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sandaals

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Posts posted by sandaals

    New Geocaching software for Palm! (does wpts, maps, and cache pages)

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    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"

    New Geocaching software for Palm! (does wpts, maps, and cache pages)

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    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!! icon_smile.gif

     

    Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

    New Geocaching software for Palm! (does wpts, maps, and cache pages)

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    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

    New Geocaching software for Palm! (does wpts, maps, and cache pages)

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    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

    New tech-class ham in San Jose

    in Ham Radio

    Posted

    quote:
    I can usually be found on 145.23 (100PL) or 146.64

    146.64 comes in quite nicely for me, but my PL board doesn't work. I'm going to hook my radio to a computer and run a tone-generator program, which should solve all my PL problems.

    For now, though, Charlie is the best bet because it will take a signal without PL if it is strong enough. There's always a group of commuters on weekday mornings.

     

    By the way, what time does your commute start? I'm going to be on the radio tomorrow morning anyway (trying to work the ISS) so I'll scan around the repeaters you mentioned.

     

    -Greg KG6SGY

     

    Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

    New Geocaching software for Palm! (does wpts, maps, and cache pages)

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    icon_razz.gif

    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

    New tech-class ham in San Jose

    in Ham Radio

    Posted

    CQ, CQ... This is KG6SGY.

     

    I just got my tech ticket and a 2-meter mobile!

    I am now officialy KG6SGY.

    Any Geo-Hams near San Jose? It would be really cool to be able talk to another Geocacher. I can raise at least 6 different repeaters from where I am, and the strongest one is "Charlie" on 147.855, negative offset, PL:100hz. I talk to people in San Francisco, Salinas, and all over Santa Clara county regularly, so if you're anywhere near the bay area, maybe we can get in touch.

     

    -Greg Courville

    KG6SGY

     

    Gee Enginuity - Turning great ideas into abandoned projects since 1999

    New Geocaching software for Palm! (does wpts, maps, and cache pages)

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    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

    New Geocaching software for Palm! (does wpts, maps, and cache pages)

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    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! icon_razz.gif

    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... icon_biggrin.gif

    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

    Caching Stats?

    in Website

    Posted

    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

    Almaden Valley Geocachers?

    in West and Southwest

    Posted

    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! icon_frown.gif

     

    Oh well. Happy Birthday! icon_smile.gif

     

    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

    GPS attached to PDA/phones?

    in West and Southwest

    Posted

    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

    A suggestion for the TPTB

    in Website

    Posted

    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

    Caching Stats?

    in Website

    Posted

    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

    looking for a waas gps with rotating map

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    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. icon_smile.gif

     

    -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

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