Tim Rude has put a significant amount of time and effort into a utility that reads the date and time from the GPS chip and relays that to the OS clock (the time displayed in the taskbar of your C230, as well as in any programs displaying the time).  The GPS chip has its own real-time clock that is unaffected by a hard-reset.   Apparently, this RTC gets updated whenever a satellite fix is acquired (by MioMap, SirfTech, BeeLineGPS, etc.) and remains reasonably accurate even when it’s been a while since the last satellite fix.

He has also written a program that installs eVB (embedded Visual Basic) Version 3 runtime files needed to accomodate his utility, and I think I speak for all of us in thanking him for sharing his efforts in this Blog!!!

He writes:

I’ve finally gotten back to working on the eVB runtime installer and have it all put together into a nice little easy to use utility.

You can download the eVB3Setup.zip from here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?0aizndbexrm

It automatically installs and registers the necessary dll files so that programs written in embedded Visual Basic 3.0 will run on the Mio C230.

—

My GPSTimeSync utility is also ready for download too. It requires the eVB runtime files.

You can download it from here:  [edited by c230 to link to the latest version]

http://www.mediafire.com/?mm2iu3bwbzy

When you run GPSTimeSync for the first time, it needs to find your GPS port so it automatically opens the Comm Setup screen. Click the Auto-Scan for GPS Port button to let it find the correct Comm port and Baud rate for your device. Once it finds it, click OK. You won’t have to do this again.

Then the upper half of the screen will show the GPS time (in UTC or Greenwich Meridian Time zone). Click the Hour + or Hour – buttons to align it with your time zone. Once you’ve set this once, it remembers the hour offset for future use, even after a hard-reset.

The lower half of the screen will show what your Mio’s clock is currently set to. Simply click the Set Time button to set the date and time to match the GPS time and exit the utility.

Since the GPS chip keeps the current time even after a hard-reset, this utility makes it very easy to quickly set the Mio’s date and time after a hard-reset.

However, the eVB runtime files won’t survive a hard reset, since the Windows folder gets purged. That means you would need to re-run the eVB setup after each hard-reset in order to restore them.

For that reason, I keep the install directory on my SD card and the last step in my Autopatcher.mscr is to call the eVB installer.   [See the first comment below for additional information]

Enjoy!

 

—————————————————————————

Tim has subsequently provided this link where eVB development software can be (legally) downloaded: 

http://cobweb.ecn.purdue.edu/~vip/dev_tool.html

Screen choices

The long-awaited Version 3.6 update to Ameridan’s (that’s me) Mio C230 Unlock includes many refinements since Version 3.5 was released.   Thanks go out to all who’ve contributed to this release (even if I unintentionally forgot to give credit to you), including hak for submitting the script changes for the large target street font that “sticks”, wildbill for redoing all of the icons, and tim rude for providing the new, improved Launcher program and the storage memory enhancer.

Amida’s Version 4 Unlock may indeed be easier to install (and Undo), but not having ever tried it, I will not attempt to compare the new version of my Unlock to his, other than to state that they each have their own pluses and minuses over the other, depending on your needs.   I simply like this Unlock and appreciate that I too have a loyal group of users that have encouraged me to keep updating and sharing the results.

1. The new C230 Launcher that Tim Rude provided so that Registry settings work, Backlight and Taskbar settings behave, Windows Explorer doesn’t require special handling after a hard reset, and normally, neither a soft or hard reset are required after a USB connection of your Mio to your PC.
2. My CAB installer package is included so that you can install compatible programs that are distributed via CAB file.
3. Storage Memory enhancer is included so that your allocation will be 4MB, rather than the default 500KB, resulting in reliable performance since you should no longer be running out of memory.
4. DST fixes so that you no longer need to manually set your time and date after a hard reset, if the auto-sync option is enabled in MioMap.  After a hard reset, the time may be off by one hour until the second time you have acquired a GPS signal with MioMap or BeeLine.
5. New screens to accomodate additional programs.  Games, Tools, and Apps. along with a “Screen Choices” menu that has been further refined to allow you to select a theme that will be applied to all of these desktop screens in unison.   The Clock screens remain, but the font size of the AM / PM indicators have been reduced.
6. My BeeLineGPS package is included for straight-line navigation and Geocaching.   This is provided on a 30-day evaluation basis, so I encourage you to register your copy here if you like the program. 
7. I’ve also included Metro,  a great non-GPS program that provides you with public transportation schedules and guides for all major cities of the world.
8. My version of a “Skins Choices” menu (based on Mike FFI’s) to manage your favorite skins saved on your SD card and be able to choose them on the fly to further personalize your C230! 
   
    
   
9. A “Settings Choices” menu that now allows you to choose the menu text font size and suppress upcoming cities and communities in the navigation bar.
   
10. The latest version of Ameridan’s (me) C230 skin (an enhanced Mio factory skin) and my QuickSilver CarLocator skin (1.49b1) that has a “Media Player” screen built-in to play audio files from within MioMap (using TCPMP)  (and the large-font feature for target street that has been repeatedly requested) is also included..   These will be installed in the Skins folder of your SD card.    You can add your own additional favorites to this folder as well.
    

    

    

11. A set of document viewers so that you’ll be able to peruse just about any common document type out there.   The set includes:  a PDF document viewer , another Image viewer, a Powerpoint presentation viewer, an Excel document viewer and a Word document viewer.

    

From any of the desktop screens, you’ll be able to access the ”Tools” screen, the ”Games” screen, the new “Apps” screen  or your chosen “Clock” screen.   You might also choose a clock or desktop default screen and never access the others.    All served the way you like it!

The largest advantage is the ability to pre-plan upcoming vacation trips, business trips, delivery routes, etc., save those routes, and activate them at your convenience.

Games 

In addition to Solitaire, Freecell, Klondike, LightsOn, Tetris, Chess, and Shift which are new in this release, the games included in Version 3.5 are all available from the Games screen.

Aquellaballis a JezzBall-like game for PocketPC.

Just draw a line with the stylus to have a vertical or horizontal line spread across the whole screen. If a ball touches the line while it is being drawn, it will be cancelled and you&ecute;ll loose alife.

Cover over 75% of the screen and make it to the next level, with 1 more ball.

Route Management

iGo 8 is reported as having this feature built-in, but I was the first to make this feature available in the C230 (with thanks to Xania for the initial work), by allowing routes to be saved and loaded by menu selection.

 

With the Route Management menu, you can not only preplan your routes, but by

• Exiting
• Saving your route with a descriptive name
• Restarting MioMap back up again with that route still in memory or loading that route into memory at a later time
• Using the Edit Route screen and reversing the order of your waypoints
• Exiting and Saving once again with a different name representing the return trip
• - Voila – you’ve got your return trip available in the menu without inputing all of your way-points once again.

Use the GPS power button now available in the enhanced skins to temporarily turn off the GPS chip, so that when pre-planning routes not having anything to do with your present location, the Route recalculation will not mess you up your itinerary.

The Ameridan skin (included) for the C230 includes all of the tweaks mentioned in this blog including:

• Exit Door button needed if you are unlocking your C230.
• Revised start screen identifying the source of the modified file.
• Export Track button allowing you to export the track log into a gpx file directly.
• Easy Route option described here.
• GPS Screen with the globe rotated such that North America is proudly shownand the GPS Power button needed for uninterrupted general map viewing and Route preplanning without Auto Route Recalculation kicking in.

Starting with Version 3.3, the menu script creates automatic  entries to the SYS.TXT file needed for this menu to function. You no longer need to run through the setup process prior to using the menu.

I’ve gone through a lot of coffee again on this release ( the best one yet! ) and if you are pleased with the results and haven’t already done so, kindly consider a small donation to my coffee fund.

click

 

Oh, and don’t forget to check out my Mio-C230 StickiNotes in the right column where blog items and other tidbits readers provide will be easy to find.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unlock Version NXT-R3.6

[BEFORE YOU FOLLOW THE PROCEDURES TO MODIFY YOUR MIO C230, KNOW THAT YOU MIGHT RENDER YOUR C230 UNUSABLE AND YOU MIGHT VOID YOUR WARRANTY. YOU DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK.]

