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Nice GPS personalization tool

BigIron

By BigIron
in GPS technology and devices

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BigIron

+BigIron

Posted
Posted

All,

 

This was covered in the sci.geo.satellite-nav NG, but wanted to post it here as well. I came across a handy piece of software called MEMAP, available at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/gilles/memap/index.htm

 

That allows you to create an owner or lost & found page on your GPS. It works (on my Garmin anyway)by patching the firmware warning text that comes up when first turning your GPS on with your own information. This is the panel that comes up AFTER the Garmin logo, and mapsource info.

 

For my GPS V I did the following steps:

1) Searched on 'WARNING' and replaced with word ' Owner ' (all without quotes)

2) Searched on 'Do not attempt' (without quotes) and replaced with my personal contact information.

3) Loaded the updated firmware into the GPS.

 

The result was the title line had the Owner word, and the freeform area below had my contact information.

 

Looks professional, like it is supposed to be there, and now positively identifies my GPS as mine. Hope you find this information helpful.

 

Dave

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Growley

Growley

Posted
Posted

Since this topic has resurfaced I will pose a question. When I had my MAP76 I had no trouble uploading a custom screen to the GPS however, how do I do this with my MAP76S when there are no firmware downloads available? I just figured I would have to wait until the first update comes out and then I could do it. Is it possible to customize the firmware now?

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paul_stratton

+paul_stratton

Posted
Posted

Instead of replacing the "WARNING", I replaced the text in the power-up screen that starts with "Do not". (I didn't try it, but I bet the "WARNING" could be replaced with "REWARD!") Using the same 7 characters...

 

I was able to get almost six full lines of personal information on the screen. Even though I used less than the maximum number of characters, I could get no more than the six lines. Each line was centered on the screen. The memap software said I had 264 characters available. You can get a whole lot of information stuffed in 264 characters.

 

It looks like something like this:

 

At the top of the box is WARNING. Then within the box are the six lines.

 

My Name Here

My Street Address Here

My City, State and Zip Here

My Home, Work, and Cell Phone Numbers Here (wrapped to two lines)

My Email Here

 

Been There, Done Cached! Got the T-Shirt and the Hat!

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paul_stratton

+paul_stratton

Posted
Posted

If a thief is knowledgeable and has the resources he/she can just load the latest firmware and restore the unit to being as good as new!

 

For that matter, the thief could even customize the unit to their liking if they want to keep it for their use.

 

I don't see a permanent way to change any memory location to keep it unusable unless there is a hard-coded password required at every power-up.

 

Now, how user-friendly would that be?

 

Been There, Done Cached! Got the T-Shirt and the Hat!

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CYBret

+CYBret

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by paul_stratton:

If a thief is knowledgeable and has the resources he/she can just load the latest firmware and restore the unit to being as good as new!

 

For that matter, the thief could even customize the unit to their liking if they want to keep it for their use.

 

Eh, odds are still in your favor if you use this software. First of all, the thief has to know what a GPS is, know that Garmin even offers firmware updates, have a GPS/serial cable.

 

On top of that, there has to BE a thief, instead of just a forgetful GPS owner . . . which seems to be more common. icon_wink.gif

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CYBret

+CYBret

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by paul_stratton:

If a thief is knowledgeable and has the resources he/she can just load the latest firmware and restore the unit to being as good as new!

 

For that matter, the thief could even customize the unit to their liking if they want to keep it for their use.

 

Eh, odds are still in your favor if you use this software. First of all, the thief has to know what a GPS is, know that Garmin even offers firmware updates, have a GPS/serial cable.

 

On top of that, there has to BE a thief, instead of just a forgetful GPS owner . . . which seems to be more common. icon_wink.gif

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Alphawolf

Alphawolf

Posted
Posted

O.k....Help me out here....After I launch the program, It shows a "Gary P" in the "Edit new contents here" window. After I change this to something of my choice, should it show in the "preview" window? When I hit the "find next" tab, I get a window showing the "Search text not found" warning and nothing shows in the preview window still. Any ideas?

