sandaals

By the way, I have had at least 3 requests for iQue support, so I will definitely put this in!

Well, the forums are back, and so am I! Speaking of which, I really like the new system. Not only much faster, but prettier too. Allrighty, I have an update for you. I've been receiving e-mail asking what the heck is going on with the project, so I'd like to fill y'all in on what's happening. First, an outline of the project: (1) PC-side Database Utility GUI (2) PC-side GPX/LOC import (3) PC-side Database handling (4) PC-side palm database export (5) PC-side PocketPC file export (6) Palm-side GUI (7) Palm-side database handling / data viewing (8) Palm-side log entry (9) Palm-side NMEA support (10) Palm-side basic navigation (11) Palm-side iQue support (12) PC-side map utility GUI (13) PC-side Terraserver image tile download (14) PC-side image processing/calibration/export (15) Palm-side basic image tile handling - display + scroll (16) Palm-side mapping (move map with GPS data) (17) Repeat Palm steps for PocketPC version You probably noticed that I mentioned a PocketPC version. The story is, I sold all of my Palm gear in favor of a new iPaq. In retrospect, that might not have been the smartest idea, but browsing the internet from the front yards of unsuspecting WiFi'ers is FUN (and useful, when I forget to print the cache pages)! Now, the PPC version is currently way off in the future, and may never be written, because there is already a fine software out there called CacheDragon. I really do not want to compete with anybody; the reason I am planning a PocketPC version is that I simply would like to be able to use my own software, which I can change or tweak in whichever way I want without waiting for bugfixes. I may not release the PPC version to the public. Anyhow, I must admit that there really has been very little progress with the project, what with a change in operating systems, eBay selling, schoolwork, etc. However, coming up is a four-day weekend, during which I plan to at least make significant progress on the PC-side software. Note that the Palm GUI is mostly done and the basic framework for viewing cache data is in place. The GUI for the PC-side app is also complete, as well as file loading and recognition. The next task is to get the program to parse the GPX data into special memory data structures and save it to disk in a format that is instantly readable by the program. Then I have to figure out how to make a nice, WORKING scrolling listbox with those fancy data cells, like you saw in the screenshots. From there, I gotta make all the buttons work, add view/edit dialogs, then write the Palm PDB export routines. Thank you all for your interest. I'll keep you "post"ed! -- Greg Courville (KG6SGY) http://www.gee-enginuity.com/ "Make it idiot-proof, and somebody'll make a better idiot"

Just letting the group know what state things are in... I got a "Virtual Machine" application so now Windows runs under Linux! Yay! Of course, shortly after I got everything working nicely, I started having major problems and now Linux won't boot, so I'm stuck in Windows! Any Linux guys out there who can help me out? I've posted on both Experts-Exchange and USENET to no avail. If you want to see my specific problem, see the google archive of the USENET post (click). This problem has brought everything to a grinding halt over here, and my first priority is to get Linux running again. Then, after like a month of zero progress, I hope to spend a weekend and at least get GPX import working. I did a pretty stupid thing though... on an impulse I sold all of my Palms and got a PocketPC! This means most of my testing will be within emulators, so I will probably select a few beta testers as soon as I have something to test. When the website is back up, it will have a form where you can enter info on what kind of devices you have, and I will select beta testers from there. Sounds like the iQue doesn't come with very good built-in software if people are looking to VelociCache for even basic navigation functions! I'll keep you all updated on my progress. By the way, I'll PayPal a dollar to anyone who can help me get my system running again!! Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

quote:Originally posted by tjej:Just a bump on this thread...wondering if Sandaals is in fact, living up to his tag line...turning great ideas into abandoned project since 1999. Is this one gone? It's still going! I have so much going on right now... it's impossible to get anything done. I'll be honest - there's been very little work done since the last update. I just went through the process of switching to linux, and am trying to get the Borland C++ compiler to work under a windows emulator so I can keep working. I might just have to... *shudder* boot into windows!! I have made a decision on the issue of sales and distribution: because I want to come across as more of a starving-artist type than a business out to make a profit, VelociCache will be distributed on a suggested-donation basis. I will request that anybody who uses VelociCache make some kind of donation, but there is no minimum (or maximum) requirement. I have got my website set up with Paypal to accept credit cards, etc. and when you donate any amount you will automatically receive a link to download the program. For information on where your donation money goes, click HERE. I have a 3-day weekend ahead of me, and I will try to devote all the time I can to making VelociCache happen. I will also finally get the Gee-Enginuity website up, including the VelociCache page. Thank you for your continuing interest! -Greg Courville KG6SGY Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

I plan to support OS's 3 through 5. However, versions for OS's below 3.5 will not support greyscale, and versions for the OS5 system may not initially support color. Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

