Enabling the GPS on a Midinux MID

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Last Modified On :   December 1, 2008 2:00 PM PST
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Enabling the GPS on a Midinux MID

 

By Dale Taylor                        last updated: 26Nov2008

 

Keywords: MID, GPS, Linux, Midinux, RedFlag, Compal, Jax10

 

The Compal Jax10 MIDs we have been using in our development work have GPS hardware but no supporting software stack (yet).  This document explains how to install the necessary software to activate your GPS and some software you can run to test it out.

 

You do NOT need the 3G module installed to use the internal GPS, nor do you need a 3G SIM card.

1 – install Midinux v4005

To get started you’ll need the Midunux v4005 software stack.  You’ll need to get the binary file and build a USB key and “restore” it to your device.  To get the IMG file, contact your AE.

 

You’ll find detailed instructions for creating the key here:

http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/bootable-usb-key-from-image

 

Once I installed the image I had to press the reset button to get the MID to reboot.

 

2 – Change the default language to English

We’ll start by assuming you have a Jax10 with the default v4005 software stack installed.  The first thing you’ll want to do is change the language to English.  I had a difficult time with the Chinese until I changed the language.  When the UI comes up there is a gear looking device in the very upper right, tap on this to bring up the options dialog.  In this dialog there is a Globe icon.  Click on the world globe and select the radio button next the language you are most comfortable with.

 

3 – Change the power settings to give you more time to work

Before doing much more I suggest changing the default time-outs so that the unit doesn’t hibernate so quickly.  This is found in the same options dialog as the Globe, click on the power manager which is the Lightning bolt.  Adjust the “Idle to S3” and “Idle to close LCD” to at least 10 minutes each and you’ll have an easier time using your MID.  Mine would sleep in 60 seconds.

 

4 – Activate the Wifi so you can connect to the Internet (the GPS maps are online)

Now that you can read the menus and dialogs, let’s get Wifi working.  v4005 requires an access point that is broadcasting.  If you have a non-broadcast AP such as Intel’s Guest you’ll need to go somewhere else to get access to an AP.  Click in the Wifi icon at the top of the screen to get into the Wifi dialog (it looks like an antenna next to 4 vertical bars).

 

Inside the connection manager turn on Wifi by taping the “Off” button.  On the Wifi menu you’ll now you’ll see two buttons, one says “On”, the other “Modify”.  Tap Modify.  Now should be able to see your AP in the list.  If it shows a lock on the left you’ll need to add the WEP password before you can connect.  It took me several clicks on the double horizontal lines icon to get it to respond but eventually it did.  In the dialog, enter your WEP key.  Now clicking on the bar with your AP listed should connect you to the AP.

 

The Wifi Icon changes to white in the center to signify that it’s connected, and what kind of power levels you are experiencing.

 

5 – download the GPSD and TangoGPS RPM files

You need both the GPSD and the TangoGPS RPM files now.  GPSD is a service that drives the GPS and provides an API for applications to use the device.  TangoGPS is a program that uses the GPS information and provides a GUI so you can see it working.

 

Note that there isn’t enough room on the SSD partitions to install them using the package manager so you’ll have to do it manually.  Once you have both of the RPM files, copy them to a USB key so that you can install them onto the MID directly from the key.  Here’s the links to the files.  For GPSD you want to download v2.30 and not a newer version.  I tested v2.37 and it has a dependency on Python v2.5 which if installed will cause big problems so don’t install that one.

 

The first link is to the page with all the downloads, the second link takes you directly to the versions I used.

 

GPSD can be found here:
http://developer.berlios.de/project/showfiles.php?group_id=2116

http://prdownload.berlios.de/gpsd/gpsd-2.30-1.i386.rpm

 

TangoGPS can be found here:

http://www.tangogps.org/gps/cat/Download

http://www.tangogps.org/downloads/tangogps-0.9.3-2.i386.rpm

 

6 – Install GPSD, start it and check to see if the device shows up

With the RPM files on your USB key and inserted into the MID, bring up a terminal window (easiest to do with the Ctrl-P shortcut) and type the following to install GPSD.

 

            rpm -i /media/<USBkeyname>/gpsd-2.30-1.i386.rpm

 

Now let’s start up GPSD and verify that it finds the GPS.  Type the following into your terminal window:

 

            gpsd –D 5 –n N /dev/ttyACM0

 

To restart GPSD in the future you only need to type:

 

            gpsd /dev/ttyACM0

 

Now you should be able to see the device by typing:

 

            ls /dev/tty*

 

7 – Install TangoGPS

To install the TangoGPS program, type the following in your terminal window:

 

            rpm -i /media/<USBkeyname>/tangogps-0.9.3-2.i386.rpm

 

8 – Create a symbolic link for the Curl libraries

TangoGPS requires a version of the Curl libraries that isn’t installed on the MID, but Midinux does have a newer compatible version installed so we need to create a symbolic link to point the library manager to the new library when the old one is loaded.

 

            ln -s /usr/lib/libcurl.so.4 /usr/lib/libcurl.so.3

 

 

9 – Now you can run Tango GPS and it should work

 

            tangogps

 

When running TangoGPS, if you are online, after a couple of minutes it will come up with your location and begin downloading a map of the area.  You can then zoom in and out with the slider on the right and it will download maps of the right scale.

 

Documentation for using TangoGPS is found here:

http://www.tangogps.org/gps/cat/Documentation

 

Some TangoGPS screen shots are found here:

http://www.tangogps.org/gps/cat/Screenshots