Meridian V3.08 Software Up-date

[+WildCards]

Hey,

 

Has anyone downloaded this new rev on a Meridian Gold? Any advantages besides daylight savings and projecting a path? Any known issues?

 

Thanks in advance!

[+Jamie Z]

Daylight savings?

[+Jamie Z]

Anyway, I didn't mean to be so short on that last post.

 

Somewhere further back in the forums there was a lot of discussion over the new firmware. I guess a couple people had trouble with their receivers, but were able to get it back going.

 

As far as issues with the firmware itself? I haven't heard any. I use 3.08... and I like that the compass needle actually points toward North now, when you don't have a waypoint entered.

 

I don't know anything about the Daylight savings feature, what's that do?

 

Jamie

[+infosponge]

I think it gives you more hours of daylight to go geocaching.

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jamie Z:

I don't know anything about the Daylight savings feature, what's that do?

Jamie

---

[+infosponge]

I think it gives you more hours of daylight to go geocaching.

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jamie Z:

I don't know anything about the Daylight savings feature, what's that do?

Jamie

---

[+alexm]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jamie Z:

I don't know anything about the Daylight savings feature, what's that do?

---

 

It lets you pick between U.S. Daylight Savings Time, European, and Custom daylight savings settings.

 

Some places don't switch from standard time to daylight savings, and some switch at different times (different weeks than 'we' in the U.S. do). These options let you pick which 'standard' to follow for the time change.

 

This should keep you from having to reset the clock on the GPS twice a year if you want accurate time.

 

...

alex

[+alexm]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Jamie Z:

I don't know anything about the Daylight savings feature, what's that do?

---

 

It lets you pick between U.S. Daylight Savings Time, European, and Custom daylight savings settings.

 

Some places don't switch from standard time to daylight savings, and some switch at different times (different weeks than 'we' in the U.S. do). These options let you pick which 'standard' to follow for the time change.

 

This should keep you from having to reset the clock on the GPS twice a year if you want accurate time.

 

...

alex

[+Ranz]

The biggest advantage is the ability to load larger basemap detail without lockups. But it has also given us the opportunity to personalize the unit with our own information. I put together a little Excel spreadsheet to translate the HEX code to something readable and to generate the checksum. I then made some modifications to the WARNING! screen during the update. That screen on my unit now says:

 

MeriGold

 

Personal Property of

(my name)

(my address)

(my city, state, zip)

(my phone number)

(my geocaching nick)

 

PRESS ENTER

TO START

 

I always liked that about my 315 and while it wasn't all that easy, the results were well worth the effort.

 

[+GOT GPS?]

I like the idea of personalizing the GPS's startup screen too. Wish I had that on the Magellan 4000XL that my sister lost. Changing the startup screen with personal info is better than putting a sticker on the back of the GPS.

 

[Best_Buddies]

There is a program to do this for you...

 

I previously posted this message with a link, but since the link goes to the "other" geocaching site, it will aparently NOT be displayed here. So I have re-written this to avoid tripping the keyword checker....

 

Geocaching commandment #1) You shall have no other Geocaching site...

 

I published data on changing the "lawyer" screen elsewhere (including the Yahoo meridian group). Within 24 hours, somebody on the "other" geocaching site created a program to automate this. Just check out the Yahoo group or the other geocaching site for a link to get the program.

 

This program is even easy for a newbie to use, and will support all languages. It supposedly even works on the map-330. Just unzip the progam in the same directory as MAGUP. When you run it, you type your data, then upload the new file to the Magellan.

 

Note that even Map-330 owners will need to get the new version of MAGUP that comes with the Meridian firmware...

 

NOTE: The "other" site is www.navi_no_censor_cache.com

Just remove the "_no_censor_"...

 

[This message was edited by harrkev on March 25, 2002 at 07:31 AM.]

[Best_Buddies]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ranz:

That screen on my unit now says:

 

MeriGold

 

Personal Property of

(my name)

(my address)

(my city, state, zip)

(my phone number)

(my geocaching nick)

 

PRESS ENTER

TO START

 

I always liked that about my 315 and while it wasn't all that easy, the results were well worth the effort.

 

http://www.xmission.com/~ddrw/geosign.gif

---

 

Using a text editor to change S-records is a royal pain ...

