"Send to GPS" and Firefox 52.0

[+larryc43230]

I haven't tried it (I almost never use the "Send to GPS" thing), but I have to assume that Garmin Communicator will no longer work in the latest version of Firefox.

 

"Removed support for Netscape Plugin API (NPAPI) plugins other than Flash. Silverlight, Java, Acrobat and the like are no longer supported. "

 

https://www.mozilla....0/releasenotes/

Edited March 7, 2017 by larryc43230

[+kunarion]

I haven't tried it (I almost never use the "Send to GPS" thing), but I have to assume that Garmin Communicator will no longer work in the latest version of Firefox.

I tried it. It seems like it has ceased to work now, in FF 52.0. Using the same "signed" plugin as always, I get the error "Garmin Communicator Plugin NOT detected". But I'm also getting an error in IE 11, so who knows. Anyway, get familiar with how to manually place the files, so you can continue to load the GPSr just fine even if "Send to My GPS" isn't working.

 

Get the word out that "Send to My GPS" is going away, and that it may soon not be possible to keep that feature working, once it breaks. Simply put, "Garmin Communicator" functions in a way that is a security risk, and web browsers are getting pretty strict on which "plugins" will run.

 

For paying members using a Garmin GPSr, one simple option is to click the "GPX File" button on a cache page and download to the Garmin/GPX folder on the GPSr. Or make Pocket Queries, also downloaded to the Garmin/GPX folder (but first unzipped). Make PQs of entire towns you will visit, or save choice caches one at a time in bookmark lists, and make Pocket Queries of them. Basic members may try the "LOC waypoint file" and see if that is suitable. There are other ways to send cache data to a GPSr, the above are just a couple of ways.

 

 

Edited March 8, 2017 by kunarion

[+Team DEMP]

If Send to my GPS worked, dies it support other options or manufacturers beyond Garmin and their plugin? If not, it seems time for Groundspeak to remove it from the website as there are multiple posts a week from frustrated site visitors

[+on4bam]

There should have been a message when clicking "send to GPS" a long time ago warning that the underlying technology was EOL and insecure. It's been months that people had problems using the plugin jumping through hoops to get it (temporary) working again until a next update. It's more than time to "let it go", a manual "save to.." works just as good.

[cezanne]

a manual "save to.." works just as good.

 

Yes, but it needs to be offered to everyone to work just as good.

[+kunarion]

a manual "save to.." works just as good.

Garmin Communicator has a very handy function for old GPSrs. It builds special files and places them into the GPSr properly, which it would be hard to do manually with one click. I have a couple of old PCs laying around, and although I haven't tried it, I'm guessing that if I don't update the web browser, I could send files as always. Set up your PC waaaay back to the year 2014, and leave it like that. Many cachers probably have no idea that there's a problem, since they don't do regular updates. Do a little research on the "security issue", and keep it in mind while using NPAPI.

 

People who like an automated "Send To" function (and who doesn't?), and people with "obsolete" GPSrs that still otherwise work just fine, need to get familiar with the simple way to manually load files, or switch to helper utilities (software that works like GSAK, but for their OS). Maybe there could be a pinned list of ideas. Also, you can enter waypoints manually, which is probably what a lot of cachers do anyway. For one or two caches, that still works, and provides all site features for free, even for non-subscribers.

 

But a new message about the issue would be good. You can see that "Send To" is vanishing from the site. It once was just about in any window that popped up. Groundspeak should not only have a notice about the vanishing/breakage of "Send To", they must do one other thing: Have a help file about what to do now that it's gone, including how to place files on some common GPSRs. Yes, even info for Garmin.

Edited March 8, 2017 by kunarion

[+kunarion]

it needs to be offered to everyone to work just as good.

The App supplies full info for three caches a day for free. I think GSAK works in a similar way, and it is itself free (with a built-in severe nag feature). If you can stand GSAK, that, or a similar helper utility would be the way to go. Or pay the modest Geocaching membership fee, and manage full GPX cache files (and entire townfuls of files) with your computer's file manager. I'm unmoved by the fact that freebies change. They're free, enjoy. But the surprise loss of a useful utility, with no Help File about what to try next, that's a problem.

