[SATLUG] GPS questions

[Chuck]

Pretty much any of the different company's handheld units will do that
job.  Most come with a serial cable to interface the laptop.  And I've
recently been having a heated discussion with Garmin about the rationale
for not having a USB cable (because I recently got a new laptop without
a serial port -- just USB).  They seem to have a myriad of excuses, but
it boils down to their not making a USB cable.  Luckily, you can buy a
USB to serial adapter -- which I'll be ordering soon.

I have interfaced my Garmin Etrex Vista with my old laptop and used it
to track my location while driving.  It does a good job of displaying a
moving map with location when using the Delorme Street Atlas USA or
Delorme Topo 5 USA packages (unfortunately -- under Winblows of
course).  Those are the only two Winblows software packages I've tried,
so I can't comment on other software packages.  

I have pulled down and looked at a couple of Open Source Linux packages
-- they leave a lot to be desired.  I guess I can understand it though
-- putting together a HUGE amount of map/topo data into a usable
database and the tying it into a tracking/display engine would be a
enormous undertaking -- both in time and finances.  So, I guess it will
be a while before we see any good mapping software packages --
commercial or otherwise.

Unfortunately, the GPS will NOT get power from the laptop when using the
serial cable.  So, you're still stuck using up batteries.  Unless you
buy the optional combo serial/power cable.  That can be plugged into the
cigarette lighter for power.  But I haven't shelled out for that.

I don't know if you can get a timestamp from it though.  Mine will
provide latitude, longitude, level of accuracy, and altitude.  But I
don't know if you can get time.  I know how the GPS system works, and it
does get a very accurate time stamp from the satellites its tracking. 
But did the manufacturer put in the ability to access that time clock
and does the software have the ability to display/save it -- who
knows???

If you'd like to try one out, let me know and you can borrow mine for a
while.  I mainly use it when flying as backup to my built-in avionics. 
So, I don't mind if its out for a few days.



Chuck




On Sat, 2005-08-20 at 04:09, Travis H. wrote:

    I was thinking of getting a GPS that can provide coordinates/timestamp
    for wardriving and provide a good time source for NTP when not
    wardriving.
    
    Does anyone know much about what's available?
    
    TIA
    -- 
    http://www.lightconsulting.com/~travis/
    GPG fingerprint: 50A1 15C5 A9DE 23B9 ED98 C93E 38E9 204A 94C2 641B
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