 

How did you fit all of that stuff in there???? Your start-up message sounds like it is a lot longer than the original one. In order to fit all of that in there, you must have had to obliterate part of the lawyer message in another language.

 

The hex file had the string followed by three null (00) characters, and then the mesage in another language. In the document that I posted (which led to the program on the other site) I stated that the new message had to be the same length or shorten than the new one.

 

I suspect that somewhere there is a jump table to all of the messages in various languages. If you could find this table and edit it, then you could easily have all languages point to the same message. Then, you would have plenty of room.

[Best_Buddies]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ranz:

That screen on my unit now says:

 

MeriGold

 

Personal Property of

(my name)

(my address)

(my city, state, zip)

(my phone number)

(my geocaching nick)

 

PRESS ENTER

TO START

 

I always liked that about my 315 and while it wasn't all that easy, the results were well worth the effort.

 

http://www.xmission.com/~ddrw/geosign.gif

---

 

Using a text editor to change S-records is a royal pain ...

 

How did you fit all of that stuff in there???? Your start-up message sounds like it is a lot longer than the original one. In order to fit all of that in there, you must have had to obliterate part of the lawyer message in another language.

 

The hex file had the string followed by three null (00) characters, and then the mesage in another language. In the document that I posted (which led to the program on the other site) I stated that the new message had to be the same length or shorten than the new one.

 

I suspect that somewhere there is a jump table to all of the messages in various languages. If you could find this table and edit it, then you could easily have all languages point to the same message. Then, you would have plenty of room.

[+Ranz]

quote:

---

Originally posted by harrkev:

Using a text editor to change S-records is a royal pain ...

 

How did you fit all of that stuff in there???? Your start-up message sounds like it is a lot longer than the original one. In order to fit all of that in there, you must have had to obliterate part of the lawyer message in another language.

---

 

I actually edited three different sections. My personal information is 105 characters total. What I didn't like was that the screen still said WARNING! at the top and PRESS ENTER TO AGREE at the bottom. So I replaced WARNING! with MeriGold, and AGREE with START.

 

I agree that there should be a way to increase it but that code section is processed through the screen formating routine so I didn't think I had much to gain.

 

Looking through the code, there was much I could mess with without doing damage but it would be cosmetic only. Nothing really useful.

 

[+Ranz]

quote:

---

Originally posted by harrkev:

Using a text editor to change S-records is a royal pain ...

 

How did you fit all of that stuff in there???? Your start-up message sounds like it is a lot longer than the original one. In order to fit all of that in there, you must have had to obliterate part of the lawyer message in another language.

---

 

I actually edited three different sections. My personal information is 105 characters total. What I didn't like was that the screen still said WARNING! at the top and PRESS ENTER TO AGREE at the bottom. So I replaced WARNING! with MeriGold, and AGREE with START.

 

I agree that there should be a way to increase it but that code section is processed through the screen formating routine so I didn't think I had much to gain.

 

Looking through the code, there was much I could mess with without doing damage but it would be cosmetic only. Nothing really useful.

 

[Best_Buddies]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ranz:

Looking through the code, there was much I could mess with without doing damage but it would be cosmetic only. Nothing really useful.

---

 

What did you use to examine the code???? I assume that the Meridian uses a version of the Dragonball processor. What is that close to??? I would assume a 68030, but it could be an 020??

 

Did you use some sort of emulator, or a disassembler, and where did you get it?

 

Thanks.

[Best_Buddies]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ranz:

Looking through the code, there was much I could mess with without doing damage but it would be cosmetic only. Nothing really useful.

---

 

What did you use to examine the code???? I assume that the Meridian uses a version of the Dragonball processor. What is that close to??? I would assume a 68030, but it could be an 020??

 

Did you use some sort of emulator, or a disassembler, and where did you get it?

 

Thanks.

[+Ranz]

I tried several downloaded hex editors, but they did not allow me to read the ASCII translation. That, or they were too far over my head. Don't know which.

 

What I ended up doing was making an Excel spreadsheet that broke out the code lines and converted it to ASCII characters. I also made the reverse so that I could type in a string and get the hex equivalent values. I could then search the file for those values in wordpad (the file is too big to fit it all into Excel).