Installation procedure

1. Turn on C230 and connect it to the computer using a 5-pin Mini-B USB 2.0 cable (not included in the package) like this Belkin USB cable.
2. C230 will show up as a flash drive in My Computer as Mio Device. Mine is assigned as F drive. I’ll use F drive in the following steps. Substitute it with the actual drive letter of your system. If you have a SD card in the slot, it shows up as well – in my case as G drive.
3. Rename the folder F:\MioMap\MioMap to F:\MioMap\MioMap2.
4. In order not to get the message ”destination full”, you may need to free up some space on your flash disk – See Note 2.   Also, it might be a good idea to now make a backup copy of the original DATA.ZIP file in F:\MioMap\MioMap2 (as well as your Routes folder in F:\MioMap\MioMap) to your PC or Storage Card.
5. Download MioC230_NXT_R3_6.zip
6. USA MioC230 users – The enhanced C230 skin as well as Version 1.49 of the Quicksilver CarLocator skin are included in the download.   Owners of the European C230, please review this page and Note 4, before Unlocking for information on using this Unlock on your units. You can modify your DATA.ZIP file yourself – See Note 3.
7. Extract the files from your Unlock download and find the three folders MioMap,  Script,  and Storage Card folders. 
8. Copy MioMap to F:\MioMap\ and copy Script to F:\ as in the screenshot. Don’t speed through this step – it’s got to be done as described!
    
9. Copy the five folders within Storage Card folders which are: BeeLineGPS, Metro, Skins, uBook and Games to the root of your SD card.   If you backed up your Routes, copy them back into  F:\MioMap\MioMap\Routes.
10. If you would rather use the “iPhone-look” icons without the English sub-text, then replace the icons in  \My Flash Disk\Script\Icons  with alternate icons, some of which are available here and within the comments for the Version 3.4 Blog.
11. Disconnect Mio C230 and do a hard reset by sliding the switch on the rear of your C230 to OFF and back to ON again.
12. After calibrating the touch screen, the initial Unlock script will automatically run AUTOPATCHER (no menu selection necessary), soft reset and present you with a desktop screen.   It is important that you select a skin that has an Exit button before launching MioMap, so go into the MioMap Management Menu (first large icon in top left corner) and choose an enhanced MioMap skin (Ameridan C230 is suggested initially), unless you are manually modifying DATA.ZIP per Note 3 below because you are unlocking a MioC230 that isn’t the USA or Canada version.    

Note 1: If you wish to undo the enhancements and return the Mio C230 back to factory condition:

1. Turn on C230 and connect it to the computer using a USB cable.
2. Rename the folder F:\MioMap\MioMap to F:\MioMap\MioMap3 (or delete) and rename the folder F:\MioMap\MioMap2 to F:\MioMap\MioMap
3. Copy back any map files you may have deleted or moved to your SD card and restore your DATA.ZIP file.   The SYS.TXT file shouldn’t need to be restored.
4. Disconnect the cable and hard reset C230 using the switch on the back of the unit.

Note 2: In order not to get the message “destination full”, you’ll need to free up some space on your flash disk by moving at-least 12MB of map files to your SD card by creating a MioMap folder and within that folder a maps folder so that the path appears as G:\MioMap\maps. Choose a combination of map file(s) you’re not accessing every day (in case your SD card isn’t always inserted) from F:\MioMap\MioMap2\maps and move them to the maps folder on your SD card. MioMap will see them after a hard reset as if nothing happened. Or you could delete them (or copy to your PC) if you choose not to use a SD card at this time, since it’s easy to explore your MioMap DVD and copy them back to the original folder or a SD card later, if needed.

Note 3: Instructions to modify your DATA.ZIP file yourself (from Amida’s Hack #2). 
[Not normally applicable for US and Canada units any longer, because Skins Management will allow you to choose Skins that already incorporate the needed revisions]

1. Make a backup of your original DATA.ZIP file. The file is F:\MioMap\MioMap2\DATA.ZIP .
2. Unzip the original DATA.ZIP to your local hard drive.
3. Edit the file mio\common\ui\default_setup.ui in the uncompressed files.
4. Find the following line and delete it. Note that this is for C230 only. You might need to edit/delete other line for other models.
   runif vDeviceType “MIOC230″ ‘btn_exit_app.hide’
5. Compress the files back into DATA.ZIP again.
6. Copy the DATA.ZIP from step 6 to the F:\MioMap\MioMap2\ directory.
7. If you get a ctype.dat error as has happened with some users, either try again or download the file instead. When it comes to zipping the file back up, it has been learned that WinZip version 11 (10 is OK though) is not compatible with MioMap. I use WinRAR and I choose “best” compression but I’m not sure if that really matters.

Note 4:  A modified version of my autopatcher.mscr file is available here (simply copy over the original file in your MioMap folder) http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?dioqutml3ji   that will eliminate the loud Windows startup sounds.

The first (quiet) windows startup sound after a hard reset can’t be changed, but the subsequent loud ones will no longer occur during the second bootup and after soft resets.

Version 1.49b has just been made available on 5/27/2008 that incorporates hak’s code to make the large target street font selection permanent, rather than reverting back to the small font after starting each new segment of the trip.

Play your music files with this skin &

a stylus is not required!! 

The WordPress editor has messed up the original post to the point where I was unable to even add one sentence, so thanks to Google cached pages, I have recreated the Blog page and pasted the 35 comments that were attributed to that Blog page into this page so that they wouldn’t be deleted.  My apologies to those that had problems getting the player buttons to function, as the editor had deleted a portion of the instructions.  I hope WordPress either goes back to the original editor, or fixes the present one, as garbage is entered into the code each time the author edits his Blog, and I do a whole lot of that.

Note that I’ve included instructions and a folder containing just the skin files that have changed for those that might wish to add the Media Player feature to their own skins.

 Enjoy, and if you appreciate the hack, consider a donation to my Coffee Fund   

Please know that playing TCPMP files from within MioMap is intended for audio files only, and will not function for video files, which might suffer in performance with MioMap running concurrently anyways. 

(The title screen artwork is by Art Fitzpatrick and can be purchased here.   I just felt that a link would be the right thing to do, in return for borrowing part of this great painting - ’69 Pontiac GTO at Hydra Island   )

. 

Best Quicksilver skin yet!!

Newest EXCLUSIVE feature of the CarLocator skin…

Well, I knew it could be done, and it seems to work flawlessly.   As far as I am aware, I may have the first TCPMP skin, at least for MioMap.  

Whether your media files are DivX, XviD, MP3, wma, Matroska or MP4, “The Core Pocket Media Player” (TCPMP)” is the best open source media player to provide a solution for playing all your digital media on a wide range of mobile operating systems and devices. Possibly the best media player for the Mio GPS units!!  

Clicking on the Media Player button…  

brings up the Media Player “skin

.

The File button brings up the TCPMP menus in case you want to set-up playlists, options, etc.    You can adjust the Player volume here as well, independent of the Master Volume and other MioMapvolumes, so that the music can be in the background, or the foreground.  Once you are done, just Exit out of TCPMP normally (without hitting Play, as will just stop again anyways) and you will be returned to MioMap.

All of the other buttons should be obvious - 

• Play / Pause
• Fast Forward / Normal
• Next (applies to Audio books, playlists, etc)
• Previous (applies to Audio books, playlists, etc)
• Stop

and they will flash the Player on for 1 second and return back to MioMap automatically.

You can return back to Navigation screens with your music in the background!

Another EXCLUSIVE feature of the CarLocator skin…

Clicking on the Save Car Location button saves 4 clicks…

and takes you right to this screen…

Click on Coordinates, then Done, and your Car’s present parked location is in memory.

To locate your parked car…

.

Just to review some of the QuickSilver CarLocator Version 1.48 revisions…

(see the 1.48 Blog for a complete review of that version)

• Right third of Navigation bar changed from Speak Last Command to Large Target Street font
• Middle third of Navigation bar remains as Speak Last Command
• Left third of Navigation bar no longer serves as shortcut to Route screen

 

• Added “Clear Pins” button to History screen, and changed Clear button text to “Clear All” 
• Settings button added for quick access to Cockpit Settings

This skin by default names the two favorites Home and Car, and the main screen has a new button to program your current location and assigns it to Car, the intent being that it will facilitate finding your Car later.

This is a skin alternative, not an Unlock package, and can be used as a new skin without unlocking – just don’t use the Exit button.

To avoid a lot of confusion when doing Route preplanning, stay in the Browse Map mode (with Auto-Recalculation turned off), since Cockpit mode is always focused on your current location and will appear to be ignoring your route.

