Garmin Software

[+TheCarterFamily]

I figure this would be a good place to start since everyone on geocaching.com owns a GPS.

 

I'm trying to get Garmin to port their software to linux. This way we can upload waypoints and maps using linux rather than the need to have a windows installation somewhere.

 

Even if you don't run Linux yourself, your signature would be helpful to the cause.

 

http://www.petitiononline.com/Garmin/petition.html

 

Thank you everyone.

[+Pablo Mac]

Good luck with this. I signed a similar petition at least two years ago regarding a Mac version, with no apparent movement on Garmin's part.

[+Stunod]

I figure this would be a good place to start since everyone on geocaching.com owns a GPS.

 

True, but the Off Topic forum was a bad choice. I'm moving this to the GPS Units and Software forum.

[+TheCarterFamily]

I figure this would be a good place to start since everyone on geocaching.com owns a GPS.

 

True, but the Off Topic forum was a bad choice. I'm moving this to the GPS Units and Software forum.

 

Thanks for that. I figured if I was in the wrong someone would politely correct me.

[+tirediron]

Signed

[+oeichler]

Checkout QLandkarte

 

Should be portable to Windows and Macs with Intel architecture,too.

 

HTH

 

Oliver

Edited January 24, 2007 by oeichler

[SandyGarrity]

I do not consider that Linux has the market mass to warrent the development time. I can see Gamin saying "Thank you but, comercially it is a non starter".

[+oeichler]

I do not consider that Linux has the market mass to warrent the development time. I can see Gamin saying "Thank you but, comercially it is a non starter".

 

If Garmin would have invested into a sane software development, portability wouldn't be an issue. However if I start to code on some wacky, microsoftish GUI API I will never be able to port.

 

QLandkarte consumed less than 3 month a man of work. A quite big chunk of time was spent in reverse engineering the data formats due to false or lacking information.

 

Thus Gamin will say: "Thank you but, commercially it is a non starter, because we maneuvered us into a one way road with a dad end. Sorry, but there is no such thing like a GPS for software development."

 

Oliver

[+Train_Man]

Linux is the way of the future. I signed the list as #33. Doesn't look like it's getting very far

[+ICHTHYS]

Linux is the way of the future. I signed the list as #33. Doesn't look like it's getting very far

 

boy, and all this time I thought Mac was the way of the future.

 

I'll stick with my PC which works in the here and now.

[SandyGarrity]

 

If Garmin would have invested into a sane software development, portability wouldn't be an issue. However if I start to code on some wacky, microsoftish GUI API I will never be able to port.

 

Considering that the GPS is a microprocessor I strongly suspect that the chip is rather specific and portability of the data is not an issue.

 

Which still means that they still need to look at the Mapping software. Back to my point, Linux does not have a big enough mass to warrent sitting down and re-engineering all your application software (BTW I use and love both Windows and UNIX but each OS has it strong and weak points).

[+TheCarterFamily]

I should just state something here. There is full garmin support for linux. The 2.6.11 kernel has garmin usb drivers built in.

 

Then with gpsbabel, gpsd, gpsdrive and a bunch of other software you can do pretty much everything. With cGPSmapper and sendMap you can even send custom maps to your garmin gps. With the USB Mass Storage you can even pluggin the maps directly to the GPS. The problem occurs with upgrading firmware, and autorouting. Mapsource currently is the only software that can build autorouted maps for Garmin products.

 

I bought the Canadian Maps, uploaded them into my GPS and haven't turned on the software since. It would be nice if I could but at this point it's only required when I need to refresh the maps in my GPS unit. For the firmware upgrades I used to use a Win98 install on a virtual machine. But garmin has desupported anything under Win2k. Which started me on this quest.

[+TheCarterFamily]

Linux is the way of the future. I signed the list as #33. Doesn't look like it's getting very far

 

That's 33 in less then 24 hours. Give it some time. Over 1 million people downloaded and install Fedora Core 6. Which is only on distro. Just have to reach them. So pass the word.

[+oeichler]

The problem occurs with upgrading firmware, and autorouting. Mapsource currently is the only software that can build autorouted maps for Garmin products.

 

If this really is as an issue for you, you will solve it faster by programming your own firmware upload. Take a USB or serial packet sniffer on Windows get the packet sequence. Listen with WireShark on your ethernet controller to get the firmware location.

 

In my experience Garmin has the worst customer relation ever. You bought their unit, they got your money. So why bother about your concerns. Garmin will move itself if the market share moves. It has done in the past (introducing SD cards after the competitors did) it will do it in the future.

 

As for routing: I quit using MapSource for routing. The derived route by MS is seldom used by the unit. Yes, I checked for equal configuration. I place waypoints and let the unit do the work. It seems to have the better algorithm anyway.

 

To finish this: As far as I am concerned it is a waste of time crying in front of Garmin's doors. Help yourself. That is faster, more educative and in most cases it ends up with a better solution. And spread the word about those features like missing support and locked maps. This will help others to decide. In other words: How many signatures do you think you have to collect to be as much noticed as one percent of market share?

 

just my 2 cents

 

Oliver

[Suscrofa]

The problem occurs with upgrading firmware, and autorouting. Mapsource currently is the only software that can build autorouted maps for Garmin products.

 

If this really is as an issue for you, you will solve it faster by programming your own firmware upload. Take a USB or serial packet sniffer on Windows get the packet sequence. Listen with WireShark on your ethernet controller to get the firmware location.

 

In my experience Garmin has the worst customer relation ever. You bought their unit, they got your money. So why bother about your concerns. Garmin will move itself if the market share moves. It has done in the past (introducing SD cards after the competitors did) it will do it in the future.

 

As for routing: I quit using MapSource for routing. The derived route by MS is seldom used by the unit. Yes, I checked for equal configuration. I place waypoints and let the unit do the work. It seems to have the better algorithm anyway.

 

To finish this: As far as I am concerned it is a waste of time crying in front of Garmin's doors. Help yourself. That is faster, more educative and in most cases it ends up with a better solution. And spread the word about those features like missing support and locked maps. This will help others to decide. In other words: How many signatures do you think you have to collect to be as much noticed as one percent of market share?

 

just my 2 cents

 

Oliver

 

Mapsource is crap anyway ! Needed only to upload maps. Otherwise, I use Google earth.

So why port Mapsource ?

As for the Garmin firmware in the GPS, it is specific.

So, yes it will be easier to write your own and it is an opportunity to devise a better product than Mapsource.

OK, you need to get the full spec of the protocol used to talk to the GPSr.

[+Red90]

Mapsource currently is the only software that can build autorouted maps for Garmin products.

 

SendMap for Linux will do this.

[+oeichler]

SendMap for Linux will do this.

 

This will send locked maps with routing information to your device, as QLandkarte does. But it will not be able to calculate and display a route on your PC.

 

Just to point this out: Routing based on maps by Garmin will never happen on an open source project because these maps are protected by a purple Barbie lock. And the purple Barbie lock is protected by laws we can thank the cronies of the content industry for. Face it: you just paid for the right to help concreting a monopoly.

 

But if you resign from using routing on your (Linux) PC, you have got a choice.

 

Oliver