Release gps/slingbox question. Don't hate me, I'm just a n00b


drpepperdude00

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May 16, 2009
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Hello everyone,

I'm new here, and I was wondering what the process of getting gps onto the pandora would be. I'm not very linux literate and have only messed around with it a couple times. But is it as simple as loading an open source navigator program and installing external gps unit to the pandora? Or would it be more challenging? Also, has anyone tried the open source gps programs? Do they provide things like turn by turn and restaurant suggestions?

Secondly, since pandora is running firefox, does that mean I can use the sling.com firefox plugin to watch my slingbox on the pandora? Thank you!
 
GPS units have a standard interface and daemon (gpsd) so any Linux-compatible USB, Bluetooth etc. GPS unit would probably work out of the box.

As to software, I don't know whether any of the free GPS software does those things, but I doubt they have restaurants, since they're probably based on the OpenStreetMap data which doesn't appear to have any restaurants included.

As to the firefox plugin, it depends on whether you have source code, just like any application - I would expect it to be fairly easy to port if that's the case, but I don't know how likely a presumably proprietary video format is to have an open-source decoder...
 
drpepperdude00 said:
Secondly, since pandora is running firefox, does that mean I can use the sling.com firefox plugin to watch my slingbox on the pandora? Thank you!
Plugins are compiled, and are architecture and OS specific. (Arm, x86; Win, Lin)

Extensions and Addons are just interpreted javascript, so they work fine on any architecture or OS.
 
There are a couple of programs that do-turn-by-turn. I tried a few using my Libretto U105. Not very good results. The ones I founded used festival for the voice portion which is fine. I tried GPSDrive and Roadnav. If I remember right, Roadnav was the better of the two. Bottom line is that I think you can do what you want to do, but the setup and configuration may be a bit tedious and complicated for a linux novice. Would be nice to see OpenTom or Mapthis! (PSP) ported. I have used Mapthis! and am amazed. I may keep my PSP just for the car if and when my Pandora arrives. The only caveat with Mapthis! is that you have to download the maps on a PC and transfer them to the PSP.

As for the slingbox question, I don't have one but would guess that the plug-in may be wrapping calls to standard linux apps/players which may or may not be available for the Pandora. I love a java optimist. In theory it will work. In practice some are finicky about java versions. Good luck.
 
Re. restaurants as such: These are typically collected in 'POI' files, point-of-interest. There are both commercial and public domain versions of such files, and also other 'community' setups (which may not be public domain, but could for example be available for forum members). So, getting POI support in an open source-type mapping program is often not that difficult: Get the POI files, know the format, convert if necessary, and use.
 
ok thanx a lot guys! It seems like its def possible and not too difficult. But I think I might wait for the actual launch to see how the support pans out. Also I looked it up and the sling website uses an extension. However it also says xp and vista only...so it seems like it won't work...
 
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