtual tour, no real interactivity.
In that instance, your code ran flawlessly, never once hiccuping nor crashing. The designer used _very_ tight range to get inside the zone, generally 1-1.5m, so it was a little frustrating just from GPS error, but nothing that your code could have helped with. Over a three hour period, 12+ tasks, many locations, it ran just fine. Nearly killed my cell battery, but other than that was a great adventure!
Thanks again!
--- A
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Well, yeah, I guess that would probably be smart, huh?
I don't see an "attach file" at first blush, so here's a link: http://www.jlrdesigns.com/wherigo_player_tut.gwl
[SPOILER WARNING: For others reading - log file contains spoilers!]
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Working, with a caveat...
I was able to complete the tutorial module (Cheer! Thanks for your patience) and get a completion code.
The caveat, and this may well be due to the JBed implementation of the JVM, but: Generally on the first pass when I was supposed to be given something for inventory, or when something new would pop-up (like the alien), they wouldn't appear in my inventory, and I wouldn't be able to scan them. The first time, I started from scratch and the three items appeared in my inventory as appropriate. Then the landscape appeared and outcropping, which I was able to scan. But the alien didn't end-up being in the inventory or scanable. I saved my game, exited all the way out, came back in, backed up a step, and was notified and able to scan him (does that make any sense as described?)
Sorry for the poor bug report. I'll try to reproduce it a few more times from scratch and see if I can zero in on it.
Great work reversing this and opening the hood!
Thanks again!
--- A
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Thanks! I'm hopeful that this JBED version that seems to be working with be the ultimate trick. If so, I'll start a new thread (I've hammered this one enough, I think. ) and do at least a brief write-up of all the fiddly-bits it takes to get it going.
As an aside: J9 was worthless. Not only was it clunky, it appeared to connect to the GPS, did return valid data, but when I tried to "Start" the module, it just went to "wait..." and after 15mins was still in that state.in all likelihood, your J9 doesn't do JSR-75 (which is the part that allows openwig to access files)
there seem to be some versions of J9 that can do it floating around (google "ibm j9 jsr-75" returns some sensible results), but i can't tell how hard it is to actually get the right version
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Well - it appears I have it working with JBED 20090217.5.1R2 SD, combined with GPSPort 0.36. The catch is that I have to fire-off something like MetroNAV or GCzII or similar to bring the GPS live, then run GPSPort, JBED, OpenWIG, then task switch out, connect to COM8 (the actual GPS, not the "intermediate" abstraction on COM1) -
You know, I'll try the tutorial again when I get home tonight (I only got as far as successfully wearing the space suit), and if I'm able to fully complete it, I'll write a step-by-step for the MetroPCS/Samsung Code WM6 Classic...
As an aside: J9 was worthless. Not only was it clunky, it appeared to connect to the GPS, did return valid data, but when I tried to "Start" the module, it just went to "wait..." and after 15mins was still in that state.
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hard to tell - perhaps the JBed is not reporting altitude/precision data. if you could get the gpsport solution to work, we'd know for sure
Yeah, I spent a good six hours trying to get that going without any luck. Total exercise in frustration. Maybe I'll try switching jvm's again. [there goes another day... ]
Thanks for your thoughts!
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I wasn't able to get it going with PhoneME, which is why I switched to JBED (since NorthernPenguin got it working).
I'd also like to learn how you got it going with PhoneME. TIA!
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Altitude is uninitialized, no 3D position fix, maybe? Think that would blow-up the tutorial cartridge?
I won't paste the whole log since it's just me moving around eight or nine blocks on foot and trying it again. I can link it if like.
Would hugely appreciate your input since there's really no error state there that would give me any "aha!" moment myself, other than it being a 2D fix.
[start of the logfile]
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cartridge Wherigo Player Tutorial started (openWIG r344)
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7:31:54|38.5599|-121.3274|NaN|NaN|:: EVNT: Wherigo Player Tutorial.OnStart
7:31:54|38.5599|-121.3274|NaN|NaN|:: CALL: Dialog - "Hello there! I'm Captain Jon and I need your help. This adventure tutorial will teach you how to na
7:31:54|38.5599|-121.3274|NaN|NaN|:: PROP: nameinput.Text is set to Unidentified Species Detected: Type in a name for the Alien and hit OK.
