Cachemate 3.4

1.2k · March 3, 2004

The reason that it's done that way for CacheNav in particular is because it can run as an application as well. If it had the same creator ID as CacheMate, then one or the other would not show up in the launcher (the normal one, at least... not sure about 3rd party ones). I do the same with the rest of the plugins, because that way if you need to delete one then you can use the launcher to do that.

Topic change:

I've got development and final testing done for CacheNav 1.0... my iQue finally arrived today, and I've been working on getting things working smoothly with that and everything else. Once I can get some site content written up for it, I'll put it on the site and make the announcement to the effect. That'll be sometime tomorrow.

2.4k · March 3, 2004

If it had the same creator ID as CacheMate, then one or the other would not show up in the launcher

That seems like a poor way to do things, but then neither you nor I designed the Palm OS, did we? :lol:

I guess I'll just live without CacheNav. I seldom connect my GPS to my Palm outside the car anyway, and I use Mapopolis there. I doubt anyone will use all the features you're putting in, but all of them will be used by some - same with almost any program.

If I were starting over today, I would seriously look at the iQue, but I can't afford to start over. :lol:

March 3, 2004

If it had the same creator ID as CacheMate, then one or the other would not show up in the launcher
That seems like a poor way to do things, but then neither you nor I designed the Palm OS, did we?

I feel that someone should speak up for the Palm OS here...

The Palm OS effectively treats the creator ID as the name of the program. The name that you see (e.g. CacheMate) is just a human-readable display name. If you give the Palm OS two files with the same creator ID, you are telling the OS that they are part of the same program and so it should only show one icon in the launcher. That seems like fairly sensible behaviour to me.

It also seems to me that the problems that you are having are due, not the the OS, but to LauncherX. The behaviour that you describe sounds to me like bad design on the part of the developers of LauncherX and not those of the Palm OS.

JeremyA

2.4k · March 3, 2004

Well, I would agree with you if the creator ID were editable, so that it would be possible to change it and show 2 icons, like is possible in most other OSs. I don't see the problem being with LauncherX, which only sees what the OS shows. The default launcher that comes with the OS certainly won't do any better, in fact it won't load associated databases from the card at all. It's pretty lame, which is why there is such a plethora of third-party launchers available.

In general, the Palm OS is great, but it does have its weaknesses, as do all OSs.

1.8k · March 3, 2004

The Creator ID probably is editable using something like Filez (I haven't checked that BTW).

1.2k · March 3, 2004

In general, the Palm OS is great, but it does have its weaknesses, as do all OSs.

I certainly prefer it over Windows CE for development, mainly because of some of the "weaknesses". One thing I keep saying is that it doesn't try to do everything that a desktop machine can, like CE tries to do (and fails at it in certain ways). It is what it is... a PDA.

The Creator ID probably is editable using something like Filez (I haven't checked that BTW).

You can, but there's also the potential to break things if you do. The current plugin interface, for example, uses a combination of creator ID and database type (of which there are 2 for those) to uniquely identify them.

Edited March 3, 2004 by Maeglin

March 3, 2004

Maeglin,

Now that you have an iQue 3600, hopefully you can help the rest of us geocachers out. I just upgraded to the R3 release and was hoping the problems with distance not updating sequentially as one approaches the final location was due to program conflict but is not. The 3600 increments in steps of 100 feet until you get under 100 ft. distance then increments by 10 ft. R2 software the increment was very nice and sequential, a foot at a time. Now with R3 I was hoping that Cachnav would increment smoother but I found that the directional arrow bounces all around and reverses direction. Is this because you are using inputs from Garmin's updates? On R2 Cachnav worked superb. but now Garmin has made geocacing useless with R3. Can you Help US?

1.2k · March 3, 2004

Now with R3 I was hoping that Cachnav would increment smoother but I found that the directional arrow bounces all around and reverses direction. Is this because you are using inputs from Garmin's updates? On R2 Cachnav worked superb. but now Garmin has made geocacing useless with R3. Can you Help US?