 

I would not want Groundspeak to set up a whole new file sending system that only non-payers would use. Or worse, a function that seems to be broken all the time.

Edited March 8, 2017 by kunarion

[cezanne]

The App supplies full info for three caches a day for free.

 

I do not even own a smartphone and many others don't either.

 

GSAK is available only on certain platforms too.

 

However, it's not that relevant here anyway what I own or do not own.

 

I replied not because it was about me but because your statement was simply wrong in its generality.

 

Or pay the modest Geocaching membership fee, and manage full GPX cache files (and entire townfuls of files) with your computer's file manager. I'm unmoved by the fact that freebies change. They're free, enjoy.

 

I have no need for full GPX files and also not for PQs. I would not use them anyway. I also would not use the new search either.

 

As to the membership fee, money is not the reason why I opt to be not a PM. First, I do not want to provide my personal data to Groundspeak. Second, I do not want to be a PM - for example, I'm very glad that I do not have available FPs so I cannot award them and noone expects me to do and could be annoyed if I don't. Third, I would never ever have listed caches at this site if Jeremy's promise to keep geocaching free had not been made (that promise was essential for me to use the site despite my ambivalent feelings with regard to some incidents that happened back then around the copyright and lawsuits). It was not about the money for me, but about the fact that in my opinion geocaching should be owned by the community and not become a business. Servers create costs of course but there is a difference between a business and just getting the money to offer some service.

I would without any issue volunteer to pay much more than the annual Groundspeak fee to a community driven geocaching site. As an American you might perhaps not understand my main point which has nothing to do with the wish to be a freebie.

 

I'm also willing to pay for a good open source software - what's important for me in that context is the open source spirit and the openness.

 

 

 

I would not want Groundspeak to set up a whole new file sending system that only non-payers would use. Or worse, a function that seems to be broken all the time.

 

I would not want them to do that either (for many reasons). They should not provide a new file sending system at all (though many of their paying customers who are not computer affine would very much profit from it).

They do not need a file sending system to provide the data that are provided to send2gps for basic members. This routine already exists as otherwise send2gps would send the same data to the GPS for PMs and BMs which is not the case.

If I'm not wrong send2gps is a plugin which has no knowledge about membership data. So everything what is needed is already available (or in any case would be trivial to provide and best as replacement of the loc files which noone needs anyhow).

Edited March 8, 2017 by cezanne

[+kunarion]

If Send to my GPS worked, dies it support other options or manufacturers beyond Garmin and their plugin? If not, it seems time for Groundspeak to remove it from the website as there are multiple posts a week from frustrated site visitors

There are or were other plugins to download files (not necessarily specific to Geocaching, but automating a download in general). However, Garmin Communicator did something else that once made it indispensable. It converted "GPX" files into the file format that old GPSrs required, and placed those files where no-one goes. That is, it worked some special file magic. I'm guessing that at some point there was a decision by TPTB that they don't need to set up the entire Geocaching.com website to keep supporting the "old" GPSrs. As we can see, "Send to My GPS" is vanishing from the site by attrition, so a brand new plug-in is out of the question. Users can manually send files with a couple of clicks (better yet, start using lists and PQs), without concern for the security issues of a "plug-in". No particular web browser nor special settings needed. You can even use Edge.

Edited March 8, 2017 by kunarion

[+kunarion]

I replied not because it was about me but because your statement was simply wrong in its generality.

I didn't state that generality, that was another poster. "Send to My GPS" provides more for free than "LOC Waypoint File" does for free, which I am fully aware of since you so kindly keep pointing that out.

Edited March 8, 2017 by kunarion

[cezanne]

I replied not because it was about me but because your statement was simply wrong in its generality.

I didn't state that generality, that was another poster.

 

Sorry, you are right in this thread it was someone else. Please excuse my oversight. I mixed something up.

 

"Send to My GPS" provides more for free than "LOC Waypoint File" does for free, which I am fully aware of since you so kindly keep that pointing out.

 

The somehow ironic thing is that apparently some staff at GS HQ are not aware of that basic members cannot download gpx files from the cache page as they suggest exactly this in reply

to a mail sent to them by a basic member asking whether GS maybe could offer a gpx file version for basic members.

