SMARTQ V5 Running IGO 8

Here is a video about iGo8 installed on SMARTQ V5. This device has 3 operating systems: Ubuntu, Android and Windows CE. I installed iGo 8.3 on Windows CE and already tested it in my car with iBlue 747 bluetooth GPS. Navigation is perfect, voice is loud and clear.

Update: I'm using this setup almost everyday and it works perfect. Application for connect to GPS is here

Openembedded bug

If you compile gpe-image in openembedded and it ends with gpe-mixer error, here is a solution.

Error:
ERROR: '/stuff/mini2440/recipes/gpe-mixer/gpe-mixer_0.42.bb' failed


Solution:

In file
recipes/gpe-mixer/gpe-mixer/fix-install.patch
add to first 2 lines path to makefile, so result will be

--- gpe-mixer-0.42/Makefile.old 2009-05-09 21:11:12.000000000 +0200
+++ gpe-mixer-0.42/Makefile 2009-05-09 21:11:39.000000000 +0200

Now it should be compiled

PC/104 and linux (continue)

Here I wrote about Compulab PC/104 (586base) and Slackware installed on it. I decided to give a try to some software upgrade. CF card was changed to 1Gb capacity. Debian Lenny was installed. With all development stuff and ssh "df" shows 75% use. "Safecom" PCMCIA card (SWLCT-54125) now has open-source driver at http://acx100.sourceforge.net/
It doesn't compile on 2.6.32 kernel, but with debian original 2.6.26 kernel  everything compiles and works. I have some ideas for this project.

qq2440 boot

Here is a video of qq2440 booting in custom shell. Currently it can select IGo or image viewer.

USB Scope DSO-2090

Today I received USB scope DSO-2090. I bought it on EBay instead of my old analog scope. I must tell - Great thing. User friendly software interface. Bandwidth declared as 40 MHz - it seems to be true. I don't need greater. It works in real time despite of USB connection bandwith limit. You can auto set up all parameters (voltage and time) or you can set up them manually. You can see FFT spectrum as well.

Here is a box

And here are things inside the box. Scope, CD, short instruction, USB cable and 2 probes

And here I tried to reach scope limit. You can see signal around 3-4 MHz

You don't see squares because of high bandwith. With lower bandwith signal is pretty stright. All controls are like in analog scope. And you can measure everything - frequensy, rising time, duty cycle etc.

Buildroot qq2440 again

This is complete manual how to build filesystem for qq2440 (s3c2440 or mini2440) - last version.

Download last buildroot snapshot from snapshots.
Don't use release - it has a problems.
Unpack it to some directory

#tar -xvjf buildroot-xxx.tar.bz2

#cd buildroot

#make menuconfig

Now select:
Target architecture (arm)
Target architecture variant (arm920t)
Target ABI (EABI)

Toolchain:
[*] Enable large file (2GB) support
[*] Enable IPV6
[*] Enable RPC
[*] Enable toolchain locale/i18n support
[*] Use software floating point by default
[*] Build/install c++ compiler
Leave other toolchain options unchanged

Target filesystem options:
[*] tar the root filesystem
Compression method (bzip2)

Exit, save

#make

Resulting filesystem exists in buildroot/binaries/uclibc/rootfs.arm.tar.bz2
You can unpack it and mount as NFS filesystem.

In Package selection for the target select desired packages. Not everything will build. I have succesfully built : links, e2ffsprogs, usbutils, alsa-lib, alsa-utils, mpg123, dialog, directfb with samples, SDL, Qt embedded

GPS evolution

My first Bluetooth GPS was the BT-308.
Good device. But the old one. And it has a very long start time - sometimes 5-6 minutes. I used it for 4 years. During this time, new chipsets was invented: sirf-III and later MTK. MTK is very popular nowadays.
A year ago I bought on ebay iblue 737 (MTK chipset).
And fell on its often problem - static navigation (or rather its problems). There are as follows: you start to go, but the chip sees it a few seconds later. Therefore, it reports position with little delay. Increasing update frequency to 5 Hz did not solve the problem. But this is compensates by its sensitivity. He catches satellites everywhere. Inside the car, under the car seat, in the house... Recently, I had to go with the old BT-308 - satellites lost between high buildings. With iblue 737, I already forgot about this. Very quick start. Economical - bluetooth switched off automatically if there is no connection. It allows longer working time from one charge. USB part is not soldered inside and used only for charging.

I read on gpspassion forums that new MTK firmware solved static navigation problem and semsons.com sells GPS with the new firmware. I stuck with iblue 747. It can work as a logger as well. Ordered device was received very quickly and then was tested. Static navigation problems seems to be fixed. No delays. Iblue 747 can be connected via bluetooth or USB . Economical. As a logger, it worked for 3 days on one charge and is not discharged. I did not try longer. Here's a log in Google earth