7:31:54|38.5599|-121.3274|NaN|NaN|:: EEND: Wherigo Player Tutorial.OnStart
7:32:38|38.5599|-121.3275|NaN|NaN|:: EVNT: Spacesuit.OnWear
7:32:38|38.5599|-121.3275|NaN|NaN|:: CALL: MessageBox - "Your GPS signal is not optimal. Try moving around to get better reception. You may have to change y
7:32:38|38.5599|-121.3275|NaN|NaN|:: EEND: Spacesuit.OnWear
7:32:51|38.5599|-121.3275|NaN|NaN|:: EVNT: Spacesuit.OnWear
7:32:51|38.5599|-121.3275|NaN|NaN|:: CALL: MessageBox - "Your GPS signal is not optimal. Try moving around to get better reception. You may have to change y
7:32:51|38.5599|-121.3275|NaN|NaN|:: EEND: Spacesuit.OnWear
[sNIP! ... 8KB Later ... End of the log file]
8:28:29|38.5598|-121.3277|NaN|NaN|:: EVNT: Spacesuit.OnWear
8:28:29|38.5598|-121.3277|NaN|NaN|:: CALL: MessageBox - "Your GPS signal is not optimal. Try moving around to get better reception. You may have to change y
8:28:29|38.5598|-121.3277|NaN|NaN|:: EEND: Spacesuit.OnWear
I did have several restarts in that period, seeing if they'd help. Even a phone reboot and wait for warm-up...
Phone is a Samsung "Code" (SCH-i220), WM6 Classic. Qualcom GPSOne chipset for the GPS, GCzII sees it on COM1. JBED 080912
It just feels like this should be working. All the functionality is there, and I can obviously connect to the GPS, so why not?
Oh oh - searching the registry, allegedly there's a GPS log file at \windows\GPSLogFile.txt. Let's go see what's in it... Wishful thinking on the part of the registry. No such log file, even though the "IsEnabled" regkey is 1
I'm not sure where to go from there at first-blush. Any advice?
Thanks again!
--- A
[edit]
Here's the middle of the log file, I just realized that made it look like I was trying from the same place for an hour. I walked around and ended-up in the same place...
7:44:19|38.5606|-121.3263|NaN|NaN|:: EVNT: Spacesuit.OnWear
7:44:19|38.5606|-121.3263|NaN|NaN|:: CALL: MessageBox - "Your GPS signal is not optimal. Try moving around to get better reception. You may have to change y
7:44:19|38.5606|-121.3263|NaN|NaN|:: EEND: Spacesuit.OnWear
7:53:35|38.5623|-121.3245|NaN|NaN|:: EVNT: Spacesuit.OnWear
7:53:35|38.5623|-121.3245|NaN|NaN|:: CALL: MessageBox - "Your GPS signal is not optimal. Try moving around to get better reception. You may have to change y
7:53:35|38.5623|-121.3245|NaN|NaN|:: EEND: Spacesuit.OnWear
8:2:21|38.5592|-121.3275|NaN|NaN|:: EVNT: Spacesuit.OnWear
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Thanks for reminding me. I did say I was going to go look at that, didn't I?
[i'm not easily distracted - I'm easily fascinated by something else...]
the log file should be right next to the cartridge file.
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Well... I might have spoken a bit soon.. It appears to function and reports a Lat/Lon for the GPS, but the tutorial module wouldn't even let me get as far as wearing the Space Suit because of "not optimal GPS signal".
GCzII was reporting +/- 7ft.
I need to poke around and find the log file, me-thinks.
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Thanks to our Penguin friend from Up North - it appears to be running on my Samsung Code (WM6 Classic). Alas, I've got a little 320x240 screen and it looks like poo with JBED being intended for VGA... But hey - I'm going to run out in the next day or two and try it anyway.