   Version Log…

QuickSilver Reborn – A MioMap 3.3 Skin
Created By Ashwin Wavde
Inspired by Quicksilver for MioMap 3.2 by Matt Mullins (roscoe)

QuickSilver Reborn 1.0
* QuickSilver 1.0 for MioMap 3.2 modded for MioMap 3.3
* Added Cockpit Bar transparency
* Fixed turn distance guide visibility
* Various other improvements

QuickSilver Reborn 1.1
Compiled 2:56 PM 4/08/2007
*Adding compatability for split-screen data.zip

QuickSilver Reborn 1.3

*Added simple static car over arrow

Quicksilver ‘66 for C230
*Icons redone by CD
*GTO car over cockpit arrow -  CD
*added toggle buttons cockpit view <-> browse map view – CD
*config folder fixed for C230 (roundabouts weren’t being announced) – ameridan

Quicksilver CarLocator for C230 1.45
Compiled 6:00 PM 2/15/2008
*2nd favorite tailored to Car location, rather than Work – ameridan
*All Favorite icons redone – ameridan
*New shortcut button on Main Screen to input location coordinates of parked car – ameridan

Quicksilver CarLocator for C230 1.46
Compiled 7:30 PM 2/27/2008
*added the the Binocular (Fit Route view on screen) and Route calculator (Recalculate toggling method each time) from the Olivercp Skin to the Browse Map screen – OP
*added POI button to cockpit screen – OP
*redid POI button to match others – ameridan

Quicksilver CarLocator 1.47
Compiled 12:00 PM 3/6/2008 – ameridan
*toggle for displaying POI button added to Map Settings – OP
*redid flyover button – ameridan
*added pin/unpin button to browse_map cursor popup – ameridan

 
Quicksilver CarLocator 1.48
Compiled 4/1/2008 – ameridan
*fixed the Stop Recording Track Log button on the map screen that resulted in an error – ameridan
*flyover button tweaked – ameridan
*right third of Destination bar changed from Speak Last Command to Large Target Street font – OP
*middle third of Destination bar remains as Speak Last Command
*left third of Destination bar no longer serves as shortcut to Route screen – ameridan
*digital font used for Clock, Speed, and Altimeter – OP and ameridan
*Set FavPOI script written to choose MyPOI group as favorite -OP
*cursor button text changes from “Cursor” to “Close” when menu bar is opened – ameridan
*back button changed from small pale green arrow to larger yellow arrow – ameridan
*added “Clear Pins” button to History screen, and changed Clear button text to “Clear All” – ameridan
*Cockpit screen & Map screen menu bars – back button changed from down arrow to left arrow – ameridan
*****************************************************
MAJOR UPDATE TO BROWSE / NAV MAPS SETTINGS SCREEN – ameridan
*Settings button added for quick access to Cockpit Settings
*display/hide toggle button in Cockpit settings menu (in place of zoombar display/hide) for both FavPOI and Cockpit Settings buttons
*added toggle option in Cockpit settings for auto day/nite in double-button with manual toggle
*added toggle option for Cursor menu popup in double-button with Info show/hide toggle
*added track recording start/stop button  in double-button with Manage track logs button – also serves as latge indicator   that track logs are RECORDING.

Quicksilver CarLocator 1.49
Compiled 5/1/2008 – ameridan
*added Media Player skin into the CarLocator skin to allow playing AudioBooks, music, etc. from within MioMap.

Contents of download package:

<DATA.zip>This folder contains a complete CarLocator skin (ver 1.49) which features the TCPMP skin.

<Changed Skin files only>This folder contain only the skin files that changed for the Medai Player feature, in case you want to add the TCPMP feature to your own skin.  All references to “\My Flash Disk\Script\Player.exe” may need to be changed to fit your build.  The actual hidden button I’m using is “zoom_in_trans.bmp”, which is part of the Quicksilver skins.  If your skin doesn’t contain this bmp file, you’ll need to copy it as well from the Data.zip file or use something similar.  The buttons are hidden because of the z=0 parameter.  If youwish to view them for debugging purposes or to relocate on a different background, change to z=2 instead.

<Script folder files>This folder contains the actual MortScript files needed to interface with the Player.  They were written with the C230 in mind, which is 320 x 240 format.  Other formats may need to be tweaked to function properly.  Again, all references to “\My Flash Disk\Script\Player.exe” may need to be changed to fit your build.  I’ve written them in such a way as to not cause any issues if the Player is already running or playing or if the Player is not actually on, when the scripts assume it is.

Installation Instructions:

Version 1.49 download is available HERE (may not be compatible with EU units; intended for US & Can units only)

1.   The file DATA.ZIP   should simply replace (after backing up your original) AS-IS (don’t unzip):

• \My Flash Disk\MioMap\MioMap2\DATA.ZIP, if C230 is unlocked
• \My Flash Disk\MioMap\MioMap\DATA.ZIP, if C230 is locked 
• or if you are using a Skin Changer (my Routes Menu contains this feature), just drop the DATA.ZIP into \Storage Card\Skins\QuickSilver CarLocator 1_49\ 

2.   All of the files in the Script folder need to be extracted into \My Flash Disk\Script along with Player.exe (which is the executable for TCPMP), which should already be there.

As an alternative, Greg has already converted the TCPMP links from \My Flash Disk\Script\Player.exe to \Storage Card\Script\Player.exe and made his work available for others that have a SD Card Unlock (like Amida’s Ver 4), rather than a Flash Disk Unlock like mine.   His converted DATA.ZIP is available here and the converted scripts are available here.   Thank you Greg!!

3.   An updated DATA.ZIP for Version 1.49b is available here with the additional code that hak wrote to make the large target street font selection permanent, rather than reverting back to the small font after starting the next segment of the trip.   Instructions are the same as step #1.

After installing DATA.ZIP, you should set a Favorite POI group before clicking on the FavPOI button on the Cockpit screen or you may get an error message that ends the program and requires you to start it up again. 

As an option to try out Dominique’s Skins trick in an unlocked C230, copy the “SKIN” folder from the  Version 1.46  download into \My Flash Disk\MioMap\MioMap2  (or the contents of DATA.ZIP within should be added into  \My Flash Disk\MioMap\MioMap2\SKIN\DATA.ZIP).    See the Blog on Version 1.46 for more on this.

35 Comments (attributed to the original post)

1. 
   

   Andrew said,

   May 1, 2008 @ 11:04 pm ·

   Such a great job on the skin! I just have a couple of issues that may or may not be something on my end. I switch the player on, use the Open File button and pick something from my flash card and it plays full screen. Now, in order to get back to the Nav part, I have to exit out of there, and it returns me to the Media player. If I hit the play button, I see the video I had open before for one second, and then it stops completely and shoots me right back to the Media player screen. I thought maybe the video audio would start up when I went to Cockpit/Map view and it didn’t seem to do that either. I understand the video won’t be playing in those views, but I know you made it so the audio could – just not sure why it won’t on mine. Also I am wondering why hitting the Play button doesn’t leave the movie/song playing for more than 1 second.

   Amazing job of even getting it integrated – didn’t even think it was possible!

2. 
   

   Lords said,

   May 2, 2008 @ 2:35 am ·

   hi… thanks for this new version…!!!
   but… my error message:

   Window “TCPMP” could not be found
   Line:
   Show (”TCPMP”

   Why?

3. 
   

   gutierrez said,

   May 2, 2008 @ 9:52 am ·

   New version!!!! great!!!
   my error msg:

   There is no application associated with “PlayerTCPMP_start”. Run the application first, then open this file from within the application.

   why?
   Thanks!!!

4. 
   

   c230 said,

   May 2, 2008 @ 1:12 pm ·

   Andrew,

   I had never tried video files, but it makes sense that TCPMP would need to be the active window to work properly. My skin was designed with AUDIO only in mind anyways. And if you’ve already been playing songs, you wouldn’t need to use the File button. The File button does come in very handy as a means to change playlists, songs, volume, etc., but as you say – you do need to exit out after and hit the play button from the Media Player skin to resume.

   If playing an audio file from the Media Player skin, play should work as expected. I intentionally flash the player for a second, but the audio should keep playing as the screen reverts back to the Media Player skin (but only for audio files)

   I’ve clarified the Blog to indicate that the Media Player skin is designed for audio files only:

   My skin will probably only work with audio files though. If you are going to watch video files, you probably wouldn’t want MioMap running at the same time anyways.

   Lords and Gutierrez,

   Apparently, you are not using my Unlock package. Thanks for pointing out that the scripts will result in an error message if Player.exe isn’t found in \My Flash Disk\Script\. I’ve added more clarification to my Blog regarding this requirement as well. If you are using MioPocket or some other SD card Unlock, the path statements all need to be modified to accomodate. As I told amida in the previous Blog, I’d need some fancy generic code that would find TCPMP in the registry and use those settings, particularly since TCPMP isn’t in the registry until you run it once after each hard reset.

5. 
   

   Greg said,

   May 2, 2008 @ 3:46 pm ·

   c230

   Your QuickSilver CarLocator 1.49 with the Media player works fine for me. I had to like you said to tweak all references to “\My Flash Disk\Script\Player.exe to “\Storage Card\Script\Player.exe because of me running your unlock package from by storage card which is 8gb. Great work. Can you put more in detail on your “Changed Skin files only” folder. If I want to modify other Mio skins, step for step.

6. 
   

   c230 said,

   May 2, 2008 @ 4:00 pm ·

   Greg,

   48 downloads in the first day! If you (or another Blog reader that’s already done the same) could package up your version of the DATA.zip and the Script files (and perhaps upload to MediaFire), I would be happy to publish the link on my Blog. I could then have two links to the download that a reader would select depending on the location of their Player.exe (TCPMP).

