GPSion5
GPSion5 is no longer being developed or maintained, because I no longer use a Psion (it broke, and is no longer manufactured). This page is still here for interest, in case it helps anyone. Also, the contents of my development directory last time I backed it up are available in a zip file here. If it's helpful, you're welcome to it. If it makes you a fortune, well done.
	GPSion5 lets a Psion Series 5mx palmtop computer talk to a Magellan GPS unit for the manipulation of stored waypoints (and eventually routes and track logs). It might work for a Series 5, too. GPSion5 is currently free. When it's good enough that I'd pay for it, it might change to shareware or some such. Till then, all I ask for is feedback. GPSion5 is developmental software. I confidently expect it to contain more 'undocumented features' than Microsoft Office. Proceed at your own risk.

Warning

Versions before 0.8 have a moderately serious bug. If a waypoint is individually uploaded to the Psion it picks up a position error (typically several hundred metres). If you transfer all waypoints they get uploaded accurately, but selecting to upload just the current waypoint results in the error.

Hanging machines I've had a couple of reports of the 'remote display' function hanging the psion, requiring variously brutal resets to recover control. This function has now been removed, however, if your psion hangs, try pressing Ctrl-System (ie, hold down 'Ctrl' and press the orange bit in the bottom left of the screen), if this displays the list of open programs highlight GPSion5 and press Ctrl-Shift-E. Although not labelled on screen, this will try and kill the program more aggressively than Ctrl-E does (unix types can regard it as kill -9).

GPSion5 - a Magellan GPS to Psion Series 5 Link

GPSion5 was written so that a Psion 5mx could talk to a Magellan 315/320. The main reason I want to do this is so that I can edit waypoints stored on the GPS with a keyboard rather than a toggle-switch.

The current feature list includes (note, some of these screenshots show older versions of the program, but the dialogs highlighted remain functionally similar):

• Waypoints sorted alphabetically or by distance from a defined point
• Download all stored waypoints from GPS to Psion.
• Upload waypoints from Psion to GPS, either individually or the entire contents of a waypoints file.
• Edit a waypoint's name, comment, icon and position (geodetic or grid).
• Choice of OSGB36 or WGS84 datums, with more if anyone wants them
• Use GB Ordnance Survey grid references, including the letter codes for display and input of positions. (If you're in Britain this makes sense to you. If you're not it probably doesn't.)
• Flexible display formats:
  • choice of geodetic formats
  • choice of transverse mercator grids
  • choice of format for OS grid (with/without letters, selectable rounding)
  • option to sort waypoints by distance
• Help system already!

Download

These are all developmental. That means I'd like to know how you broke it and what you'd like it to do next, but I don't guarantee that it will do anything.

If you do download it, I'd quite like to know:

• Does it work with your GPS? I guess Magellans similar to the 315/320 model will work, and assume nothing else.
• Does it work on your Psion? I wrote it on a 5mx, and I know early version (0.03 and earlier) do not work on some original Series 5 machines. However, not having one to test things on, I'm groping in the dark a bit when I try and make it work. I've no idea what it'll do to a later machine.
• Does it always get the OS letters right? In particular, I'd like to hear from anyone in H- or J- squares how it handles the grid references (that needs access to Orkney, Shetland or a boat, I think).
• What you want it to do next

From the following table, you should get the latest numbered version, unless the description gives you a very good reason for going for an older one. Download the .zip file and unzip it to get a .sis. From Windows, while your psion is hooked up to your PC double-clicking on the .sis file should install the program. Alternatively, copy the .sis file onto your psion however you want and click on it to run the install. If you can't handle zips, here is the latest SIS, unzipped.

