GPS. Format or Reinstall... nothing at all?

[Jo The Veteran]

Hey guys, i know what i'm gonna ask this is kinda out off topic here in this forum, however this is a big forum. There might just be a guy who knows about this stuff, so here i go.
Someone asked me if it is possible to fit the Navimate 420 GPS Device

http://www.navimate.gr/index.php?id=69,135,0,0,1,0
with the Destinator software.
Now these where two new things for me, GPS and it's software. I know jack about these things and i can't risk of harming it cause it's not mine firstly (and secondly cause it's a really expernsive litl' thingy).
So anyone know about these things? The device has a usb connector and by looking at it, upgrading it's software would be like a piece of cake, however changing it with another one... it kinda looks like a huge whole cake, a mountain of cakes, a whole fleet of mountains of... ok i shut up now.

[Bjs]

New toy then .

Info :

Available only in greek, navimate extreme 420 is a pocket pc with windows ce 4.2 that navigates you in Greece. It contains maps for 94 main cities and dirt roads (GPS recorded by Anavasi editions).

Destinator : Devices and compatibility

Minimum System Requirements PocketPC:

* Operating system: Windows Mobile 2003 , Windows Mobile 2003 SE or Windows Mobile 5
* Memory: 64 MB RAM minimum
* Storage card: 256 MB (recommended) SD/MMC/CF
* Connection required for GPS receiver: Bluetooth®, USB or serial
* Additional hardware required for SMS function: PocketPC Phone Edition


Minimum System Requirements DesktopPC:

* CPU: AMD/Intel® Processor (300 MHz or faster)
* Operating System: Windows® 98/98SE/Me/NT/2000/XP
* Memory: 128 MB RAM (or more)
* Free space on hard drive for installation: minimum 500 MB
* CD-ROM: 4 x drive (or more)

====

The navimate extreme 420 is not on the list , but a call or email would confirm either way ... the os version is the problem .

You can backup the system to memory card first , so as to reinstall , should it not work out .

[Jo The Veteran]

Thanks for your quick reply.
This device has: Windows CE 4.2 and 32Mb RAM so those two should disqualiffy it from handling the Navigator, am i right?

[Bjs]

I would say it dosent qualify , but it may need clarification from the company behind the developement of destinator .

Wether it can be upgraded to support destinator would be the question , and I dont have that particular device to tell .

I have yet to give those ce things a run through to see how easy it is to screw them up ... it will be on my list of things to do later this year ... IT studies come first .

So far ... dont drop them ... they dont like bouncing about in the back of the ute ... I forgot mine was on the roof ... lucky I still have mine cause I saw it up against the tailgate in the mirror and pulled over .

Now if they made it as big as a mini fridge , it would have been hard to have missplace it in the first place .

[Dubber]

Try asking in http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/

[Jo The Veteran]

Well ok, thanks for everything you guys.

[Nelson37]

There are only a very few people who can either verify this or make it possible.

The two companies in question, and someone else with this equipment and same desire.

You can often get different softwares to work with a particular device; don't concentrate on trying to get a particular piece of software to work, focus on what the features are, First the Required features, Second the Desired features.

Very often it is simply that the user is familiar with the secondary software. All they have to do is actually use the included software for a while and get comfortable with it, and the "problem" goes away.

Don't forget to inform the device company if there is a significant feature missing from their software. Very often this will be available soon.

Software usually independent from the device except for loading the actual map files. Often the original software can be retained for map files of the correct format, this is usually the problem. The secondary software may use different format map files, but otherwise interface with the GPS correctly.

No danger of harm to the GPS unless the new software actually writes to the device.

[Jo The Veteran]

As i told before, the device wasn't mine. That's why i couldn't get a backup from it and format it immediately and experiment with Destinator. I case it were, if i ever asked anything here it would be something like "how to backup gps" or something like that (which i am sure i would have found out with a little google-ing). What happened i my case though was simpler, something like that..

Very often it is simply that the user is familiar with the secondary software. All they have to do is actually use the included software for a while and get comfortable with it, and the "problem" goes away.

Actually the guy who asked me to do this wasn't familiar with Destinator at all Nelson37. He just happened to have a friend who had it and he (the friend) told him it was better than his and that he could change the one in his device for sure (how ignorant could that guy be).
However when i installed the newest version of the original software on his device (and informed him that that's how far i would go messing with his device), the problem DID went away. He was overjoyed with the new features that he almost forgot what he had originally asked me to do. So it all went well i guess.