   This would save many using Amida’s SD card Unlock (as an example) from having to convert all the links, as you just did. And thank you for the positive feedback!

   Your second suggestion isn’t easily doable, because you usually can’t simply replace ui files, unless the skins are pretty compatible (like other Quicksilver skins). To simplify however, the last third of the Main_Menu.ui is the Media Player code you’ll need to copy and paste into some ui of another skin (some skins don’t even have a main menu) and you’ll need a button somewhere to invoke the Media Player skin [BUTTON xxx x=20 y=180 bmp="mio/320_240/map_player.bmp#2" onRelease='NEXTSTATE ST_PLAYER' text="Media Player" w=106 fonttype=mio_main_font font="tahoma" fontsize=16 align="LEFT+75" valign="BOTTOM-18" twolineoffset=6]
   .

7. 
   

   Greg said,

   May 2, 2008 @ 6:34 pm ·

   c230

   Sounds indepth with adding the media player to skins. I wanted to add the TCPMP media player to the Olivercpskin. Can this be done?

8. 
   

   c230 said,

   May 2, 2008 @ 6:42 pm ·

   As skin changes go, this one would not be too bad, but it is not a “beginner” project. Why don’t we give it a few days to see if someone else takes it on. If not, I could take a stab at it. The main new graphic file we’d have to come up with is a compatible button to link to the Media Player page.

   Three months ago, I remember being leery about adding the Exit Door option to the stock skin and now I’ve got a unique skin published, so take a stab at it. The worst that happens is you revert to your backup / original file.

9. 
   

   Greg said,

   May 2, 2008 @ 8:13 pm ·

   c230

   This is the link to data.zip modified for sd card use with TCPMP http://www.mediafire.com/?1cpbzlmo5ho and this is for the Script file for use with sd card http://www.mediafire.com/?tnztotbdxmo.

   (\storage card\script\player.exe)

10. 
    

    c230 said,

    May 2, 2008 @ 9:43 pm ·

    Thank you for sharing Greg! I’m sure many others, including perhaps Lords and Gutierrez might appreciate the revisions. I’ve also added those links into the Blog download instructions.

11. 
    

    Lords said,

    May 3, 2008 @ 1:38 am ·

    Its perfect now!!!!!!! THanks!!!!!

12. 
    

    hulckrcontl said,

    May 3, 2008 @ 1:32 pm ·

    my “speed limit” option always revert back to ON and “turn distance guide” always reverts to OFF after logoff…

    what’s wrong?

    thanks for this new version.

13. 
    

    c230 said,

    May 3, 2008 @ 6:21 pm ·

    If you are using my Routes Menu, this section controls the Speed Limit behavior,and all you need to do is uncomment it (you could also add the line to your autopatcher, or directly into your SYS.TXT:

    # The next line updates SYS.TXT to hide the speed-limit (mostly for Europeans, since 2007.1 North American maps don’t have speed limit data)

    #IniWrite (SYSFILE, “debug”, “show_speed_limit”, “0″ )

14. 
    

    Carlos said,

    May 5, 2008 @ 5:06 pm ·

    Hi friend… how are you?
    Please tell me: how to show the letters “AM” and “PM” in my clock?
    In my C230, 01:00 and 13:00 are same things…

    Thanks..

15. 
    

    c230 said,

    May 5, 2008 @ 8:26 pm ·

    Fine, thank you, Carlos.

    Go to Settings, Language, Set Date & Time format and select under Time Format: 12 hours with AM/PM. I agree, you wouldn’t expect clock setings to be under “Language” but I guess someone figured there’s no more room on the General Settings page…

16. 
    

    Andrew said,

    May 8, 2008 @ 1:19 am ·

    Was the bigger font for the next street name on the top bar something that you were able to look into or was that someone else’s area of expertise? I find myself squinting and needing to lean really far forward to see what street is forthcoming and would rather just set the street to be shown in a bigger font and leave off that other info.

17. 
    

    c230 said,

    May 8, 2008 @ 10:44 am ·

    It has been resolved since my version 1.48, but you have to tap the right side of the green bar to activate it. The hidden button hides the other info just as happens when you approach that intersection and displays the street in the larger font. Nobody is increasing the font size any further on the 320×240 displays because longer street names will get cropped off.

    Unfortunately though, the setting doesn’t stick, and I don’t know that we want to permanently hide the other data, so the code isn’t changing for now.

18. 
    

    opop said,

    May 8, 2008 @ 9:37 pm ·

    very nice update. nice job.

19. 
    

    c230 said,

    May 8, 2008 @ 10:16 pm ·

    thanks OP. have you done any tweaking lately?

20. 
    

    230 italy said,

    May 9, 2008 @ 3:14 am ·

    i have a c 230 unlocked.
    after i put the skin with Routs menu, it tryes to start the gps program but a fatal error occurrs…
    fatal error occurred restarting!!!

    and then i have to use the dvd to restore everything…

    how can i do?
    pls help couse i would like to use your wonderful skin

21. 
    

    Andrew said,

    May 9, 2008 @ 5:37 am ·

    Yeah, no I wasn’t suggesting anything permanent as far as the font size goes, just something for those of us who want it bigger most of the time. I understand that it is a question of who coded that part of it to come forward, but I am finding that the voice prompts come too late sometimes with this GPS (either because of MIO or because of something I’ve tweaked somewhere in the voice department) and so to avoid screwing myself up, I have to look at the street name or exit name/number to be sure I don’t miss it. That is why the size of the font is most important to me right now and I do notice that it gets bigger each time you approach that street (that size is what I am looking for by the way) – I just hope we can one day find a way to make that stick longer than just one time so I don’t have to keep tapping that right part of the screen!

22. 
    

    c230 said,

    May 9, 2008 @ 7:23 am ·

    230 Italy,

    I know I’ve stated this before, but I’ll check this Blog to make sure it is clear that the EU C230 uses a different format in DATA.ZIP and the US version is not compatible. That is one downfall of having an all inclusive file, rather than an override (supplemental) file that you add to the SKIN folder to coexist with your existing DATA.ZIP.

23. 
    

    opop said,

    May 11, 2008 @ 8:30 pm ·

    I have been on the road working hard . but i am working on something.. I keep you posted.

24. 
    

    Brad said,

    May 15, 2008 @ 10:11 pm ·

    Great skin! I am running amida168’s unlock release 4.1 off an sd card and have been unable to get the Media Player to work though. I have tried using the data and script files posted by Greg for the sd card unlock with no luck. Does anyone have this working off of amida’s 4.1 release? Any help on what I need to do to get it to work would be great appreciated.

25. 
    

    Guga7 said,

    May 18, 2008 @ 8:09 am ·

    It seems to be great. Sorry for this simple question:

    I’ve unlocked my Mio C230 with the “Unlocking the Mio C230 – Version 3.5 with Route, Theme, Screen, Settings & Skins Management”. Then I’ve installed this “QuickSilver CarLocator ~ ver 1.49 with Media Player skin built-in!” by just copying the data.zip file to the MioMap2 folder.

    How do I make sure that TCPMP is installed as \My Flash Disk\Script\Player.exe? Where do I get a TCPMP? There is a player.exe on this folder, is it the TCPMP?

    Every thing is working fine but there are no Media Player and Save Car Location buttons. What have I done wrong? Thank you.

26. 
    

    c230 said,

    May 18, 2008 @ 8:55 am ·

    Guga,

    As you may have discovered, yes TCPMP is Player.exe and you should not have had to do anything additional to use the skin.

    Since you are using my Unlock though, it would be much easier to use the Skin Changer feature by copying the DATA.ZIp to the Skins folder in your SD card and then selecting the CarLocator skin.

    It sounds as if you didn’t actually overwrite the existing DATA.zip file or didn’t soft reset after copying the file. I think it might be time for me to release Version 3.6 of my Unlock that will include the CarLocator skin and all of my most recent tweaks, including the new Launcher, DST tweaks, CAB file installer, etc., but you really should be good to go if in fact you did overwrite the DATA.ZIP file with the CarLocator skin.

27. 
    

    Guga7 said,

    May 18, 2008 @ 12:23 pm ·

    c230, thank you very much! Now it works! Last question, still simple: after I click on the “Media Player” button and on the “Switch Player On” the message “File and Play/Pause buttons enabled” shows. Then, if I click on any button, nothing happens, I just hear the click sound. Could you please tell me how to choose a song?

28. 
    

    Mark said,

    May 18, 2008 @ 12:54 pm ·

    Excellent page! The QuickSilver skins works great! Just one doubt: when I switch from the QuickSilver skin back to the C230 by ameridan skin and click on the Cockpit button the following message appears: Failed to open file mio/320_240/diriconbig.spr exiting application. What’s wrong? Thanks

29. 
    

    c230 said,

    May 18, 2008 @ 2:33 pm ·

    Unless you’ve been using TCPMP already, you’ll have to hit the FIle button and load a song or create a playlist and load that. Then just hit exit. Now when you hit Play, there will be something loaded in which to play. The alternative I use is to setup TCPMP with a playlist before running MioMap, so all the buttons have something to work with.

