[aprssig] Re: WinAPRS mobile

[Curt, WE7U]

On Thu, 2 Jun 2005, Steve Huston wrote:

> On Thu, 2 Jun 2005, Curt, WE7U wrote:
> > It's the reason I (can) run a truck-mount touch-screen PC running
> > Linux/Xastir in my Jeep...  Laptops or PDA's are too fragile, take
> > special mounting and several cables.  Wasn't what I was looking for.
> > A D700A or a HamHud don't give me mapping.
>
> Can you point me towards some more information about this?  I've been thinking
> for quite some time that I'd like to have a few features in a vehicle-mounted
> system (probably too many) and nothing seems like the right solution unless I
> go with some sort of PC mounted in the truck.  That, or find a couple hardware
> hackers in the area to help with putting something together :>


> Ideally, I'd like to have two-way APRS setup, both for messaging and for
> display of remote stations on the screen.

I have that now.  I'd be happy to fill you in on the model I'm using
and how I put Linux/X11/Xastir/maps on there.  It even talks to me.
Talk to me offline about that.


> I'd also like to have navigation abilities.  The problem is, I
> don't think there's any way I can get all of those into one
> display unit - some GPS navigation units can display external
> waypoints (ie, other APRS stations), but wouldn't be able to
> handle messages, and without paying some sort of hefty license I
> don't think any APRS programs will be able to support turn-by-turn
> navigation (I seem to recall reading that as the reason in one of
> the Xastir README files).

I don't recall that being the reason.  Xastir has the capability now
to search for any particular address in the U.S. using the geocoding
file and source code that Derrick incorporated into our codebase.

I think Derrick was onto some more code that could perhaps do the
routing for us, but I'm not sure if he's working on that project
currently.  Anyway, it's certainly possible, it'd just take some
time/effort to work out the details and then get it incorporated
into Xastir.

--
Curt, WE7U.   APRS Client Comparisons: http://www.eskimo.com/~archer
"Lotto:    A tax on people who are bad at math." -- unknown
"Windows:  Microsoft's tax on computer illiterates." -- WE7U
"The world DOES revolve around me:  I picked the coordinate system!"