You might want to try the 1.0 release when I get it posted tonight. There was indeed a problem with the compass view jumping around, and I narrowed it down to a problem in 0.94 with the angle normalization I was using in there (getting degrees to the 0-360 range, no negatives in the display, etc). When I was done with fixing that, both the iQue and NMEA code were reporting heading pretty well. Also identified some slowness in the NMEA code updating things, but that's been fixed in 1.0 as well.

I'm not sure what release of their particular flavor of the OS is on mine, actually. Where would I check that? Any idea? Just got it last night and, aside from getting CacheNav working on it, I haven't had a chance to play with it yet.

March 3, 2004

Click on the house icon so that "All" is displayed in the upper right menu. Then click on the time display in the upper left of the menu next to the battery icon and then select Info. From the popup display at the bottom select Version and the Palm OS info will be displayed.

1.2k · March 3, 2004

Click on the house icon so that "All" is displayed in the upper right menu. Then click on the time display in the upper left of the menu next to the battery icon and then select Info. From the popup display at the bottom select Version and the Palm OS info will be displayed.

Ah ok... I knew that's where the OS version was displayed, but didn't know that they specified which of their revision numbers was on the device there. Told you I haven't had a chance to play with it yet :lol:

March 3, 2004

I'm having a slight problem with cmconvert (for Linux). It appears to not handle the ordered lists correclty from GPX files. Instead of getting a numbered list on each line, I get a continuous string of the items with asterisks in between.

Actually, is this a problem with cmconvert, or a 'feature' of GPX?

1.2k · March 3, 2004

I'm having a slight problem with cmconvert (for Linux). It appears to not handle the ordered lists correclty from GPX files. Instead of getting a numbered list on each line, I get a continuous string of the items with asterisks in between.

Actually, is this a problem with cmconvert, or a 'feature' of GPX?

It's actually a combination of two things:

- CMConvert renders both ordered lists and bulleted lists as the latter. Was easier to do that than to try and support every nuance of ordered lists in HTML (was tricky enough just extracting URLs from links and images, given various people's ideas of what valid HTML is). If something requires proper rendering of ordered lists for some reason, I can take a further look at it.

- Possible invalid HTML... if you point me to the cache in question, I can confirm that one. The <li> adds a bullet (asterisk) and the </li> tag adds a line break.

Edited March 3, 2004 by Maeglin

1.2k · March 4, 2004

CacheNav 1.0 is now on the site, and the old link to the beta download is gone. Enjoy!

March 4, 2004

Question removed... found the answer.

Edited March 4, 2004 by Limax

March 4, 2004

It may be mentioned in here somewhere, but a text search would be nice in order to find caches. Especially in larger databases (mine is 5 MB) and I do not always know the full name, or the starting word.

1.2k · March 4, 2004

It may be mentioned in here somewhere, but a text search would be nice in order to find caches. Especially in larger databases (mine is 5 MB) and I do not always know the full name, or the starting word.

Tried using the Find system that's built into Palm OS yet? Support for that is item #4 in the features list on the CacheMate page.

March 4, 2004

thanks for the RTFM clue.

Needed it.

[Edited for results]

Heh, yep, worked like a charm... We all need to be hit in the head with a clue once in a while...

Edited March 4, 2004 by Deckyon

March 4, 2004

Maeglin

Just tried using CacheNav 1.0. Works great!!! no more erractic pointer. Thanks for now making R3 a useable commodity for us geocachers.

3.8k · March 5, 2004

Maeglin,

I would like to have a search nearest caches filter that lets you exclude found caches.

1.2k · March 5, 2004

I would like to have a search nearest caches filter that lets you exclude found caches.

What version are you running? That was added back in December (v3.2) :lol:

March 5, 2004

Would it be possible to add a feature to search for nearest caches from another waypoint? Currently, I look for nearest caches from home, work and school, and I have trouble memorizing the coordinates for each. So, if I could put those into cachemates as 'caches', I could search from them easier.

