These are instructions for users who are still using the default (Xandros) or other Linux distribution on the Eee PC.
If you have not already done so, you will need to add repositories to your Xandros list - see and follow the instructions in Adding Additional Software Repositories (Note that there seems to be some sort of bug here, and the internal link doesn't work.) I haven't bothered pinning, and I've had no problems, even by adding debian repositories, but your mileage may vary.
When I installed using the instructions below I didn't get any error messages, but it is possible that you may not have installed some packages (library software of some kind, most likely) that I have which may be prerequisites of something or other. If this is the case, it will be clear from the error message that you get that a package is missing, in which case the obvious thing to do would be to install it.
Run the command:
apt-get update
just to be on the safe side.
Linux GPS is best based on GPSD - a server daemon which is a program which talks to your GPS (probably over USB) and makes the GPS information available to any other programs you may want to run via a TCP/IP socket - most Linux GPS programs will use GPSD. There are two packages you will probably want to install:
apt-get install gpsd apt-get install gpsd-clients
For more information on GPSD, see the project main page, http://gpsd.berlios.de
gps Note: Contrary to what you might expect, gps is a graphical version of ps (process monitoring). You don't need it to use a gps device. ”# apt-get install gps”
GPSD is meant to be launched automatically when you plug a GPS device in. For some reason, in my case on the Eee this doesn't happen (it may be a configuration issue, or it may be down to my particular GPS, a Globaltrak BU-303 USB puck GPS). However, the command
gpsd /dev/ttyUSB0
from a console starts things off fine. If this happens to you, you might want to add this command to your Start Menu.
This is a problem which requires some editing of the hotplug scripts to work. It is expected to be fixed in release 2.38 of gpsd (2.37 is in unstable now, Jan 09). Follow some hints on http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=966569 - edit /lib/udev/gpsd.hotplug.wrapper and /etc/default/gpsd the other files mentioned will already be installed if you used the ordinary debian package to install gpsd.
If you have a bluetooth gps there is a good recipe at http://gpsd.berlios.de/bt.html
Step 1 and 2 are not needed.
Step 9 did not work for me. Instead I had to edit the file /etc/default/gpsd
Change the line
DEVICES=”“
into:
DEVICES=”/dev/rfcomm0”
you may also want to run:
dpkg-reconfigure gpsd
to configure gpsd.
Once GPSD has started, you can run any client program which uses it. You have already installed at least one, “xgps”, which is a graphical display of the GPS satellites in view at the time of running, and (once your GPS has locked on), your current geographical position. To run this, issue the command
xgps
Other useful utilities are also available (“gpsprof” - which receives multiple fixes from your GPS and averages them, computes circular errors, and draws pretty graphs with gnuplot, “gpspipe” - which pipes the output from your GPS to stdout; if you haven't already installed gnuplot, “apt-get install gnuplot” will do it) - for more details, look at the GPSD documentation.
Most people seem to want a map centred on where they are.
TangoGPS offers this functionality in a user-friendly way, everything should work out of the box. Fire it up and it starts loading the maps from the internet. The maps can be quickly downloaded for offline use too. By default tango supports openstreetmap maps, openaerial satellite imagery and maps-for-free terrain maps. Google maps are possible too but beware that those are copyrighted.
The app has been designed specifically for small-screen devices including the Eee, so there are fewer UI issues especially when used on a 701 series Eee.
The website at http://www.tangogps.org/ includes a link to download the .deb file for easy installation on Xandros or *Ubuntu. In the screenshots section there is a nice introductory video showing the capabilities.
GPSDRIVE is a more mature program with similar functionality to tangoGPS. Install it using:
apt-get install gpsdrive
and the web page is http://www.gpsdrive.de
The default gpsdrive window is bigger than the screen but the following command line parameters may help
gpsdrive -x -r 550 -s 250
-x opens the tools, map and info in separate windows.
-r and -s specify the width and height of the map window.
Newer versions of gpsdrive use the –geometry option instead
gpsdrive --geometry 600x400
Alternatively the following command line opens gpsdrive with a tabbed interface
gpsdrive -p -r 844 -s 480
“Kismet” is a gps-enabled wireless lan sniffer which uses GPSD - see http://www.kismetwireless.net
“Open Street Map” should be close to any Open Sourcer's heart, and has software that uses GPSD, and many other interesting things - http://www.openstreetmap.org
Quantum GIS is an Open Source Geographic Information System (GIS) that has a GPS plug-in.
There are many other Linux projects that use GPSD, even if some are only useful if you live in East Orange, New Jersey. Google is your friend.
If you are using a gps logger, it will usually work (as a gps puck) using GPSD, but if you want to manipulate or download the log file you will need other software. A source-forge project for i-Blue 747 / i-Blue 757 / Qstarz BT-Q1000 / i.Trek Z1 / Konet BGL-32 control SW is available here, and runs successfully on an eee pc, with a usb linked gps-logger-puck. http://sourceforge.net/projects/bt747/
Recently got the latest version of BT747 working with a Holux M-241 logger (using USB). Getting the connection working was not intuitive, but once I had worked out that the front right USB port is ttyUSB0 (connection 0), and the speed is 38400, and these settingsmust be correct before you click on the open port button.
