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New Download to GPS Icon (feature)

twangy

By twangy
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twangy

twangy

Posted
Posted

This new feature is currently available to Garmin users. Any plans for ppl like me with a Magellan? (Not that it really matters much; I gotta sit in front of a computer to download it anyway...) So what are the advantages/disadvantages of this new feature? I currently save the file(s) to my hard drive and open/send it to my GPSr with Magellan Geocache Manager, which does all the file conversion instantly. Takes about 2 seconds. Am I missing something by not having this feature? Seems not. My way seems to work fine for me. Anybody have any info to enlighten me as to why this feature is needed/wanted would be appreciated. I have to admit I'm a bit confused... :blink:

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AndrewRJ

+AndrewRJ

Posted
Posted

This new feature is currently available to Garmin users. Any plans for ppl like me with a Magellan? (Not that it really matters much; I gotta sit in front of a computer to download it anyway...) So what are the advantages/disadvantages of this new feature? I currently save the file(s) to my hard drive and open/send it to my GPSr with Magellan Geocache Manager, which does all the file conversion instantly. Takes about 2 seconds. Am I missing something by not having this feature? Seems not. My way seems to work fine for me. Anybody have any info to enlighten me as to why this feature is needed/wanted would be appreciated. I have to admit I'm a bit confused... :blink:

 

The reason that this exists for garmin users is that Garmin released a series of development tools so that anyone could create a "more efficient" system wherby there program or whatever would comunicate with the garmin protocols.

 

At least that is how I understood it. The click to download directly was one of those tools that Garmin released as a ready to go feature. I am sure that is Magellan released something similar that it would also be introdused into the site.

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Prime Suspect

+Prime Suspect

Posted
Posted

So what are the advantages/disadvantages of this new feature? I currently save the file(s) to my hard drive and open/send it to my GPSr with Magellan Geocache Manager, which does all the file conversion instantly. Takes about 2 seconds. Am I missing something by not having this feature? Seems not. My way seems to work fine for me. Anybody have any info to enlighten me as to why this feature is needed/wanted would be appreciated. I have to admit I'm a bit confused... :P

It's geared for the quick, ad-hock hunt; a boon for the FTF crowd. There's no saving to your HD, no booting up additional software programs. You plug in your cable, and with two clicks the cache coordinates are loaded in your GPS, and you're out the door.

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Tweedledum & Tweedledee

+Tweedledum & Tweedledee

Posted
Posted

Is this something that would work in any platform? For example if I were using Ubuntu Linux would I be able to use this to communicate with a supported GPSr?

 

This would be a question for Garmin since they are the ones that programed the plugin. As for an educated guess I would say yes. The plugin is written in java and as long as your browser supports it then it shouldn't matter the operating system.

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webscouter.

+webscouter.

Posted
Posted

For GPS owners other than Garmin you can in essence do this with GPSBabel also. In the past I had my browser set up to open a loc file with GPSBabel. The command line I used sent the .loc file directly to my GPS. There are instructions for this little trick on the GPSBabel site.

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alexrudd

+alexrudd

Posted
Posted

Is this something that would work in any platform? For example if I were using Ubuntu Linux would I be able to use this to communicate with a supported GPSr?

 

This would be a question for Garmin since they are the ones that programed the plugin. As for an educated guess I would say yes. The plugin is written in java and as long as your browser supports it then it shouldn't matter the operating system.

That would be incorrect. The plugin isn't written in Java; if it were it would be a Java applet not a custom plugin. It doesn't work on Linux.

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robertlipe

robertlipe

Posted
Posted

For GPS owners other than Garmin you can in essence do this with GPSBabel also. In the past I had my browser set up to open a loc file with GPSBabel. The command line I used sent the .loc file directly to my GPS. There are instructions for this little trick on the GPSBabel site.

 

GPSBabel also runs on all the OSes mentioned here.

 

You've been able to configure a browser to invoke GPSBabel on waypoint downloads and send them to the GPS for years.

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Too Tall John

+Too Tall John

Posted
Posted

The installer won't even work on earlier versions of Windoze. Anyone know of a clever workaround for this? Or if it will work if I get past that point?

 

As for GPSBabel, I tried to install it to automatically load into my GPS, but ran into a roadblock. The instructions on the website tell you how to set it up in Mozilla, but not Firefox, and the interfaces are dumbed down a bit in Firefox apparently, as the described MIME interface isn't there. Anyone have luck with this?

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dvonroeder

+dvonroeder

Posted
Posted

The installer won't even work on earlier versions of Windoze. Anyone know of a clever workaround for this? Or if it will work if I get past that point?

 

As for GPSBabel, I tried to install it to automatically load into my GPS, but ran into a roadblock. The instructions on the website tell you how to set it up in Mozilla, but not Firefox, and the interfaces are dumbed down a bit in Firefox apparently, as the described MIME interface isn't there. Anyone have luck with this?

 

I tried this with a new GPS 60, Firefox, XP, and the plug in.

 

It said that it had downloaded the cache to the GPS but it's not in waypoints and it's not in geocaching.

 

Oh well…

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Birdbath

Birdbath

Posted
Posted

This new feature is currently available to Garmin users. Any plans for ppl like me with a Magellan? (Not that it really matters much; I gotta sit in front of a computer to download it anyway...) So what are the advantages/disadvantages of this new feature? I currently save the file(s) to my hard drive and open/send it to my GPSr with Magellan Geocache Manager, which does all the file conversion instantly. Takes about 2 seconds. Am I missing something by not having this feature? Seems not. My way seems to work fine for me. Anybody have any info to enlighten me as to why this feature is needed/wanted would be appreciated. I have to admit I'm a bit confused... :anitongue:

 

Offhand I don't see any real benefits to using this feature. It's just something else to go wrong and screw up my computer and/or the GPSr. Also, I won't download anything directly from ANY website into any of my devices without having the option to scan it first for viruses or worms. This was a lesson learned the hard way years ago. Nope. Everything is working fine so I won't fix it.

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Miragee

+Miragee

Posted
Posted

For me, I cannot see any benefit to this feature at all. As a Premium Member, I can download the individual .gpx file from a brand new cache page. I open that file in GSAK. Then, I right click that new cache in GSAK and choose, "Send to GPSr now." Easy peasey! :) And that took maybe 30 seconds. :)

 

How much time does this new feature really save . . . ? :):blink:

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