1.2k · March 5, 2004

Would it be possible to add a feature to search for nearest caches from another waypoint? Currently, I look for nearest caches from home, work and school, and I have trouble memorizing the coordinates for each. So, if I could put those into cachemates as 'caches', I could search from them easier.

You can already do that. Select a record from the list, then do a nearest caches search while you're looking at it. The coordinates from that record will be filled in automatically.

1.7k · March 6, 2004

I just wanted to say how great the CacheNav 1.0 has made the iQue for geocaching. I have been using the iQue just to go paperless and for routing. Then I use my 76S for the actual hunt. Today I set the 76S and the iQue with NAV activated on the cache coordinates. The NAV display gave me same thing as the compass page on the 76S and more. As we got close to the cache both units switch to feet at the same time. Got out of the vehicle and used both units to look for the cache. The iQue is just as good as the 76S for tracking down the cache. Both units zeroed out at the same time. Of course the cache wasn't there. Up here in the drippy NW I will probably still use the 76S for the hunt but it was nice to see just how well the iQue with the CacheMate plugin CacheNav worked. Thanks

Dick, W7WT

March 6, 2004

I've been away awhile, is CacheNav for all PDA's or specific units. I downloaded to my Palm Vx and it installed ok and hooked up to my GPS but nothing happened to the compass or satellite screens. I'm using a SporTrak Pro at 4800 baud running through a null modem and cables, like I said been away and have not been following the threads, but just wondering.

Thanks

NJLOAD

March 6, 2004

Is NMEA on the Sportrak turned on? Sorry, that's all I've got...

March 6, 2004

Boy, who knows?????????????????just tried again and everything works ok.

Thanks for the input.

NJLOAD

March 6, 2004

is it possible that someday or now that one could get a gpx file onto the palm via downlaod and do the cmconvert directly on the palm, bypassing the desktop computer all togeter? i have a wifi enabled tungsten C and wonder if i could download a gpx pq directly onto the palm and convert and input it into cachemate directly

thanks

1.9k · March 6, 2004

is it possible that someday or now that one could get a gpx file onto the palm via downlaod and do the cmconvert directly on the palm, bypassing the desktop computer all togeter? i have a wifi enabled tungsten C and wonder if i could download a gpx pq directly onto the palm and convert and input it into cachemate directly

thanks

THAT Would be the COOLEST. I really like the idea olthough I often have the loptop along anyway.

2.4k · March 7, 2004

I don't think you can download non-Palm files directly to the Palm, but you can do it to an SD card. The conversion would require a completely new .prc to be written, though. The port might not be that difficult, but I haven't seen the code, so I can't say for sure.

1.8k · March 7, 2004

That would presumably mean far more more memory would be used and a 500 query GPX file can easily exceed 3MB. I would rather process that size of file on the PC becasue it is quicker. It will take a while to get it on your Palm even by USB for example. It would also be a feature that was useless for people with smaller or older Palms.

1.2k · March 7, 2004

The port probably wouldn't be that hard, taking the GPX file from an SD card, but it would likely be slower than Christmas on a PDA... especially the part that goes through an HTML description and condenses it down to formatted text. Everything else on top of that.

That's coming from past experience porting PC-based code to a PDA.

March 7, 2004

The port probably wouldn't be that hard, taking the GPX file from an SD card, but it would likely be slower than Christmas on a PDA... especially the part that goes through an HTML description and condenses it down to formatted text. Everything else on top of that.

