[ gpsdrive ] Nautical Maps with gpsd on ASUS eeePC -Linux

[Hamish]

Vic wrote:
> I managed to install GPSdrive to the native ASUS Linux (xandros)
> using the "Official Debian package" which was  version
> 2.09-2.11_i386.deb.  I used Synaptic and got a message saying
> "Successfully applied all changes. You can close the window now". I
> assume this means what it says but the DETAILS that look like errors.

for example?

> My limited experience with Linux is not enough to know if this is or
> will cause problems.  I am attaching a screen shot of these, and
> would appreciate help or comment.   

I think the mailing list may have stripped off the attachment.
can you post it somewhere on-line?  (google pages, flickr, ...) 


> I did get GPSD to run by executing  //usr/bin/gpsdrive  with a
> double-click using the file listing thru  ASUS desktop "File
> Manager".

better to do it from a Terminal. And it is just "/usr/bin/gpsdrive" not
"//usr/bin/gpsdrive". The starting double slash is redundant.
(as far as the system is concerned, I have no idea about what your file
manager wants)

> It comes up too large for the eeePC screen but it can be
> dragged with Alt+ mouse-left-eye dragging.  This is likely OK for the
> speeds we get with a sail boat ( 8 Knots max.).

ok, good.
 
> I tried your suggested command "sudo gpsd /dev/ttyUSB0" but NO LUCK. 
>  I suspect that the problem is in the   /ttyUSB0  part of the
> command.  

start the computer with the USB GPS disconnected. Once the computer is
running plug in the GPS to the USB port and type "dmesg" at the
Terminal prompt. You should see a bunch of stuff ending with the last
event which should refer to a new USB device being plugged in, and
hopefully something that says what it called it (e.g. something very
similar to /dev/ttyUSB0). Perhaps something like "Prolific" or "PL2xxx"
or something like that?

after plugging it in you can also look at what is available in the
/dev/ directory.

That is the first step: getting the operating system to see the GPS/USB
device.
 
> I did download from Holux GPS the Linux serial/USB driver but can not
> figure out how to install it OR  to which directory.

check the dmesg output before worrying about that too much, hopefully
support is already built into your Linux kernel.

> Since I am retired, I have some time to explore with NOAA the
> map-format issue to see if they have suggestions for conversion to
> the GPSD recognized formats. I will post my discoveries, if any.

Gpsd is the GPS listening program which acts as the go-between for your
computer and GpsDrive. All it does is listen on your serial ports and
wait for programs to ask for GPS data.   http://gpsd.berlios.de

GpsDrive relies on Gpsd but otherwise the projects are not formally
related.

This is the second step: get the gpsd monitor running.

(the third step is launching GpsDrive, the fourth is getting some local
map data to use)


As for NOAA charts, we have had some luck with that lately. It all
seems to work ok. Download BSB charts from NOAA, process them into
GeoTIFFs with gdalwarp (http://gdal.osgeo.org), and cut them up into
GpsDrive tiles using the gdal_slice.sh script. Then install the tiles
and map registration info into ~/.gpsdrive/

see BSB gdalwarp + gdal_slice.sh method from linked mailing list post:
  http://grass.gdf-hannover.de/wiki/Export_for_GpsDrive
(work in progress)


> I did find a great source of Canadian & Topographic and other maps
> available for free download from the Government of Canada Map Office.
>  Go to: http://www.geogratis.gc.ca/geogratis/en/download/scanned.html

added to the above wiki page

>  Many of these are in GeoTIFF format which conforms to the  TIFF
> standard and is supposed to be readable by any TIFF-capable software.

great, that's exactly the format we need them in. Then GDAL can read
them and gdal_slice.sh can chop them up into GpsDrive tiles.


Hamish



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