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Handhelds Hardware

Tom Tom GO Personal Navigator Source Code Released 81

Posted by timothy from the my-brain-needs-one dept.
Fofer writes "TomTom, makers of personal navigation software for PDA's and cell phones, also have a standalone device called the TomTom GO. Early reviews are excellent, with its sleek design and unique 3-D interface. Unlike other standalone GPS units, this one runs on Linux. It uses an SD card (optionally prefilled with the entire U.S. map) and 11 voices to choose from. More available here for free (in OGG format, no less!). There is also Mac support provided by a 3rd party. The big news is that this week, TomTom finally released the kernel they used, source code, patches, etc. of the device under the GNU General Public License (GPL). This is one sweet looking device and I can't wait to get my hands on one and start tinkering. Hmm... Ogg/MP3 jukebox anyone?"
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Tom Tom GO Personal Navigator Source Code Released More

Tom Tom GO Personal Navigator Source Code Released

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  • The? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by jpr1nd ( 678149 )
    Called the what?

  • Broken link (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    It should be called the "TomTom GO, not the .

  • Missing Info (Score:1, Redundant)

    by Skynet ( 37427 )
    They have a standalone device called the what?

  • No big deal (Score:5, Funny)

    by Linker3000 ( 626634 ) on Saturday October 23, 2004 @01:24PM (#10609726) Journal
    Most, if not all, of their software and maps seem to have been released under the 'Find me on Kazaa' licence ages ago.

  • foreign o the US contingent (Score:3, Interesting)

    by JanneM ( 7445 ) on Saturday October 23, 2004 @01:26PM (#10609736) Homepage
    I know, this may be foreign to the US contingent of the /. crowd, but where is the handheld version?

    At least I pretty much never use GPS in a vehicle; even when I want to get to a specific address (not an easy feat in Japan), I would use maps to get to the general area, then get to the actual point (like a geocache or an address) on foot.

    • you never had a gps? Try one out, it might change your life.
      • you never had a gps? Try one out, it might change your life.

        I do have a GPS, and yes, it makes a big difference. I just never had any actual use in a vehicle.

        I can find the general area of any address or description just fine; there is no need for GPS for that. Finding the exact building in a block, however, or finding the precise point of a cache, would be difficult, however.

        Whenever I have had a use for a GPS unit, I have been on foot, not in a vehicle. That is why I'm wondering.

    • Re:foreign o the US contingent (Score:5, Informative)

      by Richard5mith ( 209559 ) on Saturday October 23, 2004 @01:50PM (#10609849) Homepage
      The TomTom Go has a five hour battery life and is easily usable on foot. It's about the size of a Blackberry and fits in the hand without any problems.
    • If it already runs under Linux, it might not be too hard for them to port it to a Zaurus [sharpusa.com]. However, with Sharp's limited distribution in the US and Europe, I doubt they'd even try. It's too bad because I be the same app could run without recompiling on OpenZaurus [openzaurus.org] or even an iPAQ running Familiar [handhelds.org].

      Of course, this isn't the only handheld option. The TomTom folks also have PDA editions for more popular devices [tomtom.com].

    • Re:foreign o the US contingent (Score:4, Insightful)

      by pluggo ( 98988 ) on Saturday October 23, 2004 @02:37PM (#10610081) Homepage
      I know, this may be foreign to the US contingent of the /. crowd, but where is the handheld version?

      At least I pretty much never use GPS in a vehicle; even when I want to get to a specific address (not an easy feat in Japan), I would use maps to get to the general area, then get to the actual point (like a geocache or an address) on foot.

      Just curious... why would using a GPS on foot have anything to do with being from the US or not?

      I used to work at Circuit City... we sold in-car, handheld, CF (maybe SD too, I don't remember), and USB GPS devices. Many people use them to go hiking or in just the same manner as you described just above (especially the customers who navigate in Chicago).

      Anyway, the article has pics of the device in someone's hand, makes several mentions of how small it is (one pic shows it next to a RIM Blackberry), and mentions the optional car mounting brackets.
      • Just curious... why would using a GPS on foot have anything to do with being from the US or not?

        A not very serious comment implying the fairly heavy focus on car-related uses of GPS in the US (and you have the same focus in Japan for that matter - lots of devices for finding addresses in cars, very few for doing so on foot).

      • > Just curious... why would using a GPS on foot have anything to do with
        > being from the US or not?

        He was probably referring to the propensity of US persons to spend on average
        rather a lot of time driving in motor vehicles, relative to people elsewhere.
        Granted, it was a _lame_ joke, but this is slashdot, so you expect that.
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • so what exactly do we get??? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by advocate_one ( 662832 ) on Saturday October 23, 2004 @01:32PM (#10609761)
    lots of code for the kernel, modules, busybox etc. but what I want to know is, do we actually get the source code to the application itself?

    • Re:so what exactly do we get??? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by discord5 ( 798235 ) on Saturday October 23, 2004 @01:50PM (#10609852)
      lots of code for the kernel, modules, busybox etc. but what I want to know is, do we actually get the source code to the application itself?

