+purple_pineapple Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 I'm seriously considering purchasing a netbook, predominantly to run GSAK. Am I right in thinking that I HAVE to get one running Windows, rather than the slghtly cheaper Linux versions, unless I want to work within an emulator. Also, and I appreciate this is rather OT, but I figured you guys may well be using them a lot, anyone recommend one? Less than 300 quid (therefore wife-friendly), and GSAK compatable! Cheers! Dave Quote Link to comment
+Team Balders Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 You are fairly correct. GSAK will only run under Windows but can run in a virtual machine (VirtualBox) under Linux (you will still need a licensed version of Windows). There is a Windows emulator (Wine) and there is a rumour that GSAK can be made to run (just) but this would not be an easy task and would probably not have all the features. Pesonally, I have recently made the switch to Linux (Ubuntu) and run GSAK using VirtualBox. I get my Pocket Queries from GMail, import them into GSAK then when all is done, export the GPX file to my Oregon; all in the WinXP environment. If you go down this route, make sure to use the correct version of VirtualBox ( NOT the Open Source Version ) so that you have access to the USB ports. Quote Link to comment
+Team Balders Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 BTW - just noticed that ALDI are doing a 11.6" netbook, running WinXP for £339.99 from Sunday. Quote Link to comment
+Guanajuato Posted July 10, 2009 Share Posted July 10, 2009 I'm seriously considering purchasing a netbook, predominantly to run GSAK. Am I right in thinking that I HAVE to get one running Windows, rather than the slghtly cheaper Linux versions, unless I want to work within an emulator. Also, and I appreciate this is rather OT, but I figured you guys may well be using them a lot, anyone recommend one? Less than 300 quid (therefore wife-friendly), and GSAK compatable! Cheers! Dave Yep, XP needed. As mentioned, it can run in virtualbox and supposedly Wine. But I've never got it to work with Wine. I've done exactly the same, though my netbook was a 'freebie' from three with a £17/m contract. Mind you, for Linux, This looks VERY interesting. Waiting with Baited breath. This looks like an opensource alternative to GSAK, but I can't get it to work on Ubuntu Linux. But that's probably more down to my lack of knowledge. Quote Link to comment
+CanUK_TeamFitz Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 I'm seriously considering purchasing a netbook, predominantly to run GSAK. Am I right in thinking that I HAVE to get one running Windows, rather than the slghtly cheaper Linux versions, unless I want to work within an emulator. Also, and I appreciate this is rather OT, but I figured you guys may well be using them a lot, anyone recommend one? Less than 300 quid (therefore wife-friendly), and GSAK compatable! Cheers! Dave I'm no Linux sysadmin, but think of myself a few steps beyond beginner and have Ubuntu Linux installed on my home system and Netbook. I have managed to get GSAK working under wine and am happy to offer help to get it running if you want to run Linux. The other suggestion I didn't see mentioned was running XP under a duel boot - most Linux distros will allow you to automatically repartition the drive and install a boot menu for you. Let me know if you need help. Just to explain the process: GSAK doesn't completely handle the transfer of GPX to GPS - instead it passes the task to a backend program called gpsbabel - which is basically a Linux program ported to Windows! All GSAK does is provide a GUI for configuration. (and yeah, it really ticks me off that GSAK benefits from using open source Linux-based software but doesn't develop a Linux version ). Anyway it's a simple process of replacing the Windows version of gpsbabel with the Linux version of gpsbabel and you're away - the process is described on GSAK forums somewhere (haven't got the linky sorry) but I had to tweak it a little. But basically it's a script and I have it so I can forward it to you and give you instructions on how to install it. You are fairly correct. GSAK will only run under Windows but can run in a virtual machine (VirtualBox) under Linux (you will still need a licensed version of Windows). There is a Windows emulator (Wine) and there is a rumour that GSAK can be made to run (just) but this would not be an easy task and would probably not have all the features. Pesonally, I have recently made the switch to Linux (Ubuntu) and run GSAK using VirtualBox. I get my Pocket Queries from GMail, import them into GSAK then when all is done, export the GPX file to my Oregon; all in the WinXP environment. If you go down this route, make sure to use the correct version of VirtualBox ( NOT the Open Source Version ) so that you have access to the USB ports. I read somewhere of a hack for Virtual Box free version that let's you use USB ports - Ubuntu forums I think. Anyway I don't use virtual box so I never tried it. However, if you have a VMware image of Windows VMWare player lets you use USB ports, also I think Qemu let's you use them too. There's quite a few open source virtual OS packages in the package manager to try. Quote Link to comment
+The Ravens Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 I SoO!!ooo want a netbook. I've had countless times where one would have been nice to have. The wife's 17in. notebook is why too cumbersome to be mobile. If we got a netbook I'd get a mount and mobile net service (why too expensive though) so my wife could log caches while I drove to the next. It would be so killer! Quote Link to comment
