At this point, would this be the best way to go? If I want to purchase a new Garmin then should I wait or just do this?
N9NWO --- In [email protected], Scott Miller <sc...@...> wrote: > > Bob Bruninga wrote: > > While I thoroughly love my NUVI350 with Argent Systems interface cable for > > Mobile APRS applications, I saw this rant about the NUVI 500 from a highly > > respected hacker over on the Electric Vehicle sig. > > > > He laments the overall DECLINE in usefulness of GPS units (NUVI as an > > example) as they are dumbed down to one-app fits all mentality. He > > mentions the same useless attempts at Garmin customer service that Scott > > frquently mentinos. THey are just too big to listen anymore to cusomers.. > > Don't give up on Garmin just yet. It took a long time, but apparently > someone's listening after all - the beta FMI 2.5 software just released > for the nuvi 1200/1300/1400 series has some features that are exactly > what I asked for. Not quite implemented perfectly yet, which is why I > haven't said anything, but there's still hope. > > FMI 2.5 explicitly includes a waypoint creation protocol - it's not an > accidental leftover like on the nuvi 350. Also, for the first time ever > in any Garmin product (to my knowledge) it's got a waypoint delete message. > > Ideally I'd have liked the ability to have waypoints expire > automatically, since the T2 doesn't have enough memory to keep track of > every received station - and it'd need to be nonvolatile memory, too. > But that's a little too APRS specific, so I suggested another solution. > Either they took that suggestion, or someone there came up with the > same thing independently, but in any case it's there - when you create a > waypoint it can be assigned to any combination of up to 16 categories, > represented by a bitmap. Those categories can optionally be assigned > labels that'll show up in the favorites menu - this part's not done yet. > > Aside from the obvious use of keeping APRS waypoints separate, it also > lets me expire old waypoints by using a 'delete waypoints by category' > command. The T2 uses a number of hidden categories, and every waypoint > created or updated for the first n minutes of the day goes into one > category. The next n minutes go into the next category. When it rolls > over to the next category, it sends a delete command. The result is > that every waypoint older than n*c, where c is the number of categories, > gets deleted. > > The bad news is that so far, waypoints don't get automatically updated > on the map and they don't show labels. You've got to exit back to the > menu and then select the map again to see where everyone is. They DO > display a name, and a link taking you to the waypoint detail screen > (comments aren't working yet) when you tap them. > > If you have a Tracker2 and a nuvi 1200/1300/1400 series and want to try > it out, get the FMI 2.5 update here: > > http://developer.garmin.com/download/FMI_v2-5_beta.zip > > You'll also need the latest T2 development build - just click the 'web' > button in the config program, I think it's at the very bottom of the > list. Hookup requires a Garmin 010-11232-00 (FMI 10) cable or > equivalent (there's one that includes a traffic receiver) that I'm out > of for a few days. I'd ramped up my stock of them in anticipation of > the FMI 2.5 software, and some commercial AVL company bought up every > one I had. > > CC'ing this to the Tracker2 group because I haven't announced it there yet. > > Scott > N1VG >