      Most likely not. You see, if they release the source for this program there is no incentive anymore to buy the device, and any geek with a compiler and a handheld will be able to run this without Tom Tom ever making a dollar.

      I like open source software, and I am all for someone developing an open source GPS-program, but these people need to make money. The community should be happy with the fact that they actually sticked to the rules and released the patches to the software they used, unlike some companies.

      We'll never get rid of closed source software, but if both open and closed source software can benefit from eachother (eg Linux & Tom Tom), I still find the product a lot cooler than some windows CE box.

      • I like open source software, and I am all for someone developing an open source GPS-program, but these people need to make money.

        It could be a combination. the GPS software for free, but charge for the card material.
        • the GPS software for free

          1. Spend hundreds to thousands of man hours developing GPS unit and software
          2. Spend tons of money and time marketing it
          3. Give away free to your competition the technology your business is based on
          4. ???
          5. Profit!

          Very crafty way to make a living.
      • Most likely not. You see, if they release the source for this program there is no incentive anymore to buy the device, and any geek with a compiler and a handheld will be able to run this without Tom Tom ever making a dollar.


        the source code itself is useles without the maps. I have read up on some of the OSS GPS software being made and it seems that it is not difficult at all. The maps make the gps device stand out, level of detail and amount of poi etc.

    • You will get what you really need at: http://ld.net/?rosa
    • ...do we actually get the source code to the application itself?

      Even if that code would be open sourced, there is another problem: the maps!.

      The maps TomTom uses come from TeleAtlas and are definitely not free.

    • The 2.4 kernel and glibc, but not the application code. Despite running Linux, communication is via Windows. I wonder if gpsdrive will handle it.

  • Nice slashvertisment. (Score:4, Insightful)

    by grazzy ( 56382 ) <grazzyNO@SPAMquake.swe.net> on Saturday October 23, 2004 @01:32PM (#10609765) Homepage Journal
    I'm glad to see OSDN puts some requirements on their slashvertisments now.

    Related to linux: check.
    References to other open source software: check.
    Playing with phrases like "cant wait to get my hand on ..": check.
    Posted by anonmyous user without email or homepage: check.

    • Since this is Slashdot (where readers click the links to test the web servers' load capacity), the marketing ploy will fail due to a lack of interest in portable drum machines...

  • Ground control to Major... (Score:3, Funny)

    by bushboy ( 112290 ) <lttc@lefthandedmonkeys.org> on Saturday October 23, 2004 @01:34PM (#10609772) Homepage
    TomTom,

    I'd be more excited with a tasty Burger right now - a semi-rare patty with gherkin, mustard and ketchup, dripping juices, toasted buns, ahhh.

    My PDA is covered in tasty juices !
    I'd rather have a burger than a PDA !

  • Valley Girl (Score:5, Funny)

    by morcheeba ( 260908 ) * on Saturday October 23, 2004 @01:34PM (#10609773) Journal
    Like oh my god, they already have a totally tubular voice - Zappa, American Valley Girl [tomtomshop.com]. so, like gag me with a spoon, why would I ever want anything else?

    It had better have that valspeak attitude, too - "take that bitchin' right slider up there". It should, of course, base all directions on local malls (go to the point, then up the boulevard, then to the mulitplex, and then you're almost there) even if that's not the fastest way to go. (it's all about the style!)

    • You think the Valley Girl is bad? If you speak dutch you should listen to "Ome Laurus". For those of you that don't know dutch, the test sample says: "You're there, now get out so I can get to my beer".

    • Man, you made my day...
    • Interestingly enough, the samples in these voice files are compressed using ogg vorbis.

      If you download the samples, there's a .chk file in there. It's some sort of container format that contains a bunch of Ogg samples.

      To listen to them, do
      dd if=data74.chk of=data74.ogg bs=1 skip=260
      Your favourite ogg player should be able to play the samples.

      How long before someone writes a Klingon plugin for it, I wonder?
      • Great work, thanks!

        +1: used the word like, but with "you have like reached your destination"
        -1: used the words "motorway" and "rotary" instead of "boulevard" and "that circle thingy"

        It's basically accent - not a change in vocabulary. Oh well, that's why there is tamtam - to do the job properly!

  • Not sure at $900, it's such a great value? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by King_TJ ( 85913 ) on Saturday October 23, 2004 @01:35PM (#10609780) Journal
    At first this excited me because I thought "Hey, cool! A small, stand-alone GPS solution that could be mounted in people's cars and not cost a fortune!" But then I saw the $900 suggested retail price. I'm currently using a Garmin Streetpilot in my car, and we paid somewhere around $850 for it, over a year ago. It comes with a surprisingly usable "pillow mount"; (Basically like a black, nylon beanbag with a stalk sticking out of the top, center of it to snap the Garmin unit onto it. You can just plop it down on your dashboard and it stays put. No messy tape or velcro needed.) It also uses SD flash memory with a USB port for attaching to a PC to download new map data into it and do firmware upgrades to the unit itself. The speaker for the voice synthesizer is integrated into the lighter plug adapter, which usually ends up putting it in a better place for the driver to hear it clearly, and can get plenty loud too.