30. 
    

    Juliano said,

    May 19, 2008 @ 5:13 pm ·

    Hello! Very nice job, its amazing!!
    But I´m with the same problem of Guga. I had already created an playlist, but when click the play button, nothing happen I do not know what I´m doing wrong! Please can anybody help me? Thanks!!!

31. 
    

    c230 said,

    May 19, 2008 @ 5:40 pm ·

    Juliano,

    Thanks! If you think it’s amazing when it doesn’t work, wait till it works

    Anyways, try to help me figure this out (in case there really is an issue to resolve). Get the playlist working in TCPMP by itself first, as the Media Player skin is really just accessing the program and then TCPMP is hiding behind MioMap. Once you have it working, start up MioMap and bring up the Media Player screen, then click on the “Switch Player On” , then Play (once only – if you click it twice, it may be Pausing the song). You should see TCPMP appear for one second, then hide again while your music is playing. Also, make sure the files in your playlist are Audio files (not video files that you are hoping to Listen to the audio portion). I reliably play wma and mp3 files all the time now.

    Do you have a US Mio C230? Which Unlock are you using?

32. 
    

    Brad said,

    May 20, 2008 @ 6:15 pm ·

    I am having the same problem as Juliano and Guga7. I have a US mio C230 and your unlock version 3.5 and have overwritten the Data.zip file with Carlocator 1.49. Everything else works great except for the Media Player skin. It will switch on and I hear clicks when I click on stuff, but nothing else happens. I have used the TCPMP player on the main screen and it works great. Got the playlist working and tried what you had suggested, but still the same result with the Media Player skin. Tried overwritting the Data.zip again to make sure that wasn’t it and still the same result. Any suggestions??

33. 
    

    c230 said,

    May 20, 2008 @ 6:40 pm ·

    Brad,

    Can you verify that all of the PlayerTCPMP files are in the \My Flash Disk|Script folder? Those are the scrpts that do the work. If so, from File Manager, double-click on PlayerTCPMP_play.exe and observe whether the current song of your playlist starts playing. (Acknowledge and ignore the error message “Window MioMap could not be found). If TCPMP does not fire up and start playing, then we can zero in on the problem.

    Now that I’m looking at my instructions, I may have been very unclear regarding these scripts and that may be the simple explanation as to why several of you are experiencing this glitch. I’ll take a close look now and revise if needed.

34. 
    

    Brad said,

    May 20, 2008 @ 7:10 pm ·

    That was the problem. I did not have all of the PlayerTCPMP files in the script folder. It works great now. Thanks for your help!

35. 
    

    c230 said,

    May 20, 2008 @ 7:44 pm ·

    I hate this “new improved” editor that wordpress provides. Every time I edit my Blog, it gets messed up and sections get lost. You probably noticed Brad that the bottom of the blog is a mess right now, and if I try to clean it up, something else will get messed up. GRRRRRR!!!

    That’s the reason Juliano and Guga are having problems – a whole set of instructions just disappeared since Andrew and others installed! My apologies to all.

    Give me good ol’ FrontPage, instead of these WYSIWYG editors. No wonder Amida branched out on his own.

    Anyways, you’re welcome Brad, and thanks for providing your feedback, rather than just thinking it was already reported. You gave me enough clues to zero in on the issue.

New feature for next CarLocator skin

Well, I knew it could be done, and it seems to work flawlessly.   As far as I am aware, I may have the first TCPMP skin, atleast for MioMap.  

Whether your media files are DivX, XviD, MP3, Matroska or MP4, “The Core Pocket Media Player” (TCPMP)” is the best open source media player to provide a solution for playing all your digital media on a wide range of mobile operating systems and devices. Possibly the best media player for the Mio GPS units!!

  rearranged layout

.

  original layout

.

.

The File button brings up the TCPMP menus in case you want to set-up playlists, options, etc.   Once you are done, you exit out of TCPMP normally and you will be returned to MioMap.   All of the other options, Play / Pause, Fast Forward / Normal, Next, Previous, and Stop flash the Player on for 1 second and return back to MioMap automatically.   You can return back to Navigation screens with your music in the background!

Feedback your ideas!

Once the Media Player is turned on, here’s some other ideas I’m considering:

• Enable the track recording indicator / stop button on the Cockpit screen for pausing /resuming music play (what’s the likelihood that you’ll be playing audio and recording tracks at the same time?)
• Expand the mute button so that it will mute Mio, then Mio + Music, then unmute Mio, then both
• Reduce the Music volume when Samantha is speaking (or should it be the other way around )
• Adding a Screen Off button (shortcut to DPMS) to enable Audio only mode for MioMap with or without background music.

Customizing your Player

If you find yourself customizing your CORE Media Player and regret that it is all lost after every reset, the following may be useful to you.   For instance Hot Keys are assignable, and had they responded to the virtual keyboard, that would have been a useful means of sending commands to the Media Player.

The settings for TCPMP are stored in the WinCE Registry, which is overwritten on Hard Reset.
If you go in TCPMP -> File menu -> About and click on Dump Settings, a file DUMP.TXT will be saved to \Storage Card, and you can make the mental connection between the TCPMP settings and the Registry Entries. The Registry Key names are 4 character and the Entry names are numeric and can be found at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\TCPMP.

quote:

---

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\TCPMP\EQUA
(399) 00000001 (1)

---

  

 

 

 

is this entry in Dump.txt

quote:

---

Equalizer (0×00049470)
Buffered(21)=No
(256):IN=empty packet format
(256):IN=NULL
(257):OUT=empty packet format
(257):OUT=NULL
(258):OUT=NULL
Enabled(399)=Yes
Volume normalization(400)=No
Pre-amp(384)=3
60Hz(385)=0
170Hz(386)=0
310Hz(387)=0
600Hz(388)=0
1Khz(389)=0
3Khz(390)=0
6Khz(391)=0
12Khz(392)=0
14Khz(393)=0
16Khz(394)=0

---

  

 

 

 

this is a possible method for writing to the registry.

quote:

---

RegWriteString (“HKLM”, “Software\TCPMP\EQUA\”, “(399)”, “1″)

---

Either make a .mscr file with your settings to run after a HARD RESET, or as I said previously, add them into your Autopatcher.mscr file.

If you find this tip helpful, might I direct you to the Coffee Fund link at the top of the right column?   Thank you.

I’ve noted that C230 users occasionally want to play Windows Media version 9 Audio and Video files and get messages to the effect that the codecs aren’t supported by the TCPMP player.   Actually the plugin is probably already present, but the driver file(s) that the plugin is looking for isn’t, even though WinCE higher than 4.2 is supposed to include them (per Microsoft).   Found this question on amida’s site this evening and thought I’d package up the codecs to add into the Script folder of either of our Unlock packages to resolve the issue.

Oh, and bleep55, I’m the one with the Coffee Fund.    If this resolves your problem, I’ll take mine black, thank you. 

Bleep55 said on April 23rd, 2008 at 7:43 pm

I am trying to add a video to the Mio. I am getting the error message : Video codec (Windows Media Video 9) not supported by the player. Is there something that needs to be changed in the Mio or does the video need to be reformatted? I get audio but no video…

…Donation to your coffee fund has been made. Thanks again.

The package is available here.

[NOTE: Overlook the fact that this article is written for Engineers - it actually explains things like why the GPS sometimes takes so long to lock in, especially after it's been off for awhile (see the "Time for Acquisition" section).]

GPS Modules put Products on the Map

(The title screen artwork is by Art Fitzpatrick and can be purchased here.   I just felt that a link would be the right thing to do, in return for borrowing part of this great painting - ’69 Pontiac GTO at Hydra Island   )

Best Quicksilver skin yet!!

Many thanks to OP for his contributions (which I’ve enhanced some more )

Clicking on the Save Car Location button saves 4 clicks…

and takes you right to this screen…

Click on Coordinates, then Done, and your Car’s present parked location is in memory.