 

BTW as my main top priority application of send2gps is regarded (namely for my own hidden caches before sending them to publish) I would not need this method to check my waypoints if there existed a tool where one can bulk upload a set of waypoints from one's GPS-r to a cache page. From that tool also the PMs would profit. I would like to see GS to work on such type of projects and not on apps, souvenirs, cache health scores and stuff like that but I know that this is an unrealistic wish. While it is certainly true that the latter might bring new cachers, GS then also need more staff and create higher costs and then they need more money which then enforces a need for growth which I do not regard as healthy.

Edited March 8, 2017 by cezanne

[+Red90]

If you guys want to discuss website feature and have them seen by GS, this is the wrong section of the forum....

[+kunarion]

If you guys want to discuss website feature and have them seen by GS, this is the wrong section of the forum....

I don't mind if GS doesn't see it (does that make a positive difference? ). But a Topic about a web browser blocking "Send to My GPS" should include what the loss of "Send to My GPS" causes, and probably needs a reply about what to do next. And maybe, where we should go from here. Most of the "Send to My GPS is not working!" threads begin with "I searched everywhere and found nothing". The thread is going well, so far.

Edited March 8, 2017 by kunarion

[+Mineral2]

The "Send to GPS" feature created a "lite" GPX file for basic members and created a full GPX file for premium members. With the communicator plugins no longer useful, GS ought to modify the GPX button so that anyone can use it and still create a lite GPX file for basic members. LOC files really need to be phased out as well. They're not directly compatible with most GPSs and must be converted to install on a GPS properly anyway.

[+Heimdall5008]

Am I the only premium member that used this function? At least this is how this thread sound to me...

 

Sure, I have my pocket query for the home zone and so on. But I used it often when I was

- at the border of the home zone to just get a few caches outside on the GPSr (without defining a new query)

- at a cache series and wanted to download the bonus listing (as my mysteries are only exported when they have corrected coordinates)

- outside of the homezone for some specific caches and just wantes to add a few tradis in the vicinity

 

Sure, I know how it work with the download and I also know where to store it on the GPSr, but it just means more clicks and more time.

 

Would it not be possible to write a FF addon that basically takes the information from the webpage, converts it into a gpx file and stores it in a predefined folder (aka the correct GPS folder)? I mean this should be possible from software function and security or am I wrong?

[+Mineral2]

Am I the only premium member that used this function? At least this is how this thread sound to me...

 

Sure, I have my pocket query for the home zone and so on. But I used it often when I was

- at the border of the home zone to just get a few caches outside on the GPSr (without defining a new query)

- at a cache series and wanted to download the bonus listing (as my mysteries are only exported when they have corrected coordinates)

- outside of the homezone for some specific caches and just wantes to add a few tradis in the vicinity

 

Sure, I know how it work with the download and I also know where to store it on the GPSr, but it just means more clicks and more time.

 

Would it not be possible to write a FF addon that basically takes the information from the webpage, converts it into a gpx file and stores it in a predefined folder (aka the correct GPS folder)? I mean this should be possible from software function and security or am I wrong?

 

You can manage puzzles with corrected coordinates in a bookmark list, and turn the bookmark list into a PQ. A lot of people do it that way.

 

If you find yourself on the border of your home zone often, you might consider expanding your home zone. This might require that you define multiple PQs for your home zone. For example, my home zone is defined by a 60 mile radius. But since I live near the state line, I have two PQs that run weekly, one restricted to each state.

 

Trips outside my home zone are then planned and deliberate. I have PQs set up for nearly every direction from my home zone. When I know I'll be heading in a certain direction, I'll run the PQ. I even have PQs set up for areas beyond the extended home range, many of which I have yet to run and visit, but I've set them up proactively because... why not?

 

Point is... even if you're going out for a specific cache, it's easier to run a PQ than to send individual caches to the GPS. And it's especially easier to manage removing them afterward.

[+Heimdall5008]

You can manage puzzles with corrected coordinates in a bookmark list, and turn the bookmark list into a PQ. A lot of people do it that way.

 

I do, too. That's why my "normal" PQ's do not contain mysteries.

 

Point is... even if you're going out for a specific cache, it's easier to run a PQ than to send individual caches to the GPS. And it's especially easier to manage removing them afterward.

