How to use an old gps with a new laptop?
placidsailor
new pc laptop? If so, what cable do I need and where can I get it? I'm
in the U.S. and I want to be able to map my travel in real-time while
in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. What is the best software (maps
and nautical charts) to do this and where can I buy it? Thanks, Stan
Alan Adrian
However you old GPS will speak only serial... your new laptop will speak
(likely) only USB... so a USB to Serial converter is needed... Some work
better than others though so be aware...
Unless someone comes on here to let you know about specific software that
works well in the areas you require, I'd suggest some extensive web
searching.
I know that for Mapsource (Garmin's propriatary map loading and display
program, that requires you to buy (or steal) a Garmin map product to get)
there is a Garmin Worldmap product that is getting dated, and another
(private) worldmap product available here: http://www.smellybiker.com/
But there are other options than Garmin... you need to do some looking.
Al...
"placidsailor" <placid...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1189028130.5...@o80g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
)
Jack Erbes
If you can afford a new laptop why not buy a state of the art cabled or
bluetooth GPS receiver? It will be faster, more accurate, and an
absolute no brainer to connect and get working. And it won't need
batteries, it will draw power from the USB port. Look at the Holux
GR-213, less than $50 typically and a wonderful, simple, tough, and easy
to use GPS receiver.
That said, to use the model 12 look at the interface setting and see if
it has a NMEA IN/NMEA OUT setting (not just a GARMIN or GARMIN HOST)
setting. If it does, get a serial to USB adapter. A search for "serial
USB adapter" on the internet or "serial usb" on eBay will surface links
for buying one of those.
Install the drivers for that, plug serial to USB adapter in, and a new
virtual COM port will appear in the Device Manager.
As soon as you have a fix on the GPS receiver you will see the NMEA data
strings if you look at that COM port with Hyperterminal (COM port
setting 4800/8/N/1).
Now you need an application. Micro$oft Street & Trips would be a good
and inexpensive software to start with for the U.S. Get that going and
it will give you some background on using GPS and get you to the U.S.
border where you will run out of mapping.
Now the hard part.
You need to find an application and the mapping data for the obscure
places. A good start would be Ozi Explorer for the software.
Then you can start working on finding and using the mapping for the
obscure places. If nothing else, you can go there, find local maps,
scan them in bit mapped images, calibrate the images, and start building
useful maps for places where no maps could be found.
You can even add the missing trails, roads, and features. And if you
can make those available to the world via the internet, it will be
easier for the next person and inspire others to make more and better
mapping.
Jack
--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)
Dennis Pogson
I would endorse everthing that Jack has said, and would add that a cable to
connect your old GPS12 to a new laptop (with USB-to-serial converter) can be
had by typing "pfrank" into Google and you will be able to follow the leads
to a local supplier of the cable.
Dennis.
mi...@sushi.com
> Some questions are difficult.
>
> However you old GPS will speak only serial... your new laptop will speak
> (likely) only USB... so a USB to Serial converter is needed... Some work
> better than others though so be aware...
>
> Unless someone comes on here to let you know about specific software that
> works well in the areas you require, I'd suggest some extensive web
> searching.
>
> I know that for Mapsource (Garmin's propriatary map loading and display
> program, that requires you to buy (or steal) a Garmin map product to get)
> there is a Garmin Worldmap product that is getting dated, and another
> (private) worldmap product available here:http://www.smellybiker.com/
>
> But there are other options than Garmin... you need to do some looking.
>
> Al...
>
>
> news:1189028130.5...@o80g2000hse.googlegroups.com...>I have a very old Garmin Model 12 - no mapping. Can I hook it up to a
> > new pc laptop? If so, what cable do I need and where can I get it? I'm
> > in the U.S. and I want to be able to map my travel in real-time while
> > in Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. What is the best software (maps
> > and nautical charts) to do this and where can I buy it? Thanks, Stan
>
> )
Just as an FYI, I think the later model USB converters don't have
issues with gpss and other devices. The first generation products were
a mess, making me glad I bought mine at a store rather then internet
sale. But the last one I bought (a cheap Airlink 101) worked fine with
everything I threw at it.
Happy Trails
The brain surgeons where I work (construction survey) had to get a
serial function working for an old total station once, and one of the
things they tried was a StarTech.com 2-port cardbus (pcmcia) card from
Taiwan.
Nada. They threw it in a desk drawer, and a while later I took it
home as surplus junk. One weekend, when I had a new gpsr and some
time on my hands, I plugged it into my Toshiba and gave it a go.
It took a long, long time to get anywhere, farting around with the
various hardware setup options, running into and eventually around the
obvious pitfalls that I assume had stopped the previous guys cold.
But - I done cracked their code!
There were some very esoteric settings not usually required on any
previous rs-232 setup I had ever done - and that includes a lot of
2-port, 4-port and 8-port boards for older DOS as well as newer
windows machines. Can't remember them all.
As I recall there have been very many complaints over the years in
this group about these rs-232 pcmcia devices, and simialr
rs-232-to-usb converters, and I can't help but suspect that they all
could be made to work with the right tweaking, but that it is far to
much software engineering type effort required for any normal layman
gps user to meet with any success.
mi...@sushi.com
> On Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:35:30 -0700, placidsailor
>
The most compatible pcmcia serial card I've found are those made by
Socket Communications. Obscenely expensive, but they even work in DOS
(real dos, not a dos window). The DOS drivers are not on their
website, so I had to buy one card (ebay fortunately, which was half
the retail cost). Somebody may be pirating the dos drivers now. The
card itself can often be found for a few bucks at flea markets. Over
the years, I've collected a few of these, and a good thing since cards
with cables are easy to break. You don't need any drivers for later
versions of windows, though the USB converters work for win2k and
later.
http://www.socketmobile.com/products/device-connectivity/serial/
nemo
Cables being fragile is alone a good reason to use a bluetooth
receiver. I have one I use with my Palm and I find is a great way to
use an "attached" GPS receiver.
Cables have advantages, such as simplicity, but with serial ports
disappearing from laptops, serial cables are starting to get even
more complex to use!