 

7871_200.jpg

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ProStreet

+ProStreet

Posted
Posted

Browse for the file you want to change. (Mine was 015501000204.rgn) After you search for WARNING (This is case sensitive) and replace it with OWNER click exit, then yes to save. Open MeMap again and search for Do not (This is case sensitive) then replace with your info. Then exit and yes to save. I never saw anything in the preview window. Drag the 015501000204.rgn file to the UPDATER.EXE icon to open the installer with the changed file. Then install as usual.

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TresOkies

+TresOkies

Posted
Posted

MeMap does not work with eMap firmware after 2.70. It looks like Garmin started compressing or encrypting the lawyer screen to keep things like MeMap from working. It might be interesting to look at firmware version 2.6 and 2.7 and see if the data at the same offsets look like something that might be a lawyer screen. Maybe they encoded it in ROT13 as a joke on us. icon_smile.gif

 

I would assume that future versions of the firmware for the eTrex and others will prevent you from using MeMap in the future.

 

-E

 

--

N35°32.981 W98°34.631

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TresOkies

+TresOkies

Posted
Posted

MeMap does not work with eMap firmware after 2.70. It looks like Garmin started compressing or encrypting the lawyer screen to keep things like MeMap from working. It might be interesting to look at firmware version 2.6 and 2.7 and see if the data at the same offsets look like something that might be a lawyer screen. Maybe they encoded it in ROT13 as a joke on us. icon_smile.gif

 

I would assume that future versions of the firmware for the eTrex and others will prevent you from using MeMap in the future.

 

-E

 

--

N35°32.981 W98°34.631

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stevesim

stevesim

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by TresOkies:

MeMap does not work with eMap firmware after 2.70. It looks like Garmin started compressing or encrypting the lawyer screen to keep things like MeMap from working. It might be interesting to look at firmware version 2.6 and 2.7 and see if the data at the same offsets look like something that might be a lawyer screen. Maybe they encoded it in ROT13 as a joke on us. icon_smile.gif

 

I would assume that future versions of the firmware for the eTrex and others will prevent you from using MeMap in the future.

 

-E

 

--

N35°32.981 W98°34.631

 

Actually, my understanding is that Garmin did not intentionally make changes to the eMap software to disable MeMap. They simply ran out of code memory space and compressed most text messages to make more room to add features. If you look at:

 

http://celia.mehaffey.com/allory/garfeat3.htm#emap

 

you can see all the improvements made to the eMap since Garmin started posting updates. The eMap with its current software has many more features than it was originally designed for. It was originally intended to be a low cost GPS receiver with simplified controls and features. Nineteen software updates later, it can hold its own against most other recievers and is probabbly the eaisiest to use mapping receiver made.

 

Steve Simpkin

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stevesim

stevesim

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by TresOkies:

MeMap does not work with eMap firmware after 2.70. It looks like Garmin started compressing or encrypting the lawyer screen to keep things like MeMap from working. It might be interesting to look at firmware version 2.6 and 2.7 and see if the data at the same offsets look like something that might be a lawyer screen. Maybe they encoded it in ROT13 as a joke on us. icon_smile.gif

 

I would assume that future versions of the firmware for the eTrex and others will prevent you from using MeMap in the future.

 

-E

 

--

N35°32.981 W98°34.631

 

Actually, my understanding is that Garmin did not intentionally make changes to the eMap software to disable MeMap. They simply ran out of code memory space and compressed most text messages to make more room to add features. If you look at:

 

http://celia.mehaffey.com/allory/garfeat3.htm#emap

 

you can see all the improvements made to the eMap since Garmin started posting updates. The eMap with its current software has many more features than it was originally designed for. It was originally intended to be a low cost GPS receiver with simplified controls and features. Nineteen software updates later, it can hold its own against most other recievers and is probabbly the eaisiest to use mapping receiver made.