To locate your parked car…

QuickSilver CarLocator  ~ Version 1.48

1. Tweaked the Flyover button to comply with the Phase 3 (inactive) behavior of the others  - ameridan
   
   
2. Fixed and repositioned the Stop Recording Track Log button on the map screen that resulted in an error  - ameridan
   
3. Revised tepsi.bmp file so that Navigation bar buttons work properly  - ameridan
   
4. Right third of Navigation bar changed from Speak Last Command to Large Target Street font - OP
   
5. Middle third of Navigation bar remains as Speak Last Command  - ameridan
   
6. Left third of Navigation bar no longer serves as shortcut to Route screen  - ameridan
   
7. Digital font used for Clock, Speed, and Altimeter - OP and ameridan
   
8. Set FavPOI script written to choose MyPOI group as favorite - OP
   
9. Cursor button text changes from “Cursor” to “Close” when menu bar is opened - ameridan
   
10. Back button changed from small pale green arrow to larger yellow arrow  - ameridan
    
11. Added “Clear Pins” button to History screen, and changed Clear button text to “Clear All”  - ameridan
    
12. Cockpit screen & Map screen menu bars – back button changed from down arrow to left arrow  - ameridan
    
13. Settings button added for quick access to Cockpit Settings - ameridan
    
14. Display/hide toggle button in Cockpit settings menu (in place of zoombar display/hide) for both FavPOI and Cockpit Settings buttons - ameridan
    
15. Added toggle option in Cockpit settings for auto day/nite in double-button with manual toggle - ameridan
    
16. Added toggle option for Cursor menu popup in double-button with Info show/hide toggle - OP and ameridan
    
17. Added track recording start/stop button  in double-button with Manage track logs button – also serves as large indicator that track logs are RECORDING. - ameridan
    

This skin by default names the two favorites Home and Car, and the main screen has a new button to program your current location and assigns it to Car, the intent being that it will facilitate finding your Car later.

This is a skin alternative, not an Unlock package, and can be used as a new skin without unlocking – just don’t use the Exit button.

To avoid a lot of confusion when doing Route preplanning, stay in the Browse Map mode (with Auto-Recalculation turned off), since Cockpit mode is always focused on your current location and will appear to be ignoring your route.

   Version Log…

QuickSilver Reborn – A MioMap 3.3 Skin
Created By Ashwin Wavde
Inspired by Quicksilver for MioMap 3.2 by Matt Mullins (roscoe)

QuickSilver Reborn 1.0
* QuickSilver 1.0 for MioMap 3.2 modded for MioMap 3.3
* Added Cockpit Bar transparency
* Fixed turn distance guide visibility
* Various other improvements

QuickSilver Reborn 1.1
Compiled 2:56 PM 4/08/2007
*Adding compatability for split-screen data.zip

QuickSilver Reborn 1.3

*Added simple static car over arrow

Quicksilver ‘66 for C230
*Icons redone by CD
*GTO car over cockpit arrow -  CD
*added toggle buttons cockpit view <-> browse map view – CD
*config folder fixed for C230 (roundabouts weren’t being announced) – ameridan

Quicksilver CarLocator for C230 1.45
Compiled 6:00 PM 2/15/2008
*2nd favorite tailored to Car location, rather than Work – ameridan
*All Favorite icons redone – ameridan
*New shortcut button on Main Screen to input location coordinates of parked car – ameridan

Quicksilver CarLocator for C230 1.46
Compiled 7:30 PM 2/27/2008
*added the the Binocular (Fit Route view on screen) and Route calculator (Recalculate toggling method each time) from the Olivercp Skin to the Browse Map screen – OP
*added POI button to cockpit screen – OP
*redid POI button to match others – ameridan

Quicksilver CarLocator 1.47
Compiled 12:00 PM 3/6/2008 – ameridan
*toggle for displaying POI button added to Map Settings – OP
*redid flyover button – ameridan
*added pin/unpin button to browse_map cursor popup – ameridan

 

Installation Instructions:

•    \My Flash Disk\MioMap\MioMap2\DATA.ZIP, if C230 is unlocked
•    \My Flash Disk\MioMap\MioMap\DATA.ZIP, if C230 is locked 

After installing DATA.ZIP, you should set a Favorite POI group before clicking on the FavPOI button on the Cockpit screen or you may get a fatal error that ends the program and requires you to start it up again. 

As an option to try out Dominique’s Skins trick in an unlocked C230, copy the “SKIN” folder from the  Version 1.46  download into \My Flash Disk\MioMap\MioMap2  (or the contents of DATA.ZIP within should be added into  \My Flash Disk\MioMap\MioMap2\SKIN\DATA.ZIP).    See the Blog on Version 1.46 for more on this.

Well, I’ve finally figured out how to get a great Geocache program running on the Mio C230 that appears to have all of the features we’ve been looking for for straight-line navigation, marine navigation, etc. as well.   My testing indicates that it deactivates Static Navigation as well, so that accurate tracks while hiking under 3 mph are possible. 

Al Harrington is considered a Geocache expert and as you’ll see in excerpts from an article he wrote, courtesy of Smartphone & PocketPC magazine, he highly recommends the program as well, as you’ll see in his article I’m including here.

Geocaching Find hidden treasures with a GPS-enabled Pocket PC By Al Harrington

Geocaching is a world-wide sport where people use Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers to find hidden treasures (caches). Before May 2000, GPS satellites were configured with “selective availability,” which limited the accuracy of personal GPS units. In May 2000 the Clinton Administration officially removed this limitation, giving civilian GPS units much greater accuracy. Soon after this a GPS enthusiast hid a cache and posted the coordinates on an Internet newsgroup. A few months later, Jeremy Irish created Geocaching.com, the major Web site supporting this new sport. In the six years since the first cache was hidden, geocaching has grown dramatically. Currently, there are 250,000 active caches in over 200 countries. The basic object of the game is to find these caches and log your finds on Geocaching.com (or another geocaching Web site). “Take something, leave something” is the geocaching motto, and most caches contain trinkets to trade and a logbook to record your find. Caches are located everywhere, from remote forest locations to busy mall parking lots. I live in a typical suburban neighborhood and there are over 200 located within a 5 mile radius of my house. You can find a list of all caches near you on Geocaching.com. …Normally, there are two phases to geocaching: driving to the general location and walking around looking for the cache. While you’re driving it’s nice to have the Pocket PC somewhere visible and secure, so it’s a good idea to purchase a vehicle mount. I use the Arkon Powered PDA mount for my iPAQ (http://www.arkon.com). I like this mount because it not only secures my Pocket PC, it also includes a built-in speaker that helps me to hear the voice navigation instructions of my GPS software over the noise of my truck’s diesel engine. Running down your Pocket PC’s battery while you’re geocaching is no fun. At a minimum you should invest in a cigarette lighter adapter for your vehicle, which lets you power and charge your Pocket PC while you’re driving. Also, you might want to consider a rugged case to protect your device, especially if you plan on Geocaching in the rain. OtterBox (http://www.otterbox.com) has solutions for most Pocket PCs. They also have a case for Bluetooth GPS receivers. Geocaching software Most GPS navigation software is designed for vehicle navigation and is fine to help you get to the general location of a geocache. We published a comprehensive review of these in the September 2005 issue of Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine. Unfortunately, these programs don’t help much when you get out of the car and start tromping through fields. Other software packages, designed specifically for geocaching, are needed. Before you select your software it is a good idea to understand a little about how geocache information is stored. Manually typing in coordinates can be time consuming, so Geocaching.com provides two types of files to help with this. The simplest and free version is a LOC file. It contains the basic information needed to find a cache (name and the “waypoint” or coordinates). If you become a premium member of Geocaching.com you can also download GPX files, which not only contain the name and coordinates, but also all the cache details including description, hints, and recent log entries. Premium members can also set up “pocket queries” which e-mail you a list of up to 500 caches based on your search criteria. GPX files are definitely the way to go so if you are serious about geocaching I highly recommend becoming a premium member of Geocaching.com. The cost for this is only $3 per month or $30 for an entire year. There are several geocaching programs for the Pocket PC. Some are focused on “paperless caching,” which uses the Pocket PC as a database to organize all the cache information (including description, hints, log entries, etc.). Other software packages are focused on navigation-helping you get to the cache site. To make the most out of your Pocket PC geocaching experience you will want software that can load LOC or GPX files directly. The software package I use is BeeLineGPS (http://www.visualgps.net/). BeeLineGPS not only provides navigation capabilities but also stores all the paperless cache information so there is no need for me to switch between programs. Let’s go geocaching! Now that you have your hardware and software, it’s time to go geocaching. The first step is to identify the caches you want to look for. To do this, go to the “Search for caches” section of Geocaching.com and enter the Zip code of the area you’re interested in. (You can also search by country or state.) This will take you to a list of caches in the area. Select the cache(s) you are interested in and download the cache information to your Pocket PC. Once you load this into your navigation software you are ready to hit the road. …Once I get near the cache site I load BeelineGPS. The map screen will show all caches located near your current position. From the map screen I tap on the cache and select Goto Waypoint. I then change to the Panel tab which gives me a large compass showing me which direction to go and the distance to the cache site. By default BeeLineGPS will notify you when you are within 100 feet of your destination. With geocaching this isn’t very useful, so change the default to 1 or 2 feet. When you’re within this distance, the icon on the map page will change to show that you’ve found the cache (Fig. 4). Unfortunately, there are a number of factors that can affect accuracy. Even under ideal conditions, with the default set to 1 foot, your accuracy may only be 15 feet. That means that even if BeeLineGPS indicates that you are at the cache site, it could still be located within a 15′ radius of where you’re standing. This is when the real hunt begins, and this is where having the cache details on your Pocket PC comes in very handy. Most cache details will give you a hint to the location (e.g., “try to keep your feet dry” could indicate that the cache is located right next to the stream) and sometimes the log entries of other visitors will point you in the right direction (Fig 5 below) The cache is usually a small weather sealed box of some sort. Once you find it, open it up, swap treasures, and sign the log. You can also enter information about your find on your Pocket PC. To do this open the BeeLineGPS map screen, tap on the icon representing the cache, and select Geocache >Found It from the pop-up menu. At this point you are prompted to enter “field notes” about the cache. These notes will help you remember the specific about the cache and come in handy, especially if you’re hunting for more than one cache. Finding your way back If your cache hunt took you far into the wilderness, you may not remember exactly how you got there. One very helpful feature of BeeLineGPS is tracking. Tracking displays a representation of the path you took from the point you started at to your current position. The meandering dotted line indicates the path you actually took to the cache. It takes into account trees, lakes, and other obstacles you had to navigate around, and is more helpful in finding your way back than the straight red line in the figure. Important note: make sure you mark your starting location before you head off into the wilderness looking for the cache. Otherwise, you won’t be able to set your original starting location as your new destination. With BeeLineGPS you do this by selecting Mark Waypoint at Current Position from the Waypoint menu. When ready to head back simply select this waypoint as your destination and tap on “Goto.” You can now use the tracking line on the map page to help you get back to your starting point.

