GPS on Linux

I’ve recently acquired a TomTom Rider GPS device for my motorbike. While being based on Linux (that’s one of the reasons I chose the TomTom instead of others), all procedures to update it are described in the documentation as being done from Windows. And, while talking with other friends about it, they all update it via Windows (poor guys 🙂 ), so I feel a bit alone in the GPS on Linux field. I have been getting lots of docs about some tweaking by hand on the SD card, as well as some app development things, but I still feel there are lots of things my fellow Windows users do that I’m not able to do (like using GPS software on their desktops to create tracks to be uploaded to the TomTom). So, dear lazyweb, any pointers on GPS software on Linux?

3 thoughts on “GPS on Linux”

  1. If you’re asking about general GPS software, the thing to remember is that GPX is king. What you’re looking for are GPX editors and manipulators such as gpsbabel.

    When it comes to editing, there’s something called gpsman, which is a horrible tcl/tk app, but it works quite well once you get past the bizarre UI.

  2. Another interesting product is the Lowrance iWAY devices (http://www.lowrance.com/). They have an upgrade system which is Java based and their web site mentions specifically how to use it in Linux. The device plays OGG Vorbis files, too. I wish it ran Linux, but Lowrance doesn’t say so, so I guess it doesn’t.

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