VelociCache update: In the process of writing the code which will check the validity of the input GPX file before parsing, I made a little mini-app to test the functions I had written. It is a command-line application that tests whether a file is a valid PQ by looking for a certain XML tag identifying it as a "Groundspeak Pocket Query". Use is simple. Just drag a file on top of the gpxtest.exe file to test it, or from the command-line, type: gpxtest filename ...where filename is the path of the file you wish to test. Now you can finally tell the difference between your PQ's and EasyGPS GPX's! Download the GPX Tester here This file is available, for testing purposes, to users of this forum only. Due to the nature of the program, the file contains no author or copyright information. Please do not distribute this file without permission. If you think many people might like the file, notify me and I can re-compile it for free distribution. Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

Whoops! I thought I had the services and contact pages up! I just fixed the contact page, but I have no idea where Projects and Services went. I'm actively working on the site whenever I have spare time, so hopefully it'll be up soon. Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

www.gee-enginuity.com I've been working on the website. The site has a new look. It's not finished yet (many pages give you an under-construction message) but should be functional enough for you to get a feel for the new style and to prove that I actually am making progress. Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

Right now I'm working on the code to interpret GPX files and store them to the database. Progress is at a crawl because high school and a major cold are beating me down. Still trying to push myself to get the website up. That's about all the updating I can handle for now... thank you all for your continuing interest in the project. -Greg Courville Gee-Enginuity Software Products Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

I will have to look into the iQue. I'm not sure how the GPS hardware interfaces to the CPU. It could be easy, or really really hard. I'll get back to you sometime later. -Greg Courville Gee-Enginuity Software Products Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

Thank you for your continuing interest in VelociCache. The project was halted for two weeks because of vacation. The new website is almost complete, but no changes have been made to the pre-existing pages, so you will not find anything useful until I am able to upload the new content. I hope to have the new site ready by noon tomorrow. -Greg Courville Gee-Enginuity Software Products Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

Regarding a preorder-kinda-deal (where you'd get the current beta to try out, then automatically get the full when it comes out) I think that's an interesting idea. I do have a Paypal "Premiere" account, so I can see this happening. Once I have a semi-functional version ready, I'll consider trying it. And of course, if the real version doesn't come out within a reasonable time, you can always get your money back! On a related note, I'm completely re-writing the Gee-Enginuity website from scratch, and the new site will have a page for VelociCache (and the non-geocaching edition, VelociNav, to be released shortly after VelociCache) where you can see the screenshots and view the development status, as well as, in the future, order the software. It also has a PayPal donation link... I'll post here when the new site is up, which may take up to a week, because I am on vacation with limited phone/internet access. Thanks for your interest! -Greg Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

What do you guys think about starting a poll? Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

I would have assumed that, except that my find count still shows as 15 on his site! So if he does have access to the database, his site only updates every once in a while. A program running on a GC.com server could have direct local access to the database, and could generate the stats quickly and often. (like at least twice a week) -Greg Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

I really wish I could have; I even marked it on my calendar. But things have been so crazy lately! I had one urgent thing to do after another all day. Finally there's a Geocaching event within 10 miles, and I miss it! Oh well. Happy Birthday! About my trying to put together a caching picnic... I was thinking, and although my original plan of saying "okay, everybody come to Nxxx.xxxxx Wxxx.xxxxx at x:xx tomorrow and bring your own food and everything" might get a few people to come out, if I actually rented out a group area at a park or something and bought several packs of hot dogs and 15 gallons' worth of lemonade mix, maybe it would make it more of an "event" rather than... er... whatever the alternative is. Suggestions? -Greg Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

I use a Magellan Nav Companion for my Palm Vx, which I got for $50 on eBay. It's great! I got the Palm for $30, so for $80 (plus some additional software) I got a mapping GPS that stores cache pages!! Now I'm developing some software for Palm that does mapping, cache pages, logs, hints, and, of course, navigation! Check out the forum topic: http://ubbx.Groundspeak.com/6/ubb.x?q=Y&a=tpc&s=5726007311&f=7116058331&m=67160496 A Palm (or PocketPC) is one of the best Geocaching tools out there, with the one drawback of their lack of durability. -Greg Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

I'm over in Almaden Valley, San Jose (95120) and was thinking of holding a bring-your-own-everything geocaching event, just to meet some other cachers in my area. Anybody here from Almaden or the surrounding San Jose area? -Greg Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

Jeremy, would there also be problems because of bookmarking a forum thread? I had my GPS Software topic bookmarked in IE, and it seemed like whenever I would use the bookmark, the site would act really slow, I would have login problems, and the "reply" window would load up an error. I like to be able to snap straight to my topic through a Quicklaunch button. Is there a way to reliably bookmark a forum topic? Thanks! -Greg Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

