Log In | Register
Skip to main content
Topic: GPS systems (Read 4 times) previous topic - next topic
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
GPS systems
Yahoo Message Number: 23197
Does anyone use a gps? With your computer? We use a mac G4 powerbook running systen 10.2.6. Any suggestions of a system we might be able to use with it?
Re: GPS systems
Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 23202
"Does anyone use a gps? With your computer? We use a mac G4 powerbook running systen 10.2.6. Any suggestions of a system we might be able to use with it?"
 Bill, if you search the Yahoo web archive of this site with the keyword 'gps', you'll find piles of information.
 I'll summarize the Mac situation: we are extremely limited by mapping software availability. DeLorme's Street Atlas USA is pretty much the standard, but the latest version available for MacOS, v.6, is years out of date (though still useful) and is not OSX compatible. (Also, the user interface is a straight port from Windows vintage '98 or thereabouts, and is just as awful as you'd expect.) DeLorme say they will no longer support MacOS, so unless they change their minds, there won't be any updates to SA.
 A Dutch company publishes the "Route 66" mapping software, which is OSX- compatible and has a much better interface than Street Atlas 6. But its database is spotty--maybe 85% coverage, compared to DeLorme's roughly 98%--so if you're in a rural area, it may not help much. And a look at their website shows the American version of Route 66 is not even listed any longer, so...
 With respect to hardware: many GPS units can only be used with serial cables, which is a problem for modern computers that use USB instead.
DeLorme's EarthMate unit connects via USB and has gotten good reviews from users here, but I don't know anyone who's using it with a Mac, so I can't guarantee it works.
 My own solution to all this was to take an old PowerBook 1400 that I had lying around and dedicate it solely to GPS use with Street Atlas 6 running under MacOS 9. It boots into Street Atlas and never does anything but run the mapping software; I use my 17" PowerBook with OS 10.2.3 for everything else.
 The 1400 talks to my Garmin 12XL GPS receiver through a serial cable; the GPS in turn hooks up to a Mighty Mouse II external amplified antenna on the roof. The PowerBook sits on an articulated Jotto desk anchored to the floor between the front seats, so it's always at my right elbow when I want it. See the Cab section of the "Improving Gertie" website http://www.andybaird.com/ travels/gertie/improv.htm> for pictures and details.
 If I hadn't had the 1400 kicking around, I'd probably have bought (I hate to say it) a cheap Windoze laptop and dedicated it solely to running the latest version of Street Atlas. If mapping software is all it ever runs, the operating system doesn't much matter, and you can pick up an adequate-for-the- purpose PC laptop for well under a thousand bucks--probably $600 or so if you shop around, even less if you buy used.
 The other alternative is to buy a $999 Garmin StreetPilot dash-mount GPS-- but with its tiny LCD screen and its inability to hold the entire map database at once--you have to upload new segments to it as you drive cross-country, and you have to upload them from a PC--it's a *far* inferior solution to a laptop, in my humble opinion. No thanks!
 That's about it. As I said, the choices are very limited. There's no good solution that will run on your TiBook under Jaguar....unless you fancy VirtualPC, and while I have VPC, I think it's too slow for this kind of thing.

Andy Baird :-)
Andy Baird
2021 Ford Ranger towing 2019 Airstream 19CB
Previously: 1985 LD Twin/King "Gertie"; 2003 LD Midbath "Skylark"
 
Re: GPS systems
Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 23314
"Does anyone use a gps? With your computer? We use a mac G4 powerbook running systen 10.2.6. Any suggestions of a system we might be able to use with it?"

Bill, Are you wanting to use the GPS for highway trip routing and mapping or for that and hand held for hiking, biking, etc?
 If you're looking mainly for trip routing and mapping then what Andy has said is true, you have basically no choice for truly Mac compatible software! You can use PC emulation software and run Co- Pilot with very few problems. The problems you may have would relate mostly to the fact you'll now be running it in Windows and they'll be the typical Windoze problems you'll encounter! I have a few clients at KSC and CCAS running PC apps on Macs both desktop models and PowerBooks using Connectix Virtual PC. They only run apps that aren't made for the Mac OS, including Co-Pilot. None of them have problems doing so other than the occasional typical Windows problems. It does require you have both the Virtual PC and Windows software so it may not be an option you'd be interested in.

Mike R.