Hmmm… I wrote earlier to say that Opera 9.2 seems broken for Google Maps, and hence the Marengo Route Planner too. However, playing around with the “encoding to assume for pages lacking specification” setting seems to have fixed it. To be honest I can’t remember what the initial setting was, but I set it to “iso-8859-1” and stuff sprang into life. The thing that gave me a clue about this was the fact that, when trying to find out what the problem was, all the Google javascript was coming up in Chinese…! Odd.
Getting Recorded Tracks into the Route Planner
OK, my original HOW TO (http://www.marengo-ltd.com/gps/index.php) detailed how to get a track ONTO your GPS unit. The Marengo Route Planner allows you to define a route suitable for this.
But many people have asked how to do the opposite – get a track, i.e. a recorded route, OFF of the GPS unit and into the Route Planner. This post shows you how.
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GPS Route Planner: New Release Out Today
Well, I finally got some time to devote to the route planner and have made a few changes. It’s still at the usual URL (www.marengo-ltd.com/map/). The development, or “beta beta” release has been removed: it was just too broken on browsers like Safari. The new version has been tested with Firefox, Safari, Opera and IE7.
Here’s a list of what’s new:
Blog Spam
I get loads of spam on this site in the comments. Thankfully a marvellous WordPress plug-in called Akismet filters it all out, and all I have to do is check the quarantined stuff occasionally in case there’s been a false positive. So far it’s worked perfectly, with no false results.
I’ve noticed recently that some of the spammers, instead of putting meaningless crap in the comment body, have now started putting jokes instead. Which is nice, because it gives me a chuckle when I’m clearing them out. I thought I’d share a few with you…
Help Fund Development!
The GPS Route Planner seems to have been well received by a LOT of people… but to date I’ve had TWO donations for this… not a lot of beer, people! If you haven’t seen it, there’s a “donate” link up in the top right of the main screen to this blog. If you don’t feel that the GPS Route Planner is worth buying me a beer or two, at least get clicking on the Google advertisements littered around this site. I get a few pennies each time you do.
Go on, motivate me to add the exciting new ideas I have!
GPS Route Planner – New Version
I’ve been really busy on other stuff for quite a while now – but realize that the “beta beta” version of the route planner (http://www.marengo-ltd.com/map/development.html) needs work. As has been noted, Safari support is completely borked. Also there have been some good suggestions coming in over the time from readers of this site. So…
GP2X: Open Source Handheld
This is by far the shiniest, jangliest gadget I’ve played with for a long time.
It can play games (MAME, squillions of other emulators, and also full SDL). It can play your movies (DivX/Xvid/OGM). It can play your music (Ogg/MP3). It can view photos. It can read Ebooks. It runs on just 2 AA batteries – And it can do all this in the palm of your hand or on your TV screen.
Remapping a Mac’s Keys
As I may have mentioned in previous posts, I really like my new Macbook (initial hardware teething troubles aside), but one thing has been bugging me. I’m a programmer by trade, and simply because I’m always on a keyboard, can touch type very well. On a PC keyboard.
Firefox and GMail / Google Calendar Blank Pages
I’ve been running Firefox 2 on my Macbook at home, and on Windows XP in the office (where I don’t have a choice of OS). Today I noticed something odd on the Mac – neither GMail nor Google Calendar would display…
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Logitech V20 Notebook Speakers
I recently bought an M-Audio Keystation 88es MIDI keyboard (I’ve wanted to learn to play piano for years, but strangely have always been drawn to strings – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, violin, and, for a short while, cello).
It works brilliantly with Garage Band, but the speakers in the Macbook are small and tinny. So I plugged it through the hi-fi. It sounds fantastic. However, I really wanted to leave the keyboard set up in the spare room, where there’s no hi-fi. So I started to think about getting some computer speakers…