 

If you see it so. I see it different. During the time I need to set up the query, waiting for it to be generated, download it, extract it and manually copy it to the GPSr, I could send 30 caches to the GPS directly without any problem. And normally when I used this it was more like 5-10 caches...

 

Also it seems to be a bit overkill to define a pocket query for 5-10 caches. Especially with the problems of Garmin GPSr with to many stored waypoints... (Or did they at least fix this with the Oregons?)

[+on4bam]

If you see it so. I see it different. During the time I need to set up the query, waiting for it to be generated, download it, extract it and manually copy it to the GPSr, I could send 30 caches to the GPS directly without any problem. And normally when I used this it was more like 5-10 caches...

 

Also it seems to be a bit overkill to define a pocket query for 5-10 caches. Especially with the problems of Garmin GPSr with to many stored waypoints... (Or did they at least fix this with the Oregons?)

 

I use GSAK and run weekly PQ's covering the whole of Belgium (29000+ unfounds) + a database with caches in the Netherlands (only half an hour away)with sporadic updates when we plan to go there. Whenever I have time, I solve mysteries and tag them as "to do" also, I tag other cache types in areas we are likely to go "in the next weeks/months". As soon as we decide were we'll go, I refresh the tagged caches the day before we head out, load the caches as GGZ (unlimited amount of caches in 1 file) and WP's as POI (again not seen any limit) and send images (i.e. spoilers) to my Or600. This takes less than 10 minutes and we're good to go.

Next cacheday I just delete the GGZ and POI files before going through the loading sequence again.

 

On holiday I have loaded 26000+ caches (with WPs as POI) without a problem.

 

Using just the gc website would mean a lot more work and less functionality. I must say we never go out without preparation as we don't just go caching to find what's available, we always carefully select what to do.

[+kunarion]

During the time I need to set up the query, waiting for it to be generated, download it, extract it and manually copy it to the GPSr, I could send 30 caches to the GPS directly without any problem. And normally when I used this it was more like 5-10 caches...

Save 5 cache files into a folder on your PC. Place them all at once into the Garmin/GPX folder (or whatever folder is for "Geocaches" in the case of other brands). For several select caches at once, I usually do it as Mineral2 mentioned (Bookmark List and PQ). In your case, a slight change in your practice, including a larger PQ area, would do.

 

Many cachers have things set up so it still works where possible, but it looks like "Send to My GPS" is going away, and then GPSrs must be loaded in other ways, as mentioned. I just place the file manually, no big deal. I was keeping "Garmin Communicator" functional as a personal challenge, and have not relied on "Send To" in a long time. And it stopped working in the past few weeks.

Edited March 12, 2017 by kunarion

[+taybee]

hi all

to day the Plugin from download to GPS stop work

but found a work around

do a search on the add in for firefox fror Geocaching

find this plugin call >> Geocaching.com GPX Downloader <<

 

after run it you will have open the DIr you want to save the GPX file to this can be you GPS folder

 

hope this helps

[+kunarion]

hi all

to day the Plugin from download to GPS stop work

but found a work around

do a search on the add in for firefox fror Geocaching

find this plugin call >> Geocaching.com GPX Downloader <<

 

after run it you will have open the DIr you want to save the GPX file to this can be you GPS folder

 

hope this helps

Did you test it in FF 52.0? That version is the subject of this thread.

[+taybee]

hi all

to day the Plugin from download to GPS stop work

but found a work around

do a search on the add in for firefox fror Geocaching

find this plugin call >> Geocaching.com GPX Downloader <<

 

after run it you will have open the DIr you want to save the GPX file to this can be you GPS folder

 

hope this helps

Did you test it in FF 52.0? That version is the subject of this thread.

 

sorry about that

it work find on the FF 52.0 32bit system

[+kunarion]

it work find on the FF 52.0 32bit system

"Geocaching.com GPX Downloader" was not directly found in the search, and also didn't install at all on my Firefox 52.0 (32-Bit). The add-on itself says it only works up to FF 38 (or 17, depending on which notes you read). I think it will be the same for many people who try it.

[+taybee]

the following is the link i use https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/search/?q=geocaching&appver=52.0&platform=windows

the link is for 52.0 plug in's

 

hope this helps