That's coming from past experience porting PC-based code to a PDA.

i am running a tungsten C which is pretty fast as far as pda's go. you are right about the sd card being slow, but i am not 100% sure that i cant save things onto the palm memory... if, by chance, you have this program laying around, i would LOVE to give it try.

just an additional thought. i envisioned using this program as a "stop gap" measure. for example, we went to florida for vacation and at the last minute decided to travel another 300 miles to an area for which i had no pocket query... it would have been cool, when i arrived at the hotel to have grabbed the closest 10 or 20 caches and had some info "on the run".

tanks

thanks

Edited March 7, 2004 by dboggny

March 8, 2004

i am running a tungsten C which is pretty fast as far as pda's go. you are right about the sd card being slow, but i am not 100% sure that i cant save things onto the palm memory...

Not unless you have somehow managed to get a pre-release of Palm OS 6 onto your Tungsten.

Currently Palm OS PDAs can only save PRC or PDB files into their built in memory. That is why you have to put mp3 files onto an external card to play them. In recent years it has become clear that this strategy is a bad one, and I have read that PalmSource have changed this in Palm OS 6 so that you will be able to put any kind of file into the built in memory.

JeremyA

March 8, 2004

ok well thats fine then. bottom line, can we make a program like i am describing or not? would someone be willing to make a program like this for cachemate?

1.9k · March 8, 2004

Ok I have a form of bad news, I cant remember if i downloaded Cachenav 0.94 or 0.93 last and now I just upgraded to 1.0 and now it doesn't work.

Im using the m515 and the NavCompanion anyway I might be able to get 0.94 and/or 0.93 from you till this works for me again? 0.94 would be prefered but, i am not sure if I have tried that one and im afraid if it don't work... what will i do?!?!?

thanks

1.9k · March 8, 2004

Also, it knows the gps is there, just it doesn't get a fix

March 8, 2004

When I try to get the pda to show me caches that are nearest it tells me that Mathlib must be installed. Did I miss something when I loaded Cachemate on my pda? Thanks!

1.4k · March 8, 2004

When I try to get the pda to show me caches that are nearest it tells me that Mathlib must be installed. Did I miss something when I loaded Cachemate on my pda? Thanks!

The CacheMate ZIP file contained a Mathlib file - did you install it along with CacheMate?

March 8, 2004

i am running a tungsten C which is pretty fast as far as pda's go. you are right about the sd card being slow, but i am not 100% sure that i cant save things onto the palm memory...

Not unless you have somehow managed to get a pre-release of Palm OS 6 onto your Tungsten.

Currently Palm OS PDAs can only save PRC or PDB files into their built in memory. That is why you have to put mp3 files onto an external card to play them. In recent years it has become clear that this strategy is a bad one, and I have read that PalmSource have changed this in Palm OS 6 so that you will be able to put any kind of file into the built in memory.

JeremyA

i save microsoft word file that i get using email programs onto my palm, i think convert them to docs to go format on the palm... so i thought that maybe this was doable. perhaps a prgram like GET TLE might work

1.2k · March 8, 2004

Also, it knows the gps is there, just it doesn't get a fix

If it's receiving data from the GPSr, then it's not the same problem as last time. Does Cetus work in the same situation?

As far as getting a copy of a beta version is concerned... if I still had it, I could give it to you

Edited March 8, 2004 by Maeglin

1.9k · March 8, 2004

If it's receiving data from the GPSr, then it's not the same problem as last time. Does Cetus work in the same situation?

yeah everything else works. cachemate gets gps info for nearest search... cetus will navigate... the navcomp software will navigate... navcomp doesn't say 'nogps' when i launch it... it just says 'no fix and it stays that way.

March 8, 2004

When I try to get the pda to show me caches that are nearest it tells me that Mathlib must be installed. Did I miss something when I loaded Cachemate on my pda? Thanks!

Went to my Cachemate folder and found the Mathlib plugin. Works now. Thanks I was just having a blonde moment.

1.2k · March 8, 2004

yeah everything else works. cachemate gets gps info for nearest search... cetus will navigate... the navcomp software will navigate... navcomp doesn't say 'nogps' when i launch it... it just says 'no fix and it stays that way.

I can think of one thing to try, but I'll need to test it out to make sure it doesn't break something else. I'll do that tonight... send an email to the Smittyware support address so I can reply with the patched version so you can try it.