Version click to download	Date of release	Description Changes, notes, intentions and speculation
0.01	5 Nov 2000	Wrote it and released it on an unsuspecting world. Currently it will connect; download all waypoints; permit editing of waypoint name, comment and icon; upload individually selected waypoints; do a 'remote display' of nmea information. I'm also very pleased with the 48-pixel square icon.
0.02	6 Nov 2000	Fixed all sorts of silly bits, including the trashing of icons on the GPS and pen tap triggered crashes. Add user preferences options, tidy screen layouts.
0.03	16 Nov 2000	The first really usable release. Implemented datums etc. from a database, rationalised translation routines, tidy screen layout dramatically, add ability to edit waypoint position, add ability to add waypoints (still can't delete though), fixed OS display bug for points close to the origin, added more display preferences options.
0.03b	17 Dec 2000	This fixes a silly mistake. The program is identical to the version 0.03 above. However, the SIS file above did not include Mark O'Neill's PopUp OPM, which is needed. This remedies the omission. You could just download the zip of the missing OPM and install it.
0.04	14 Jan 2001	This version does not add any functionality over 0.03. It was a failed attempt to make the program work on a series 5 machine (ie, not a 5mx - I know it works on a 5mx). Note - there was also a 24 December 0.04, this is similar but has more logging, because I couldn't work out was was going wrong.
0.05	20 Jan 2001	This version does not add any functionality over 0.03 or 0.04. It is another attempt to make the program work on a series 5 machine. 5mx users should not use this version - it works, but it doesn't tidy up after itself, so your machine will accumulate useless temporary files. There are internal changes to the code, but nothing that makes enough difference to a 5mx for it to be worth the aggro of those temp files. Series 5 users - please try this version, and if (or probably, when) it crashes, email me all the log.?? files you can find in C:\System\Apps\GPSion5\ on your machine. Well, let's say up to the last half dozen or so. Thanks.
0.06	21 Feb 2001	Yet again, this version adds little functionality. There are minor changes in the indexing of the internal invisible databases, and some extra checking of what the user does. It's still possible to crash it by telling it serial cables exist when they don't. The main update is that I've rolled the 0.05 changes back into a 5mx version. Users of all machines are recommended to use this version. This version also returns to the policy of only writing one log file. Once again, when it crashes I'd like a copy of the log file.
0.07	3 June 2001	A long delay, but I think it's worth it - quite a lot of changes. Most notably, I've done away with the concept of the live list and saved list, largely because it was starting to confuse me, so it was probably really impenetrable to anyone else. I've changed the data file format, so data files from previous versions will not work. This version is a near-complete rewrite of the interfacing routines - it should be less liable to crash now if something interferes with serial comms, and the comms should be more reliable. You can now download the tracklog from the GPS and store it in a tab-delimited text file. Open the text file and you can cut-and-paste into a sheet file to process the data. I've added some minor menu options (like open a file, new file, help). There's a rumour (thanks Matthew) that I've omitted the popup OPM again. If this version doesn't work, until I get round to the next version try downloading the zip of the popup OPM and install it as well.
0.08	1 January 2002	You really do not want anything earlier than this version! Versions prior to this had a bug which could shift waypoint hundreds of metres on upload, if the waypoint was the only one uploaded. The bug took lots of tracking down - it's the only change to this version, but it's important enough to get its own update.
0.09	31 March 2002	The most obvious change is a new main screen layout. The program no longer uses a pop-up list of waypoints, rather it's on screen all the time. This makes getting the one you want easier, since you can immediately see the effect of filtering. Note that this means that you can uninstall the PopUp OPM (it's listed as "PopUP 2.40" in the list of installed programs within control panel) if a prior version of GPSion5 was the only thing using it. Added a basepoint feature. If a waypoint is designated as basepoint, the list of available waypoints will show the distance from basepoint. Also, under preferences you can set the list to be sorted by this distance, rather than alphabetically. Logging (to the log.txt file) has been revised, but it's rather haphazard at the moment - expect revisions to this again soon. Various minor niggles fixed (stuff like sometimes it used to think you were trying to duplicate a waypoint when really you were trying to edit its comment).
0.09b	4 April 2002	Silly mistake time again. The first attempt at version 0.9 can't actually talk to the serial port. This one should. Also icons on the toolbar buttons - displacement activity for sorting out the logging has been drawing icons.
0.11	21 Feb 2004	Don't download this one if you want to connect to a GPS. In a ghastly repeat of the v0.9 fiasco, I've broken the connection to the serial port code again. I believe the rest of the program works, but it won't communicate. I've done nothing with it for two years, during which time version 10 got lost. This is a fix of some bugs in the edit waypoint system, the truncating of OS grids and user preferences (sometimes user preference changes didn't take effect until several operations after they were made). I've simplified the internals somewhat - meaning it's unlikely now ever to do any grid system other than UTM and OS, but realistically I was probably never going to get round to coding anything else anyway. Distance from basepoint can now be in miles.
0.12	25 Feb 2004	Communication fixed. At the same time I've introduced persistent parameters (so if you cahneg from teh defaults, next time it will offer you what you set last time). There is also a "special diagnostic logging" option now in the logging settings. Best to leave it off unless I ask for a log file with it switched on.
Next	???	The logging needs a general tidy, but that's pretty boring coding, so I've been putting it off. What else do people want?

In Use

When running, GPSion5 has a screen layout that's vaguely reminiscent of the data app.

At the top of the screen is a comment about the serial port status - when communication with a GPS is established it should tell you something about the unit connected here. To the right the currently set basepoint is named (or a comment to the effect that one is not set).

The main panel to the left gives all the information about the currently set waypoint, in the display format and grid chosen with the 'preferences' menu option. WGS84 geodetic location is always shown - this is what the GPS provides on the serial port, regardless of the format in which waypoints are displayed. If the user has a local datum, the WGS84 location is transformed to that datum and displayed. If the user has a local grid, the geodetic position is transformed to a grid and that is shown also.

To the right of the main panel is a list of available waypoints. At the top of the list is the current filtering (in this case "**", or no filter) and the number of points in the filtered list. To filter the list, simply type on the keyboard. For example, typing 'o' would make the filtering "*O*", and the list would contain only NELSON and TOLNDN. Then typing 'l' would give "*OL*" and only TOLNDN would remain in the list. Waypoints can be picked from the list by scrolling with cursor keys or tapping on the screen.

The list of waypoints shows the icon for each, the name, and if a basepoint has been set, the distance from the basepoint to each waypoint measured in kilometres or miles (according to a setting in the preferences). This distance is approximate - it assumes the earth is spherical, and that 1 minute of arc subtends 1852m at the surface. While this is somewhat inaccurate, it's much faster than an accurate calculation, and is good enough for the purpose of sorting waypoints. A setting in user preferences sets the display to sort on this distance, rather than alphabetically:

Under the main panel is some space where messages appear (normally too fast to read - but sometimes useful) and the number of waypoints in the currently selected file, ignoring any filtering.

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