Somehow I missed the Tux'd Ones' post re: JBED 080912 working where the prior links wouldn't. Doh! I literally killed the entire day trying to get GPSGate and GPSPort to talk to it. After updating JBED (and I'm using the SD version to move it off onto the storage card), it's finally seeing the GPS and loading the module. All APPEARS healthy, so I'm going to risk the 48mi round-trip to run out there and see if I can figure it out.
Seriously, though, GREAT WORK and INCREDIBLE EFFORT to knock this off in an Open Source sorta way that supports maximum devices. KUDOS!
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It's up for download now, and working fine for me.
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Woohoo! It was actually able to give me the list I was trying for all day. Of course, the sun is setting, so maybe it was just sunspots? Or half the world has gone to bed?
Did I mention [sigh] yet? Oh, hmm. I guess I did.
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I manage to sneak out one ENTIRE weekend in the last half year - and geocaching.com manages to blow it.
Nice to come back and see that some things never change.
Now if someone could go kick the DOS 3.1 install running btree on that 286/16 that apparently houses geocaching.com, maybe I could get a little caching in still this weekend?
[sigh]
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You don't need a GPS to find any cache.
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A premium membership for ~$3/mo will help a LOT. That being said, from the cache page, you can download GPX files.
Open those files in EasyGPS (easiest way to get started) from http://www.easygps.com
You should have received a data cable with your new GPS. You need that on the PC and hooked to the Legend.
Use EasyGPS to send the coordinates to the GPS.
That's the easy getting started method. Once you master that, we can start exploring things like sending hundreds of waypoints and hints and that kinda thing to your gpsr.
Welcome to the addiction!
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EXCELLENT WORK! Great editing, solid video. As has been suggested, when you get out of your car, you could then give an offset from that location. Stand in front of the camera like you did at the beginning and say "From this spot, travel 34 feet on heading ____. Enjoy your videoventure."
But how does that require you to use your GPSr more?
Is that a serious question?
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I'm working on a rather unique geocache idea that would require use of a laptop computer. To get an idea of practicality, I'm asking how many geocachers own laptops that they can take with them and use while out hunting?
Thanks!
A Win98SE needs extra drivers, etc.
Microsoft drops all support for 98 in a month or two. So why should he be worried about supporting it? No self-respecting geek (which he's effectively said he's looking for) would be caught dead near 98/SE. The requirements for running 2k aren't effectively different than for running 98...
That was just one issue. There were plenty of other issues to overcome before it becomes feasible.
Additional issue that would worry me is what if someone accidents deletes the log or over writes everyone else's entries? I'd hate to the be the butt-head that screwed up the log or the owner that allowed 50 finders' log be lost.
He suggested he'd be maintaining it frequently. Have rotating log files, and back 'em up regularly. If you have people resave the log file with the date.log, then the worst loss is that day.
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Please, do go on! I could write a doctoral thesis from the contents of this thread alone.
I'm hoping that of some point, somebody with the power will kill this thread so I can go outside and find a geocache. In fact, let's all log off and go find some geocaches!
So you are unable to walk away as long as this thread is open, eh? Interesting. Tell me more.
GCzII is now Approved!
in GPS technology and devices
Posted
I'm not sure how you can "take exception", then ask "what tasks", then go on to list its claim-to-fame capability as being something you can't inherently do on the Colorado. You've taken exception then answered your own question, proving the truth-table behind my statement.
You then go on to note that you're not the target market for the Trimble product because it's not rugged enough, in that it runs on your cell phone, but do so as a defense of GCzII (which, incidentally, I happen to like a lot) that is... Running on your cell phone, which, unless GCzII comes with a water-proof, shock resistant case that I didn't receive when I downloaded it, hasn't adequately effected the ruggedness of the cellphone.
Frankly, I don't find the Colorado rugged enough for my backwoods caching either. Fine in the same environs I'd use my cell phone in, but the 60Cx (and soon the 62C) are more to my preference. I'd trust the Colorado more than my WinMo smartphone in the rain, but not repelling off of cliffs and traversing fast-flowing waters. And when it comes to actually extracting myself from those environs - I wouldn't trust _anything_ that had a battery or MCU anyway. That's what the Cammenga Tritium (and the backup Silva) is for.