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Cellular forums Home > Archive > Garmin GPS > December 2005 > Does no one hack GPSs, such as the Quest I ?
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| Author |
Does no one hack GPSs, such as the Quest I ?
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| Hi,
I'm still trying to read up on all the features before I buy my first
GPS for bicycling and driving.
One thing that I find oddly missing are "hack" web sites. I mean, you
can run linux on your xbox, upgrade your tivo with a large hard drive,
but no one has yet managed to solder more memory into the Quest I? Is
that something that is impossible or prohibited?
Thanks,
Ray
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| Ray wrote:
> One thing that I find oddly missing are "hack" web sites. I mean, you
> can run linux on your xbox, upgrade your tivo with a large hard drive,
> but no one has yet managed to solder more memory into the Quest I? Is
> that something that is impossible or prohibited?
Presumably not impossible, but not very easy from either a hardware or
software standpoint. There was an attempt to add memory to a GPS V.
The hardware part was successful but AFAIK the attempts to modify the
firmware to use the expansion for more maps were not.
Probably not too many GPS users who want to devote a lot of time and
effort to such endeavors.
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| Anton Betzler 2005-12-13, 5:48 am |
| Ray < noemailplease@please
.org> wrote:
> . . . more memory into the Quest I
that's easy - buy the European version ;-)
SCNR - Anton
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| Bill Cotton 2005-12-13, 5:49 pm |
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"Ray" < noemailplease@please
.org> wrote in message
news:6atnf.5512$i1.5386@news-wrt-01.rdc-nyc.rr.com...
> Hi,
>
> I'm still trying to read up on all the features before I buy my first GPS
> for bicycling and driving.
>
> One thing that I find oddly missing are "hack" web sites. I mean, you can
> run linux on your xbox, upgrade your tivo with a large hard drive, but no
> one has yet managed to solder more memory into the Quest I? Is that
> something that is impossible or prohibited?
> Thanks,
> Ray
I have done mechanical hacking. http://www.billcotton.com/gps.htm While the
internal battery lasts up to 20 hours, I sometimes forget to charge or leave
the Quest on by mistake. The above page shows the pinout of the Quest. I
modified the charging cradle to accept a four cell battery pack, but I later
decided to use the car adapter and speaker with a 12 volt battery on my
bicycle.
This page explain why I feel that the memory of the Quest 1 is good enough
for my travels. I am able to make a route from Philadelphia to Quebec Canada
and use the edit menu to select only maps around the route
http://www.billcotton.com/quest_on_bicycle.htm about 800 miles and less than
half of the map memory.
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| Bill Cotton wrote:
> I have done mechanical hacking. http://www.billcotton.com/gps.htm While the
> internal battery lasts up to 20 hours, I sometimes forget to charge or leave
> the Quest on by mistake. The above page shows the pinout of the Quest. I
> modified the charging cradle to accept a four cell battery pack, but I later
> decided to use the car adapter and speaker with a 12 volt battery on my
> bicycle.
> This page explain why I feel that the memory of the Quest 1 is good enough
> for my travels. I am able to make a route from Philadelphia to Quebec Canada
> and use the edit menu to select only maps around the route
> http://www.billcotton.com/quest_on_bicycle.htm about 800 miles and less than
> half of the map memory.
>
>
Thanks Bill, looks like you're pretty serious about the subject :) I
don't think I'll do such long routes as you do, now I think that the
Quest 1 indeed will have enough memory!
Ray
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| Anton Betzler wrote:
> Ray < noemailplease@please
.org> wrote:
>
>
> that's easy - buy the European version ;-)
>
> SCNR - Anton
You know I was thinking about it! Is has twice the memory, European
basemaps, and CitySelect Euro seems to be 3x as expensive as the US
flavor. However, I don't see any vendors offering the EU- Quest in the
US, and getting it from the EU costs twice as much.
Back to square one. Who has a hack to install a CF into the Quest? :)
Ray
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| peter wrote:
> Ray wrote:
>
> [..]
> Probably not too many GPS users who want to devote a lot of time and
> effort to such endeavors.
I guess you're right; judging from the reviews that I read, people want
to buy and play. Still, frankly, I don't get it. The community that
invents GPS games does not "mod" its own hardware? Come ON :)
Ray
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| Jack Erbes 2005-12-14, 5:49 pm |
| Ray wrote:
> I guess you're right; judging from the reviews that I read, people want
> to buy and play. Still, frankly, I don't get it. The community that
> invents GPS games does not "mod" its own hardware? Come ON :)
>
I'm not sure what "GPS games" are, I don't think I play any. Is it
geocaching? That just uses a handheld as it it, no mods needed. I
can't think of a hardware mod that I could make to my Meridian to
improve its function.
But, if you can hack the software so that I can use it with open source
mapping that would be cool.
On the hardware, the way the cases are made and sealed it is not very
easy to get inside the average handheld without causing some damage to
the case seams and stuff. You're very likely that it will no longer be
waterproofed to the same specs it had originally.
Then, once inside, the density of the electronics and the small size and
inherent fragility of connectors and sub assemblies like displays and
controls makes disassembly and reassembly a pretty risky process. And
finally, there are not many people that, at home, can change or add
discrete components on electronics built with the current high density
and surface mount technology.
But if you can start taking them apart and hacking the hardware,
document the work and post some links, we're always interested in stuff
like that.
Jack
--
Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
(also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)
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| Bill Cotton 2005-12-14, 5:49 pm |
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"Jack Erbes" <jackerbes@adelphia.net> wrote in message
news:kqWdnXfTt_8tgT3
eRVn-vQ@adelphia.com...
> Ray wrote:
>
>
> I'm not sure what "GPS games" are, I don't think I play any. Is it
> geocaching? That just uses a handheld as it it, no mods needed. I can't
> think of a hardware mod that I could make to my Meridian to improve its
> function.
>
> But, if you can hack the software so that I can use it with open source
> mapping that would be cool.
>
> On the hardware, the way the cases are made and sealed it is not very easy
> to get inside the average handheld without causing some damage to the case
> seams and stuff. You're very likely that it will no longer be
> waterproofed to the same specs it had originally.
>
> Then, once inside, the density of the electronics and the small size and
> inherent fragility of connectors and sub assemblies like displays and
> controls makes disassembly and reassembly a pretty risky process. And
> finally, there are not many people that, at home, can change or add
> discrete components on electronics built with the current high density and
> surface mount technology.
This is the case with my Emap. The backlight stop working. I do a lots of
bicycling at night and really need the backlight.
http://www.billcotton.com/Emap.htm I was ready for more fuctions, so I move
up to the Quest. I loaned the eMap to a friend and it came back with a dark
screen. I open the emap with a bok cutter and found that one ribbon cable
was glued in place. I cannot replace the cable in the same location so that
gps is waiting until I can a way to reconnect that cable.
> But if you can start taking them apart and hacking the hardware, document
> the work and post some links, we're always interested in stuff like that.
The Quest on the other hand seem to be easier to come apart. it has four
Philip head screws holding the case together.
http://www.billcotton.com/quest_on_bicycle.htm unless Garmin will replace
the internal battery at cost, I plan to replace that battery if it expires
after the warrenty is oover in January 06. On the above page I have a
picture of the open Quest 1 and the battery is shown.
>
> Jack
>
> --
> Jack Erbes in Ellsworth, Maine, USA - jackerbes at adelphia dot net
> (also receiving email at jacker at midmaine.com)
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