to  depict specific locations. If you don’t see a specific icon, ask for it and we’ll add it.

BeeLineGPS has specific features to help the Geocacher find and manage the cache. With many Geocache icons, BeeLineGPS can help identify found, attempted, new and other cache states. Below shows the states and icons associated with these states. BeeLineGPS will also show detailed information using the web browser for each cache by simply clicking on the cache waypoint on the map.Using the GoTo waypoint feature along with the map screen, you can zero in on to the cache using the on-screen direction finder. Archived or missing This icon shows that this is an archived or missing cache. Attempted Shows that an attempt was made to find this cache, but has not yet been found. Bonus This icon is handy to show bonus caches Earthcache Indicates that a unique geological features exist here. First to Find Shows that this cache was a First to Find! (FTF) Found This icon represents a found cache, but not yet recorded on the Geocache web site. Found and recorded This icon shows that this cache has been found and recorded on to the Geocache web site. Future Cache This is a future cache — The date on the cache shows a date this is in the future from the current date on the Pocket PC. Letterbox Cache Shows that this cache is a letterbox cache where only clues give you the location of the cache. Milestone Shows that this cache was a personal milestone. Multi Cache Shows that this cache is part of a multi-cache. My Cache This icon that this is a cache that you have hidden. Mystery Cache Mystery or puzzle cache New Cache If the cache has been placed within 30 days of the current date, then the “Not Found” icon will show as a new cache icon. Not Found This is the standard icon for caches that have not yet been found. To Do This icon shows that you plan to find this cache and is still on your to do list. Unknown Cache Same as Mystery Cache Virtual Cache Indicates a cache made of a location. Point of Interest.

BeeLineGPS included a comprehensive trip computer that will allow you to show the distance to a specific waypoint, show total distance traveled (odometer),  total altitude ascent/descent, percent grade/hill climb, bearing and many other item. The trip computer contains over 30 programmable trip computer items.Import and waypoints using the standard GPS Exchange format (GPX). Export tracks to GPX, CSV and Google Earth KML format. Cache detail/info Example Trip Computer Fields Altitude Altitude Difference Average Grade Average Speed Average Grade Ascent Average Grade Descent Battery Status Bearing (numeric) Bearing (symbolic N,S,E and W) Cross Track Error Distance to Waypoint ETA (12/24 hour mode) ETE (12/24 hour mode) Gradient Heading (numeric) Heading (symbolic) Maximum Altitude Maximum Gradient Maximum Speed Minimum Altitude Minimum Gradient Odometer Time (12/24 Hour) Total Altitude Ascent Total Altitude Descent Trip Duration

Simple mapping Tracks Export Tracks to Google Earth KML files (learn more…) Map Modes: Course Up and North Up Programmable navigation fields (Map and Trip screens) (Bearing, Bearing Symbolic, Cross Track Error, Distance to Waypoint, ETE, ETA. Heading, Heading Symbolic, Odometer,  Speed, Max Speed, Maximum Altitude, Minimum Altitude, Average Speed, Trip Duration and Altitude Difference (max-min), gradient (min,max and average), altitude total ascent/decent and a lot more) Altitude, speed and acceleration profiling Waypoint management – thousands of waypoints (PDA memory limitations apply) Waypoint Averaging Programmable Dilution of Precision (DOP) threshold to enhance average calculation Standard deviation of the position to show the position accuracy Waypoint Projection Support for GPX and CSV files Active waypoints Setup active waypoints to play a sound file when they are within a programmable range BeeLineGPS can alert when you are near a geocache, safety camera. Multiple screens Analog gauge panel – Altitude, speed, compass and vertical speed GPS Status – Position, Azimuth/Elevation,Satellite Signal Quality Trip/Digital Panel Map Analysis NMEA logging – recording and playback Differential mode indication Over 120 waypoint icons to choose from Support for any screen resolution Support for VGA screen resolution Support for landscape and square screens User configurable screens Map showing many caches and waypoints Hunting a cache Example. Note the arrow pointing to the direction of the “go to” waypoint

• Geocaching – Supported states and icons
  

  Archived Attempted Earth Cache First to Find (FTF) Found Found and logged Future Cache Letterbox Cache Milestone	Multi Cache My Cache Mystery Cache New Cache – Placed within 30 days Not Found To do Unknown/Mystery Cache Virtual Cache

• Safety, Red Light and Speed camera warnings – Import GPX and CSV files
  

  	Red Light Camera
  	Roadside Camera
  	Speed Camera

• Voice Guided Tours – Setup active waypoints to trigger a sound file describing a specific location.

• Data logging (NMEA) and playback

• Hiking

• Biking (altitude analysis, percent grade (max, mind))

• Position Averaging and analysis

This is a good example of how it takes the right combination of drivers to get some programs running.   You would think that just adding the program into the Scripts folder that already contains your drivers would do the trick, but some drivers must cancel out others, as it took a few hours for me to figure out the exact versions and combination of drivers I needed to add to the BeelineGPS download.

The additional drivers I needed to add are:

• AYGSHELL.DLL (of course)
• DOCLIST.DLL
• MFCCE300.DLL
• OLECE300.DLL

To show appreciation of the work put into this project I would appreciate if the Ameridan_Read_Me.txt file remains with your download of the driver files I added.    I’ve also added a .reg file I created for those having problems getting the program to detect the GPS chip, which you can import into your registry using your Reg Editor.    I recommend setting the GPS Serial Port config manually (COM2 @ 38400 baud (or 4800 for some)), since the Automatic config flew right past the baud setting for me.

 Although designed for portrait mode, it has been upgraded such that almost everything works in our 320×240 landscape mode.  So far, the only thing that appears not to work are the help screens, which are html and need a web browser.    The Waypoint Manager creates it’s own database, but it seems to build html pages for the waypoint data page displays.    I’ve pointed the default folder for the .wpt database to \Storage Card\Tracks so that it will use the same area as exported tracks using MioMap.

Another hint – to get to the options in the Panel screen, you’ve got to tap and hold your stylus on the screen for a few seconds. 

The program is a 30-day trial version, but if it works as expected, there will probably be quite a few takers among the C230 Blog readers    My understanding is that a nag screen remains beyond the 30-day limit, but that the program continues to function, in case you still haven’t made up your mind at that point.

BeelineGPS version 1.83 Build 125
with additional files needed to run on the Mio C230
compiled by Ameridan @ http://C230.wordpress.com
***************************************************
Please keep this document with the package in
appreciation of the many hours invested to get the
program running.

Install the entire folder into either:
\Storage Card\BeelineGPS  OR
\My Flash Disk\BeelineGPS

I’ve also created a registry file that you can
import into your registry if you have problems, or
to add into your reboot procedure (i.e. autopatcher.mscr file)
if you want the settings retained during hard resets.

Enjoy!!

Enjoy!!

If you are pleased with the helpfulness of my Blog Site and the capabilities of your Unlocked Mio C230 using my downloads, and haven’t already done so, kindly consider a small donation to my coffee fund.