    This might be cool if you really do need the GPS to be "hand held", but if you're downloading *street maps* into it, the obviously use I'd see would be for driving with it. Therefore, I think it needs to be priced more like $400-500 at most, so people will considering cutting holes in their dash and installing it to look like original factory equipment....
  • Crap! Sure looks cool, too bad I'll never own one.

    Then again, check out the prices on the Garmin StreetPilot [garmin.com] series. About $1200 for the cheap one. I wonder how this new one stacks up?

  • Hmmm. (Score:2, Informative)

    by creaturespeaker ( 823981 )
    The problem with Palms and Pocket PC's for GPS use is that they are not very outdoor proof. Also, the button layout is not very convenient. If you want a good, fairly low priced GPS I recommend the Garmin Quest. You can get it for around 500.

    Free Flat Screen HERE! [freeflatscreens.com]


    • What's with the off topic URL link? Flat screens for free ... yeah fuckin right. You sound like a reasonably intelligent man, you don't really believe you'll get a flat screen out of it do you?

      They'll probably harvest your email address and send you requests for all kinds of "handling fees" before mysteriously disappearing and screwing you over.

      Don't be a mug! There's no such thing as a free lunch !!!

  • already got one? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Doc Ruby ( 173196 ) on Saturday October 23, 2004 @01:44PM (#10609823) Homepage Journal
    I've already got a (Treo 600) smartphone, with an AGPS receiver for E911, a fast (~100Kbps) Internet connection, and PalmOS for which it's easy to write apps. Where's the app that integrates them into my single device that I already take everywhere? I want to add GPS to my contact list, the images I take, my SMS "Where are you?" messages...
  • is a GPS kit with an embedded processor that runs Linux. Costing no more than, say, $200. Any ideas?
  • a mate of mine has one of these installed in his car. Its genuinely impressive, all the usual stuff (location bookmarks, voice nav, street labels etc...) plus a nice looking faux-3d map thing
    Great thing is, you can load it up with a list of fixed speed-cameras (we live in the UK, these things are a pain!), it'll warn you when you get withing 400 meters of one

    Funny thing happened though, we drove into a carpark with it, must have lost GPS lock or something as the map started spinning around wildly in a c

  • Nothing to cheer about (Score:3, Insightful)

    by sniperu ( 585466 ) on Saturday October 23, 2004 @02:03PM (#10609908) Homepage
    This is a document describing the distribution of the source code used on the TomTom GO device, which falls under the GNU General Public License (the GPL).

    The GPL'ed source code used in TomTom GO falls into three categories:
    1. The Linux kernel for ARM, with modifications by TomTom.
    2. The GNU C library (glibc), which is used unmodified.
    3. BusyBox, which is used unmodified.

    So , what exactly is the big deal here ? The used the linux kernel , glibc and busybox . The last two being unmodified , so they don't really count as "released by TomTom" . The modified linux kernel was released because of the gpl , and it was probably a very small price to pay instead of developing their own operating system for the device or buying from some vendor (anybocy has any clue to what where they useing before ?) .
    It's not like they've released the source to their software or anything like that . What are you all going to do with the modified kernel ? Make a patch so you can run GNOME on the device ? If so , it's in TomTom's advantage . They're in a win-win situation , don't you see ? Not like it's someting to be ashamed for . But you have to realise that there's no charity involved .

    As a side note we've bought their PDA software (all European maps included) for my boss to use in his latest trip . Well , the package has just now arrived to customs , a week too late , and my boss is happily roaming Europe with eMule software on his PDA , haveing no other choice .... No comment !

  • Tinker Value? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mike_lynn ( 463952 ) on Saturday October 23, 2004 @02:10PM (#10609938)
    Yeah. Can't wait to get my hands on one. Of course, the fact that it costs around $800 will probably keep that from happening. While the small form factor is nice, I tend to reserve my 'tinkering' for devices that cost less than a brand new PC.
  • Slashdotters go crazy, slow news day all around.
  • Everyone repeat after me...

    Thank you TomTom

    BBH

  • The money is in the maps (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 23, 2004 @03:01PM (#10610173)
    For all of you that didn't already know, TomTom used to mainly make WindowsCE/PocketPC navigation software. Their PocketPC binaries are available for free from their site somewhere, and that's obviously not where the money is being made. The real money is in the maps, which have heavy serial number protection combined with compulsory online registration.
    I don't see why they couldn't release their navigation software for Linux so we can run it on our desktops and Zaurus PDA's, though it would expose the serial number generation sequence, most likely... but with legally bought maps, it should be usable on Linux.
    I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to extract the application from the GO and run it on a Sharp Zaurus PDA, though it'd probably not be legal.
  • I hope this means they might consider porting it to the zaurus soon!

  • Did TomTom base their software [tomtom.com] on Ghost In The Shell? TomTom's maps totally look like the maps in that movie... except they are not green.

  • In case you wondered where the "Mac support provided by a 3rd party" is available: the application is called TamTam [equinux.com].

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