 

I would then plug in the lines I wanted to change and type in the modifications. It would generate the hex code and correct checksum for my change. Then I would copy it to NotePad and then from NotePad to the hex file in WordPad. I had to use NotePad as a buffer because pasting Excel to WordPad inserted tables. The spreadsheet I made works slick, it's getting it out of, and into the hex file that became a trick. Overall not the pretty solution I envisioned when I started but it did allow me to see and change any area I had an interest in.

 

If you are interested I can send you the spreadsheet, or provide a link. It works very well on the conversions to and from. I'll leave it up to you as to how you get the results back into the file. From your earlier post it sounds like someone has already put something together that's a little easier to use but if there are other areas you want to modify, this works.

 

[+Ranz]

I tried several downloaded hex editors, but they did not allow me to read the ASCII translation. That, or they were too far over my head. Don't know which.

 

What I ended up doing was making an Excel spreadsheet that broke out the code lines and converted it to ASCII characters. I also made the reverse so that I could type in a string and get the hex equivalent values. I could then search the file for those values in wordpad (the file is too big to fit it all into Excel).

 

I would then plug in the lines I wanted to change and type in the modifications. It would generate the hex code and correct checksum for my change. Then I would copy it to NotePad and then from NotePad to the hex file in WordPad. I had to use NotePad as a buffer because pasting Excel to WordPad inserted tables. The spreadsheet I made works slick, it's getting it out of, and into the hex file that became a trick. Overall not the pretty solution I envisioned when I started but it did allow me to see and change any area I had an interest in.

 

If you are interested I can send you the spreadsheet, or provide a link. It works very well on the conversions to and from. I'll leave it up to you as to how you get the results back into the file. From your earlier post it sounds like someone has already put something together that's a little easier to use but if there are other areas you want to modify, this works.

 

[Best_Buddies]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ranz:

If you are interested I can send you the spreadsheet, or provide a link. It works very well on the conversions to and from. I'll leave it up to you as to how you get the results back into the file. From your earlier post it sounds like someone has already put something together that's a little easier to use but if there are other areas you want to modify, this works.

---

 

I thought that you had a disassembler or something that could natively read s-records. I came about the hack by writing a PERL script to search for and extract strings from the .hex file. It looked for valid ASCII characters (4 or more in a row) and was even smart enought to track strings across records. It actually kept track of the addresses. Now, to CHANGE the data I used an ASCII chart, a text editor, and a calculator. Ugh.

 

Once I posted how to change the text, somebody else used my instructions to make the program. They also added the capability to change the screen in other languages. As it turns out, this same program, with some modifications, worked on the Magellan MAP-330 too.

 

The amazing thing is that my instructions let to the writing of a program to do this within 24 hours. Since this works on the MAP-330 also, why did somebody not do this before?? Figuring out how to do this did not take long at all, so I am amazed that sombody did not post instruction on how to do this to the 330 a couple of years ago. It only took me two hours, and I did not even have my Meridian in front of me, so I did not remember exactly what the lawyer screen said. If I would have had my Meridian with me, I could have figured this out in 1/2 hour tops.

[Best_Buddies]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ranz:

If you are interested I can send you the spreadsheet, or provide a link. It works very well on the conversions to and from. I'll leave it up to you as to how you get the results back into the file. From your earlier post it sounds like someone has already put something together that's a little easier to use but if there are other areas you want to modify, this works.

---

 

I thought that you had a disassembler or something that could natively read s-records. I came about the hack by writing a PERL script to search for and extract strings from the .hex file. It looked for valid ASCII characters (4 or more in a row) and was even smart enought to track strings across records. It actually kept track of the addresses. Now, to CHANGE the data I used an ASCII chart, a text editor, and a calculator. Ugh.

 

Once I posted how to change the text, somebody else used my instructions to make the program. They also added the capability to change the screen in other languages. As it turns out, this same program, with some modifications, worked on the Magellan MAP-330 too.

 

The amazing thing is that my instructions let to the writing of a program to do this within 24 hours. Since this works on the MAP-330 also, why did somebody not do this before?? Figuring out how to do this did not take long at all, so I am amazed that sombody did not post instruction on how to do this to the 330 a couple of years ago. It only took me two hours, and I did not even have my Meridian in front of me, so I did not remember exactly what the lawyer screen said. If I would have had my Meridian with me, I could have figured this out in 1/2 hour tops.