+Primitive Person Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 I SoO!!ooo want a netbook. I've had countless times where one would have been nice to have. The wife's 17in. notebook is why too cumbersome to be mobile. If we got a netbook I'd get a mount and mobile net service (why too expensive though) so my wife could log caches while I drove to the next. It would be so killer! You don't need a netbook to log caches! A smartphone does the job for me. I've got one of the original Asus Eee's, running Linux. Never used it for caching, but it's very small and perfect for using on train journeys etc., especially one where wi-fi is provided. Lee Quote Link to comment
+The Ravens Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 I SoO!!ooo want a netbook. I've had countless times where one would have been nice to have. The wife's 17in. notebook is why too cumbersome to be mobile. If we got a netbook I'd get a mount and mobile net service (why too expensive though) so my wife could log caches while I drove to the next. It would be so killer! You don't need a netbook to log caches! A smartphone does the job for me. I've got one of the original Asus Eee's, running Linux. Never used it for caching, but it's very small and perfect for using on train journeys etc., especially one where wi-fi is provided. Lee Yes I know.... But you can't put GSAK and a data base on a smartphone. A smartphone isn't an option for me since I'm a construction worker and need a MIL spec phone for durability. The option to log online while out in the field isn't the primary reason I would like a netbook. Compact computer with GSAK in the field/car would be my goal for having one. One work around not having net service for field logging caches would be to type logs into a .txt file and then copy/paste later at home. Quote Link to comment
+4 Badgers Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 Didn't TheotherStu have something along these lines at the recent Picnic in the Park at Great Windsor Park Also tteggod trackers has a netbook and has GSAK installed - you could try contacting him............... Quote Link to comment
+talkytoaster Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 I have an Acer Aspire A150 with XP on it and GSAK, works great. Play.com were selling these with Linux on for around 170 quid this week. It is pretty easy to stick Windows on it and I use mine with a T-Mobile pay-as-you-go 3G broadband dongle. If you do get one then I'd suggest you get a spare or high-capacity battery pack. I also have Mapyx Quo on it. Regards, Martin Quote Link to comment
+CanUK_TeamFitz Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 I'm quite tempted to get a mobile dongle and take my Ubuntu Samsung NC10 out into the wild. Maybe in the future, I have no problem for the moment logging finds when I get home, but maybe for something like when we go camping - would be useful. Particularly being able to download and send new gpx to my Garmin from anywhere. Quote Link to comment
+Water-Rats Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 We run a Toshiba something or other Netbook with Windows 7 beta on it. Seems to work quite well. For proper computing we have nice Macs as they are so much better. Sadly my Macs won't talk to the Garmin without Bootcamping. The netbook is OK, its windows so bloody slow compared to my MacBook but as we don't like it much we have no qualms about carting it around the world. It will log on to most Wi-Fi with no problems, its small and we keep it in a little sleeping bag thingy. Get a decent virus checker too. We got ours from Comet, £289.99 if that helps any. Quote Link to comment
+Pharisee Posted July 11, 2009 Share Posted July 11, 2009 I looked at 'net-books' a while back but in the end, opted for a cheap (£250) small(ish) laptop. The biggest factor was the lack of a DVD drive on the net-books I looked at. It's nice to have the option to watch a movie when you stuck in a cheap hotel room in the middle of nowhere. It really isn't that much bigger or heavier than most net-books, it runs Vista (aarrrgghhh) and GSAK / MemoryMap / Google Earth etc. are no problem. Works for me. Quote Link to comment
m_dm Posted July 12, 2009 Share Posted July 12, 2009 Hi! After one of my cats massacred my 11YO 'craptop' I have scrimped and saved eventually purchasing http://www.expansys.com/d.aspx?i=169883 on Friday afternoon. - it arrived on Saturday morning The firm also sells on Amazon ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acer-Aspire-One-Ne...3795&sr=1-1 ). They charge less P&P on Amazon, but being the skint cheeky so-n-so that I am, I phoned the supplier and pointed this out - got a discount on the P&P!!! This machine is performing better than my PC, battery life not amazing but I have a power inverter to charge in the car. It will run happily on XP, if you have a disk although I haven't had the thing 24 hours yet so haven;t tried it! A fab little budget machine. My brother, who works in IT, has had the same machine for about a year and is still very happy with it. Anyway, waffled on a bit (kid with new toy syndrome), hope it helps you decide Quote Link to comment
skiveoff Posted July 12, 2009 Share Posted July 12, 2009 Hi here I'm using a EeePC 900 for geocahing and general GPS stuff it is running Crunchbang Linux 8.10 and I use Ubuntu Linux 9.04 on my desktop I use GPSBabel to manage a eTrex H and have written a bash script to do it the latest version on of the GPSBabel eTrex bash script is now available at: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=7603250#post7603250 I hope someone finds it useful cheers.........skiveoff Quote Link to comment
+talkytoaster Posted July 16, 2009 Share Posted July 16, 2009 Seems that a well known supermarket is offering the Acer Aspire One (10.1" screen, 1GB Mem, 160GB HD, Windows XP) in White for 220.00 (normally sell it for 299.00). Link: http://direct.asda.com/Acer-Aspire-One-Whi...purl=hotukdeals Regards, Martin Quote Link to comment
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