 

Steve Simpkin

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TresOkies

+TresOkies

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by stevesim:

Actually, my understanding is that Garmin did not intentionally make changes to the eMap software to disable MeMap.

 

Thanks Steve for reminding me of ROM budget. I made some optimizations in the Palm about a year ago that saved us _1K_ and I got a big "attaboy". I need to keep these things in mind. What a maroon.

 

-E

 

--

N35°32.981 W98°34.631

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Growley

Growley

Posted
Posted

Is it possible to change the firmware on a GPSr that does not have any updates yet, i.e. the 76S? I would like to personalize my screen like I did on my MAP76 but how do you do it on this unit? Do I have to wait for the first update or is there a sneaky way that I don't know about?

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CYBret

+CYBret

Posted
Posted

I've been trying to figure out what icon would work best for Benchmark hunting. After looking at all the ones on my Venture, I decided that I could probably live without a "Dangerous Area" icon (I mean, there's already a "Danger Area" one). The icon sorta fits for a benchmark, too--kind of like a circle inside a square.

 

So, I used the program to search for "Dangerous Area" and replaced it with "Benchmark." Worked pretty well, except in the window where you choose the icon "Benchmark" is not in alphabetical order--it still comes right after "Danger Area." I guess I can live with that.

 

Also, when I sync and save my waypoints with easyGPS it still says "Dangerous Area."

 

Anyone else done anything like this?

 

Bret

 

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field.

When a man found it, he hid it again."

Mt. 13:44

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hwhaler

hwhaler

Posted
Posted

i mentioned this in a separate thread, but just a reminder-- if you do a self test (at least with the garmin V) you will get a ROM status of "FAIL" if you use this program.

 

as far as anybody can tell, though, this has no impact on the unit's performance. just something to do with a checksum failure since the text is a different length.

 

one question, though-- when i used this, my name/number/etc didn't seem to be formatted (centered) very well (unlike the picture of the etrex). do you need to leave some of the spaces at the end of your string that seem to be selected by default when you run meMap? i may just need to do it again and not try to clean up blank spaces.

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BusBoy

+BusBoy

Posted
Posted

I had the same problem when attempting to upload into my Legend. Everything would look good on the screen and when the unit restarted, the bottom line of text would be left justified while everything else was centered.

 

Not sure what kind of GPS you are using, but when I made sure to hit return after the last line of edited text, everything turned out A-OK.

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Movinfr8

Movinfr8

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by hwhaler:

one question, though-- when i used this, my name/number/etc didn't seem to be formatted (centered) very well (unlike the picture of the etrex). do you need to leave some of the spaces at the end of your string that seem to be selected by default when you run meMap? i may just need to do it again and not try to clean up blank spaces.

 

Ditto here. I tried several things when I ran the program.

Complain? NO WAY

I still really like it.

Norm

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valenrandy

valenrandy

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by ClayJar:

There's a similar type of program for the Magellan MAP 330 and Meridian series receivers. My receivers now have plenty of contact information where the lawyer screens used to be. icon_biggrin.gif

Could you be able to e-mail me the link that takes me there excactly. To that software that does that to your map330? i'd like to know.

thanks!

 

ValenRandy03

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valenrandy

valenrandy

Posted
Posted

quote:
Originally posted by ClayJar:

There's a similar type of program for the Magellan MAP 330 and Meridian series receivers. My receivers now have plenty of contact information where the lawyer screens used to be. icon_biggrin.gif

Could you be able to e-mail me the link that takes me there excactly. To that software that does that to your map330? i'd like to know.

thanks!

 

ValenRandy03

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rghermes

rghermes

Posted
Posted

I just updated my Vista to the latest firmware and used this software for personalization. It worked flawlessly. I now have a personalized GPSr!

 

"I am umbilically connected to the temperate zone. It's brought me life. It's brought me love, I never have outgrown"----J. Buffett

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