The difficulty with Dan's site, I believe, is that much of the corrections must be done manually because he does not have direct access to the GC.com database. If Groundspeak were to implement such a program, it would have direct access to all necessary data and could update automatically, much more efficiently than an external site could. By the way, does anyone have any idea where Dan's site got its data? He seems to have almost everybody on there. -Greg Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

I hate to be negative here, but I have to recommend against buying a Rino 120. We have two of these units, and we've found that they're terrible. They're packed with more features than most of the other units, and have superb capabilities... However... The radio function sucks. The range is terrible, the microphone never works right, and people with normal radios can barely hear you. The screen is tiny! Just when I thought my old Palm Zire was annoying to use... There are terrible bugs in the firmware! Most annoyingly, the nearest-waypoint list rarely sorts correctlY! It's a great concept, and believe me, it sure is handy to press a button and have your buddy know where you are on the map, but Garmin really needs to work out some major issues before I can see these being really useful. My advice would be to wait and see how they do on the rino 130. -Greg P.S. The nervous-looking cartoon guy in the waypoint and radio screens is really annoying. Garmin, spend your time on fixing existing issues, not creating new ones like Mr. "Mark Waypoint"! Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

I'll have to look into the Bluetooth matter... It'll definitely be different than just interfacing to a hard serial port. However, my goal is to make (almost) everybody happy, so I'll try my best! -Greg Courville Gee-Enginuity Software Products Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

Wander Lost, you're in luck. I've just begun work on the PC-side application, and here's how it's going to go: The application has two parts: Database, and Mapping. The Database program holds two databases: the master database and the handheld database. The master database holds every cache that has been imported from GPX or .loc files. Each database entry contains, at the least, a waypoint code and coordinates. Points imported from Pocket Query GPX files will also hold cache descriptions, hints, logs, etc. When data is imported, it gets put in the Master database. By checking a box, the user can select it to be copied to the Handheld Database, which contains the data that will actually be transferred to the handheld. Then, all you have to do is click "Send to handheld", then Hotsync your PDA. The Mapping program has not been throroughly planned at this point, but it will be very similar to the mapping in ExpertGPS; the user can drag a box over areas for which they want maps, and the program will load maps (either topo or aerial) off the Terraserver and store them on the hard drive. From there, they can be selectively transferred to the handheld. More details later. My current process: -Submit a PQ -Download the PQ -GPSbabel it into GPS-Pilot Tracker format (to be shown on the map) -Transfer that to the Palm -GPSbabel it into Cetus GPS format (to navigate by) -Transfer that to the Palm -Find the coordinates of the area I'll be in -Get a topo map at LostOutdoors.com -Import this into GPS Pilot Cartographer -Export this to a PDB -Transfer that to the Palm -Submit the GPX to GPX Spinner -Set-up a Plucker channel for the GPX spinner results -Wait while Plucker downloads the 900 pages off of GPX Spinner -Transfer that to the Palm It's that easy! ...and only takes 2 1/2 hours! That's what I'd like to change. Here's what the new process will hopefully be: -Submit a PQ -Download the PQ -Import it into VelociCache Database Companion -Hit "select all", then export to a PDB (automatically added to the install queue) -In VelociCache Mapping Companion, drag a box over the cluster of caches -Wait for the maps to download -Hotsync Hopefully it will cut the time-to-first-cache dramatically. Not having a working model to test with, it's hard to say, but I think the VelociCache package should have an experienced user ready-to-go in under 5 minutes! (not counting the hours waiting for the dang Pocket Query to arrive!) I hope this all turns out like I'm thinking; it's sure to make caching easier for not only me, but anyone else who either only needs 15 caches in their database or is willing to buy the full version Thanks for your support! -Greg Courville Gee-Enginuity Software Products Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

Maeglin: I'm aware that POSE can take screenshots. I just thought it looked neat to have the unit in there too. However, I agree that those images are a little bulky, so in the future I'll either scale them down (the screen pixels are doubled anyway) or just use POSE's built-in capture function. Thanks. -Greg Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

UPDATE: I've taken a break from the palm-side app to work on the PC-side. That way, as I'm developing the Palm app, I'll be able to test it with actual data. Keep posting suggestions, everyone. Especially comments about the UI (see second screenshot). I want to make this as intuitive and user-friendly as possible. -Greg Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

I think the problem we have here is that many people think that the point of having stats is to try to beat everyone else. Look at me! At 19 finds, I'm in no position to try to compete with anyone! I'm just in it for the fun. Please, admins, at least consider the idea! Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999