[GUIDE] How to install Internal GPS Module

fosser2 · Jul 17, 2011

gwynethgh said:
Having installed the hardware and not killing the Gtab we want to see if the GPS hardware will get a lock. Where do we install/place the needed libgps.so?

We are running VEGAn-Tab. Thanx
Gwyneth

duh!
found it in /system/lib

Yep, sorry I do need to add that location to the tutorial. Also rajeevvp, I still haven't gotten around to testing that last version out yet. Sorry about the wait.

rajeevvp · Jul 17, 2011

gwynethgh said:
Where do we install/place the needed libgps.so?
...
duh!
found it in /system/lib

Maybe I should make a Froyo version of the flashable zip file as well...

EDIT: Done!

fosser2 said:
Also rajeevvp, I still haven't gotten around to testing that last version out yet. Sorry about the wait.

No hurry.

fosser2 · Jul 18, 2011

Quick update. I tried the newest honeycomb version gpsfix with Flashback a5.4. On boot, GPS still started up. Next I upgraded to Flashback a5.5 (newest). I first did a data wipe and everything. Then I installed GPS fix (newest). Basically it is still doing the exact same thing as before. On startup for like 2 min, the GPS will turn on randomly then shut back off. Maps turns on and off the GPS like it should. If I go into control panel and disable GPS and then re-enable it GPS will NOT turn back on (although the framework detects that it is enabled). So basically it is doing exactly what it did before. I will post a new logcat when I find more time. Sorry, life has just been really hectic lately.

rajeevvp · Jul 20, 2011

fosser2 said:
So basically it is doing exactly what it did before. I will post a new logcat when I find more time.

Oh, rats! Looks like I'll have to load Flashback to check this out.
I'll have to replace their 1.2 kernel with a 1.1 one and then load it. I'll keep this job for the weekend, if you don't mind.

fosser2 · Jul 20, 2011

rajeevvp said:
Oh, rats! Looks like I'll have to load Flashback to check this out.
I'll have to replace their 1.2 kernel with a 1.1 one and then load it. I'll keep this job for the weekend, if you don't mind.

Totally fine with me. I've been really busy too. At the moment I am making a new logcat for you to look through. I will post it in a few minutes.

EDIT: Deleted... gps.conf seems to be tied to the startup issue...

EDIT2: On another note, unchecking GPS in settings then rechecking it still is not working properly. Once unchecked GPS is "dead" until a reboot.

EDIT3: Crap, I guess I lied about the first edit. It worked for a bit, but for some reason it started doing the same thing again... grrrr.

fosser2 · Jul 21, 2011

Alright, sorry it took me so long to post this. Below you will find the updated logcat.txt that is fully complete with everything that you previously asked for. I'm pretty sure that it is a full logcat and nothing was cut out. To do this logcat, I sat outside so I would get a lock extremely fast. I also had gps.conf edited properly to obtain the fastest fix using the program FasterFix from the Android Market. I'm pretty sure that GPS is still starting up on initial boot, but because I was sitting outside I didn't even see it start up. Basically what I have noticed with the GPS automatically starting on startup is that if the GPS locks right away it will turn back off quickly. If it does not lock it will continue to scan for satellites until it times out (I have no idea the "time-out time.") I am wondering if maybe this is programmed into Honeycomb to do this. Like if Google programmed it into the software so that after startup the GPS would only have to do a "warm" start if used again in the same session. (it was just a guess

) Then again, maybe it is just a glitch. Also note that in the logcat I went through the GPS on/off bug in the settings. That should be towards the end of the logcat. Rajeevvp, I hope that this information can help you somewhat. Thanks again for all your help.

-Andrew

PS: I was wondering why you are using a 1.1 kernel for HC. Why can't you just use the 1.2 kernel?

rajeevvp · Jul 21, 2011

fosser2 said:
EDIT2: On another note, unchecking GPS in settings then rechecking it still is not working properly. Once unchecked GPS is "dead" until a reboot.

