Gtk-G-Rays-2
Introduction
Knowing how things work is the basis for appreciation, and is thus a source of civilized delight.
gtk-g-rays2 is an application to configure and manage the Wintec WBT 201 Bluetooth GPS.
The Wintec WBT 201 is an impressive, Bluetooth and USB, logging GPS. It can be used with gpsbabel versions later than 1.33, including 1.34 pre-release CVS versions.
In order to access the WBT 201 configuration settings, the manufacturer provides a closed source application, only available on Microsoft operating systems. gtk-g-rays2 attempts to rectify this situation by providing a portable, open source configuration tool that can work on multiple operating systems. gtk-g-rays2 provides as much of the functionality of the close source application as is possible from the available information on the WBT-201 protocol.
gtk-g-rays2 is licenced under the GNU Public Licence v2 or any later version of your choice. gtk-g-rays2 is (c) 2007 Jonathan R Hudson jh+gps@daria.co.uk
Installation
gtk-g-rays2 is provided as a source code archive. It requires the GTK2+ toolkit with the cairo graphics library. If you have a typical open source development environment installed, than installation should be as simple as:
$ ./configure [--prefix=/usr]
$ make
$ sudo make install
On first launch, gtk-g-rays2 will create a default configuration file, $HOME/.config/g-rays2/g-rays2rc, which is populated with default values that may be edited from the Preferences menu option.
Usage
How should I know if it works? That's what beta testers are for. I only coded it.
The application is launched as
$ gtk-g-rays2
It may be run from a terminal, or from a menu or other graphical user interface launcher. A suitable icon for a graphical launcher may be found in $prefix/share/gtk-g-rays2/ ($prefix is /usr/local unless changed at build time).
Settings Tab
On start up, the main window is displayed, showing the settings tab:
At this stage, the useful controls are the Serial Port and Connect items. The Serial Port control lists the serial devices available, by default auto, bluetooth and /dev/ttyUSB0; however this may be changed from the Edit ▸ Preferences menu item.
If the selected device is named auto, then the application will attempt to discover first a USB and then a bluetooth connection.
Any device named bluetooth or containing the string rfcomm (for backwards compatibility) is assumed to be Bluetooth, and the real device is auto-discovered.
Once a suitable device is selected from the Serial Port combo-box, and the user clicks on the Connect button, gtk-g-rays2 will attempt to connect to the device and read the settings. If the connection is successful, the connection indicator will show as green (instead of red), and the settings will be read from the device and displayed.
Items that are "greyed out" may not be changed; on the right hand side, the valid items will depend on the Log Type selected. The different log types and the parameters pertinent to each one are described in the documentation of the proprietary Wintec application. Please see this document for an explanation of the fields.
The buttons on this tab perform the following functions:
- Apply
Clicking Apply will apply the settings to the device;
- Clear Log
Clear Log will clear any logged (stored) track and way-point data from the device;
- Reset Defaults
Reset Defaults will restore the factory defaults (or at least the initial settings obtained from the author's device);
- Quit
Quit closes the application, and saves the current preferences.
Data Tab
The data tab switches the device from settings into normal usage mode and displays GPS data and satellite information. Although the fields cannot be edited, they are "activated", so data may be copied with the mouse.
As with the Setting tab, Quit closes the application, and saves the current preferences.
Menus
Almost anything derogatory you could say about today's software design would be accurate.
File Menu
The File Menu offers the following options:
- Save Log as GPX
-
Saves the current device log files as a GPX file. GPSbabel is required for this, v1.34 or later (including preleases of 2007-07-03 and later). The standard GTK2+ file dialogue is displayed for the user to enter a file name, with the extra options.
Delete from Device. If checked, after saving, the log file is deleted from the device.
Save Tracks. Track points are saved in the GPX. This is the default.
Save Waypoints. Waypoints (i.e. from pressing the right button on the device) are saved. This is the default.
- Save Log as KML
Saves the current device log files as a KML file. GPSbabel is required for this, v1.34 or later (including preleases of 2007-07-03 and later). The standard GTK2+ file dialogue is displayed for the user to enter a file name, with the same options as for GPX.
- Save raw NMEA
-
If this option is selected, raw NMEA (GPS data), when the Data Tab is shown, will be saved to a file. Data continues to be logged until the check box on the menu item is cleared again.
Help Menu
The About option displays author, version and copyright information.
Automatic Bluetooth instantiation
The central enemy of reliability is complexity.
From version 2.00, Bluetooth devices are auto-discovered. Let's see how reliable that is.