Also, the "No Fix" can mean "No GPS" when you're using a normal serial port. Maybe I can change that to read No GPS when it doesn't hear anything from the GPSr for a certain amount of time.

1.2k · March 10, 2004

A couple of updates tonight, both downloadable here.

CMConvert 1.8.2

- Ability to import and filter by cache status (active/inactive)

- Fix to allow for broken HTML list syntax (where items have beginning but no end tags)

CacheNav 1.01

- Support for GPVTG (course made good) NMEA sentence

- 45-degree tick marks in compass display

- Corrected turn indicator (I know, I know... my other left :-)

- Small tweaks to the NMEA serial code

I was going to wait on the CMConvert update until I could get the Palm OS 6 compatibility fixes into CacheMate (and certain plugins), but that's taking longer than expected.

1.8k · March 11, 2004

Can I point out that there is no obvious way of getting the CMConvert from either the front of your site (where it is announced) or from the e-mail sent out by the updates mailing list?

The link in your message takes you straight there. I have just spent over ten minutes crawling over the Cachemate part of your site after getting your email. It was only after coming here to pount out how difficult it is that I found I needed ot be in a completly different place on your website.

My suggestion is that the mailing list messages should all have a link to the products download page, and the front of your website wheer new releases are announced should have a bleeding obvious link saying somethign like "get the latest version here" or some such.

I mention this because it i not the first time I have spend ages looking for downloads at the Smittyware site in response to an update.

1.2k · March 11, 2004

I've just added a link to the product list page to the footer of the updates email templates, which should appear in the next one to go out.

As far as the link on the site, there's one called "Product List" on the left-hand side, and there's also the following text (complete with the link) on the CacheMate page:

A separate file converter tool is required for importing GPX/LOC XML files. A Windows version of this tool is included, and a version for Unix variants (including Mac OS X) is also available. Current versions of the tool, called CMConvert, may be found in the Linux and Windows sections of the product list.

Both of those links have been there almost as long as CacheMate has existed (ever since version 1.1, when GPX/LOC importing was added).

1.8k · March 11, 2004

Thanks for the addition ot the mailings. That should help a lot.

I didn't look in Products because to me CMConvert is not a product but is part of Cachemate. I was looking at the menu on the left and trying to find which of

Known Issues

Awards/Reviews

History

Wish List

Documentation

Memo Template

FAQ

Tips & Tricks

Plugins

contained an obvious link to the latest version of CMConvert. None do.

I did scan the page you mentioned, but was probably looking for a link labelled as CMConvert, and not one labeled "Products List" for the reason given above.

It seemed to me when I was looking that converters belong with Plugins, or deserve their own menu entry in the menu.

1.2k · March 11, 2004

It's a separate product because it a) is released independently of CacheMate, at least in terms of a release schedule, and runs independently of it. Most of the plugins don't meet both of those criteria, but both CMConvert and CacheNav do. That makes them separate in my eyes, even though they are related, and not very useful without CacheMate. CacheNav is listed as a plugin, because it can function as one.

I've just added a "CMConvert" link to the sidebar menu for CacheMate, that takes you to the bottom of the product list page. If I start to add more entries down there, I may make a separate download list for it. How's that?

1.8k · March 12, 2004

I think that should meet my "bleeding obvious" criteria! :-)

1.4k · March 16, 2004

Something I've noticed in the "Nearest caches" function is that it seems to grab the entire database and then filter it at the end even when selecting only one category. Since I plan on a vacation that will boost my cache count from 1,000 to probably around 5,000, that's going to make for a very slow hunt. Any way to improve this so it only processes the selected category?

I'm also wondering if things could be sped up any with a "pre-filter" to remove those that are obviously too far away to meet the criteria. I'm just trying to see if there's a way of speeding up the calculation process.

Edited March 16, 2004 by GeckoGeek

Cachemate 3.4

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