I just looked at the log files and... you're using an old version of the Honeycomb GPS fix zip file. Get the latest test version from this post, then try that test again. Don't forget to logcat.

rajeevvp · Jul 21, 2011

fosser2 said:
PS: I was wondering why you are using a 1.1 kernel for HC. Why can't you just use the 1.2 kernel?

Because that would mean installing a 1.2 bootloader for no good reason.

I don't think gps.conf matters much for native GPSes like ours. That file is mostly useful for AGPS implementations-- as on phones.

fosser2 · Jul 21, 2011

rajeevvp said:
I just looked at the log files and... you're using an old version of the Honeycomb GPS fix zip file. Get the latest one from the post, then try that test again. Don't forget to logcat.

Hmm, that's weird. I'll re-post when I can find a bit more time.

rajeevvp · Jul 24, 2011

fosser2 said:
Below you will find the updated logcat.txt that is fully complete with everything that you previously asked for.
...
I am wondering if maybe this is programmed into Honeycomb to do this. Like if Google programmed it into the software so that after startup the GPS would only have to do a "warm" start if used again in the same session. (it was just a guess )

I can't make out anything unusual in that logcat--everything looks pretty normal. The GPS is started only because something is using it:

Code:

07-21 06:00:22.179 I/ActivityManager( 1024): Start proc com.google.android.apps.maps:NetworkLocationService for service com.google.android.apps.maps/com.google.android.location.internal.server.NetworkLocationService: pid=2318 uid=10024 gids={3003, 1015}
...
07-21 06:00:22.848 D/NlpVersionInfo( 2318): com.google.android.location not found
07-21 06:00:23.258 D/CountryDetectorService( 1024): The first listener is added

I'm going to call this something specific to Flashback (or whatever it was derived from).

fosser2 · Jul 25, 2011

rajeevvp said:
I can't make out anything unusual in that logcat--everything looks pretty normal. The GPS is started only because something is using it:

Code:

07-21 06:00:22.179 I/ActivityManager( 1024): Start proc com.google.android.apps.maps:NetworkLocationService for service com.google.android.apps.maps/com.google.android.location.internal.server.NetworkLocationService: pid=2318 uid=10024 gids={3003, 1015} ... 07-21 06:00:22.848 D/NlpVersionInfo( 2318): com.google.android.location not found 07-21 06:00:23.258 D/CountryDetectorService( 1024): The first listener is added

I'm going to call this something specific to Flashback (or whatever it was derived from).

Hmm, thats weird. Maybe I'll try sending a PM to the maker of Flashback.

sharshas · Jul 25, 2011

I Have old Megallan Roadmate 700 which I'm not using any more, any chance that I can use the GPS module from GPS in GTablet? just exploring the possibility...

fosser2 · Jul 26, 2011

sharshas said:
I Have old Megallan Roadmate 700 which I'm not using any more, any chance that I can use the GPS module from GPS in GTablet? just exploring the possibility...

You would have to find a hardware breakdown of the device. Most likely you could get it to work, but since the pinouts on the chips would probably be different you would have the same problem John did and the GPS would not fit into the tablet.

BuckeyBall · Jul 27, 2011

Hi there guys, MrGuy from TabletRoms again.

So - it turns out the GB/HC interface was the same huh? That's great news for us

Since us Adam users never had a decent libgps.so even for froyo, I've gone ahead and written a GPS library for the Adam to use without the wrapper. Considering how similar the Gtab and Adam are, you could no doubt use almost the same module to get a native library for your device too (Perhaps it needs just a different tty port define?).

It's up to you whether you use it or not, but I thought if you wanted to customize things a bit - It'd give you a great start point!

Source code is at GitHub.

fosser2 · Jul 27, 2011

BuckeyBall said:
Hi there guys, MrGuy from TabletRoms again.