  Bringing the most recent Unlock & MioMap Menu packages  back to the front of the line in my Blog…

Unlocking the Mio C230 – Version 3.5 with Route, Theme, Screen, Settings & Skins Management

Upgrade of MioMap Menu to Ver 3.6 – Deleting individual entries from Location History & Dominique’s Skin Trick

  Just announced this week…

Nav N Go suspends deliveries to Mio

Nav N Go regretfully announces the immediate suspension of all business activities with one of its partners, Mio International Ltd., a 100%-owned subsidiary of Mitac International Corporation, as a result of continuous breaches of contract.

Nav N Go’s award-winning navigation software, iGO My Way [MioMap is Mio's adaptation of this iGo title], had been included in all Mio devices for Europe, North America and other regions. Mio, always considered a strategic partner by Nav N Go, has dramatically increased its market share in the last few years as a result of using Nav N Go solutions.

Nav N Go, out of respect for its current and potential future partners, does not wish to go into the details of its decision, and asserts that every effort will be made to resolve the situation amicably.

Nav N Go, as one of the main software providers to the navigation industry, still predicts major growth in turnover compared to previous years, based on its current contracts with leading market players.

I think it is safe to assume that there probably won’t be any iGo updates to MioMap for our C230 units, nor any official updates to the TeleAtlas maps that are paired with MioMap, making the enhanced skins and MioMap menus that we have developed that much more valuable!

click

Thank you!!

(The title screen artwork is by Art Fitzpatrick and can be purchased here.   I just felt that a link would be the right thing to do, in return for borrowing part of this great painting - ’69 Pontiac GTO at Hydra Island   )

  Clicking on the Save Car Location button saves 4 clicks…

  and takes you right to this screen…

  Click on Coordinates, then Done, and your Car’s present parked location is in memory.

  To locate your parked car…

  QuickSilver CarLocator  ~ Version 1.47

1. Reincorporated the additional Pin/Unpin feature of the Map cursor popup menu that Mio had removed for the C220 and C230.  To add a thumbtack pin, tap the screen where you’d like it to appear and select Pin.    To delete a pin, tap the pin and select Unpin.
   
2. OP’s incorporation of the Binocular button (Fit Route view on screen) and the Route calculator button (Recalculate toggling method each time, also known as the trip computer) borrowed from the Olivercp Skin (GREAT JOB OP!!) in the Browse Map screen.   I tweaked the placement of these buttons to make them easier to access with your finger.   Note that these buttons only appear if there is a route in memory.
   
3. OP’s incorporation of the POI button in the Cockpit screen and his subsequent button added in version 1.47 in the Map Settings menu to toggle it’s display on the map screen.
   
4. I took the liberty of upgrading OP’s POI button so that it matches the other POI buttons in this package.
5. CD’s improved Browse Map and Cockpit View icons, with matching toggle buttons while in Map View and Cockpit View.
6. Ameridan’s revised flyover button, again just to be unique and replace the fly with a biplane.
   
7. Ameridan’s  revised Coordinates button (trail boots).
8. Ameridan’s revised Address button (mailbox).
   
9. Name change to “Quicksilver CarLocator”.
10. Reincorporated the factory Message Panel, along with my own buttons, since I felt the Quicksilver version was too bland.
    
11. I’ve also revised screens and icons to give this skin it’s own look (Version 1.42 was CD’s Quicksilver ‘66 skin) and tweaked some of the original code that basically named the favorites Home and Work on some of the screens, regardless of any renaming you may have done, so that they reflect your changes as much as possible.

This skin by default names the two favorites Home and Car, and the main screen has a new button to program your current location and assigns it to Car, the intent being that it will facilitate finding your Car later.

This is a skin alternative, not an Unlock package, and can be used as a new skin without unlocking – just don’t use the Exit button.

To avoid a lot of confusion when doing Route preplanning, stay in Browse Map mode with Auto-Recalculation turned off, since Cockpit mode is always focused on your current location and will appear to be ignoring your route.

   Version Log…

QuickSilver Reborn – A MioMap 3.3 Skin
Created By Ashwin Wavde
Inspired by Quicksilver for MioMap 3.2 by Matt Mullins (roscoe)

QuickSilver Reborn 1.0
* QuickSilver 1.0 for MioMap 3.2 modded for MioMap 3.3
* Added Cockpit Bar transparency
* Fixed turn distance guide visibility
* Various other improvements

QuickSilver Reborn 1.1
Compiled 2:56 PM 4/08/2007
*Adding compatability for split-screen data.zip

QuickSilver Reborn 1.3

*Added simple static car over arrow

Quicksilver ‘66 for C230
*Icons redone by CD
*GTO car over cockpit arrow -  CD
*added toggle buttons cockpit view <-> browse map view – CD
*config folder fixed for C230 (roundabouts weren’t being announced) – ameridan

Quicksilver CarLocator for C230 1.45
Compiled 6:00 PM 2/15/2008
*2nd favorite tailored to Car location, rather than Work – ameridan
*All Favorite icons redone – ameridan
*New shortcut button on Main Screen to input location coordinates of parked car – ameridan

Quicksilver CarLocator for C230 1.46
Compiled 7:30 PM 2/27/2008
*added the the Binocular (Fit Route view on screen) and Route calculator (Recalculate toggling method each time) from the Olivercp Skin to the Browse Map screen – OP
*added POI button to cockpit screen – OP
*redid POI button to match others – ameridan

Quicksilver CarLocator 1.47
[probably the final version of CarLocator as community efforts to refine skin further will be without my dedicated CarLocator feature] – ameridan
Compiled 12:00 PM 3/6/2008
*toggle for displaying POI button added to Map Settings – OP
*redid flyover button – ameridan
*added pin/unpin button to browse_map cursor popup – ameridan

  Version 1.47 download is available HERE.    The file DATA.ZIP   should simply replace (after backing up your original) AS-IS (don’t unzip):

•    \My Flash Disk\MioMap\MioMap2\DATA.ZIP, if C230 is unlocked

•    \My Flash Disk\MioMap\MioMap\DATA.ZIP, if C230 is locked

OR if you are using my Menu with Skin Management, place DATA.ZIP into a folder in your SD card’s Skins folder named “Quicksilver CarLocator″ 

As an option to try out Dominique’s Skins trick in an unlocked C230, copy the “SKIN” folder from the  Version 1.46  download into \My Flash Disk\MioMap\MioMap2  (or the contents of DATA.ZIP within should be added into  \My Flash Disk\MioMap\MioMap2\SKIN\DATA.ZIP).    See the Blog on Version 1.46 for more on this.

What I have in mind for a geocache / straight-line navigation screen…

By changing the value of compass_type in the [debug] section of SYS.TXT from the default of 0 to 1,2, or 3 [option 3 doesn't appear to function in US units]- the compass arrow takes on a different appearance, as shown above.

I was hoping to find the bmp file that produces the compass images above, similiar to the diriconbig.bmp file that is used for visual indications in the cockpit screen (I’ve uncompressed it to see what it looks like  -  it is shown on the right).  

Using that as a guide, I wanted to produce a compass rose (like the one shown below) in various positions to produce a screen on this order.  If this doesn’t work out, perhaps we’ll just use #3 on a circular background instead.

Or just use the same strategy that’s used to create the speedometer screen…

Now as murphy mentioned, the other hurdle to clear is getting the navigation computations to occur without having to use road data.   You are able to avoid highways, dirt roads, toll-roads, etc.,  so we’ve just got to figure out how to also avoid all other roads and streets.  

To be continued…

(Here’s an iGO 8 screenshot that’s close)

No stylus required with this skin!! 

[Update 4/1/2008]  Made some headway this past week.

Quicksilver CarLocator 1.48
Compiled 4/1/2008 – ameridan

*fixed the Stop Recording Track Log button on the map screen that resulted in an error – ameridan
*flyover button tweaked – ameridan
*cursor button text changes from “Cursor” to “Close” when menu bar is opened – ameridan
*back button changed from small pale green arrow to larger yellow arrow – ameridan
*added “Clear Pins” button to History screen, and changed Clear button text to “Clear All” – ameridan
*Cockpit screen & Map screen menu bars – back button changed from down arrow to left arrow – ameridan
*****************************************************
MAJOR UPDATE TO BROWSE / NAV MAPS SETTINGS SCREEN – ameridan
*POI button on Cockpit screen (from ver 1.46) changed to Cockpit settings button for quick access to Settings
*display/hide toggle button in Cockpit settings menu in place of zoombar display/hide
*added toggle option in Cockpit settings for auto day/nite in double-button with manual toggle
*added toggle option for Cursor menu popup in double-button with Info show/hide toggle
*added track recording start/stop button  in double-button with Manage track logs button  – also serves as latge indicator that track logs are RECORDING.

When I think “Back” I expect a left arrow, so that’s what I’ve got now. This is what the normal Settings screen looks like now with the new “double-buttons” I’ve created.

clicking on the Settings icon (gear)…

gives you these options directly vs.