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Two Ways To Use GPS With Linux

Posted by timothy on from the not-the-only-ways dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Whether you're wardriving, vacationing or building a Car PC, a Global Positioning System is a handy tool. Interacting with your GPS via your PC makes for an even better GPS experience. As a Linux user, GPS/PC integration can be somewhat sketchy. Vendors don't write software and drivers for Linux; it's probably safe to assume that the good folks over at Garmin would say something along the lines of "Lih-what?". Have no fear! Using your GPS with Linux isn't impossible! Check out this review over at LinuxForumsDOTorg of two fairly robust GPS navigation programs for Linux."

5 of 172 comments (clear)

  1. GPS Drive by AnuradhaRatnaweera · · Score: 5, Informative

    I use gpsdrive without any driver issues. The real problem is the availability of maps.

  2. Re:Not on my boat by Dancin_Santa · · Score: 5, Informative

    Linux is perhaps the most stable operating system currently on the market. In fact, in several studies that I've seen, Linux as an embedded system outperforms and crashes less often than dedicated software on traditional GPS systems.

  3. Pharos GPS-360 by KidHash · · Score: 5, Informative

    Slightly related, someone recently posted to the Full Disclosure mailing list, with a guide for how to get the Pharos GPS-360 (as sold in the "Microsoft Streets & Trips 2005 with GPS locator" package) working under linux. Might be useful to some people

  4. Other Linux GPS software to check out by nadaou · · Score: 5, Informative

    gpsd: serve up realtime GPS data
    http://gpsd.berlios.de

    gpstrans: download/upload Garmin data
    http://gpstrans.sourceforge.net

    gpsbabel: up/download & convert GPS data
    http://gpsbabel.sourceforge.net

    v.in.garmin + GRASS GIS 5.7: download GPS directly into serious mapping & analysis software
    http://grass.ibiblio.org/grass57/manuals /html57_us er/v.in.garmin.html
    http://grass.ibiblio.org

    have fun, don't get lost.

    --
    ~.~
    I'm a peripheral visionary.
  5. NMEA by The_Pey · · Score: 5, Informative

    I don't want to torpedo the purpose of this whole article, but Linux isn't as far out in the cold as you might think. Most GPS programs out there use the NMEA protocol which is handled over a common serial port. The article poster seems to imply that Linux is left out in terms of drivers, but the fact is that most GPS units support the NMEA protocol. That includes Garmin, Magellan and others. If you have a common DB9 serial connector and the right cable, you can get any number of GPS units to work with any number of programs.

    That being said, what is troubling is the "any number of programs" that I mentioned above. There really is not a large community of developers working on consumer mapping applications. If you look hard enough, you may stumble across some gems here and there, but for the most part the Linux scene is noticably lacking.

    Tuxmobil's Page is a good place to start looking at different apps.

    --
    Hmmm...