So - it turns out the GB/HC interface was the same huh? That's great news for us Since us Adam users never had a decent libgps.so even for froyo, I've gone ahead and written a GPS library for the Adam to use without the wrapper. Considering how similar the Gtab and Adam are, you could no doubt use almost the same module to get a native library for your device too (Perhaps it needs just a different tty port define?).

It's up to you whether you use it or not, but I thought if you wanted to customize things a bit - It'd give you a great start point!

Source code is at GitHub.

My guess is that the port is the same. I mean we did use the libgps.so file from the Adam to get ours working. Thats the funny thing, the Adam libgps.so file has actually worked very well on the G-Tablet. I was kind of wondering why Adam users were complaining about it...

BuckeyBall · Jul 27, 2011

fosser2 said:
My guess is that the port is the same. I mean we did use the libgps.so file from the Adam to get ours working. Thats the funny thing, the Adam libgps.so file has actually worked very well on the G-Tablet. I was kind of wondering why Adam users were complaining about it...

That's odd. Maybe you're using a libgps from a newer NI version that worked? As far as I can remember the libgps.so never actually 'locked' on the GPS signals. It always said it saw x satellites and occasionally returned a position - but never indicated that it ever had a locked signal. This means things like Google Navigation never worked.

Edit: Here's an example I found on youtube:

fosser2 · Jul 27, 2011

MrGuy, one last question for now. What is the difference between your HC gps for Adamcomb and rajeevvp's? I understand that you made the libgps.so file but was there any other difference?

BuckeyBall · Jul 27, 2011

fosser2 said:
MrGuy, one last question for now. What is the difference between your HC gps for Adamcomb and rajeevvp's? I understand that you made the libgps.so file but was there any other difference?

Well, as I understand it - the solution proposed here is a wrapper implementation. Basically, it allowed the newer HC interface to plug into the old libgps.so. This is a completely different and direct implementation of the newer HC/GB interface without using a file names libgps.so at all (rather gps.tegra.so).

I suppose the main advantage would be the complete source availability of the whole module rather then using the closed source libgps.so. I imagine the overhead for the wrapper would be minimal, so there's probably not any CPU or memory benefit. Overall it means if there's an issue that crops up - you can fix it using the available source code and in my opinion the solution is neater

EDIT: I of course don't mean any disrespect to the work here. Both solutions work just fine and rajeevvp along with yourself have definitely done a great job getting it sorted.

sharshas · Jul 27, 2011

fosser2 said:
You would have to find a hardware breakdown of the device. Most likely you could get it to work, but since the pinouts on the chips would probably be different you would have the same problem John did and the GPS would not fit into the tablet.

Hmm... I guessed it. Let me breakdown the hardware and try to match the pins. Not hoping it to work, but if it works then its bonus...

Will update. Thanks fosser

fosser2 · Jul 27, 2011

BuckeyBall said:
Well, as I understand it - the solution proposed here is a wrapper implementation. Basically, it allowed the newer HC interface to plug into the old libgps.so. This is a completely different and direct implementation of the newer HC/GB interface without using a file names libgps.so at all (rather gps.tegra.so).

I suppose the main advantage would be the complete source availability of the whole module rather then using the closed source libgps.so. I imagine the overhead for the wrapper would be minimal, so there's probably not any CPU or memory benefit. Overall it means if there's an issue that crops up - you can fix it using the available source code and in my opinion the solution is neater

EDIT: I of course don't mean any disrespect to the work here. Both solutions work just fine and rajeevvp along with yourself have definitely done a great job getting it sorted.

The only difference us G-Tabbers need for this to work is a "1" needed to be written to /sys/devices/platform/gps_control/enable. This "1" physically powers on the GPS chip in the G-Tablet. The Adam does not have this feature and their chip is "always on." MrGuy, I tried out your GPS files that I ripped out of AdamComb 0.3. Everything works G-Tablet side aside from enabling the GPS. I did verify that you were pulling data from "ttyHS3" and it was defined in gpslib.c

[GUIDE] How to install Internal GPS Module

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