October 2007
This document describes the most basic steps you'll need to perform in order to get RoadMap running on your system. More detailed information is available in the README file (which also appears on the web -- see the URL below). In addition, later sections of this document describe installation under the "Familiar" distribution of Linux, for the Sharp Zaurus.
To build RoadMap for a "standard" linux/unix environment, follow the following steps:
http://roadmap.digitalomaha.net/maps/demo_maps.tar.gz
This tarball contains state outlines for all of the continental USA, plus the detailed map of San Francisco county. Unpack this file somewhere convenient, e.g. /tmp/demo_maps.
roadmap --maps=/tmp/demo_maps
Use the arrow keys (or drag with the mouse) to pan, and use the on-screen controls or the '+' and '-' keys to zoom. RoadMap's help text is available in html format via the Help menu (which reads the installed copy of "manual.html") or in plaintext in the README file. Use the 'q' key or the File->Quit menu item to quit.
http://roadmap.sourceforge.net/maps.html
Be sure to get the master index file in addition to any maps you may need. Unpack these into a more permanent home than before -- under "/var/lib/roadmap", or in your home directory, under "~/.roadmap/maps". If you choose a different directory than either of these, you'll need to navigate to the "Map" preferences panel (File-->Preferences->Map), and enter the chosen path as Map.Path.
For more complete installation and configuration information, please consult the "INSTALLATION" section of the README file. The README is on the web, here:
http://roadmap.sourceforge.net/manual.html
Good luck, and have fun!
The remaining sections of this document describe the installation of RoadMap, on an ARM-powered PDA running Familiar Linux and the GPE graphic environment. Users of that system should consult the README (or the above URL) as well.
Some of the instructions below are dated. Proceed with caution.
Since RoadMap 1.0.4 the path to the maps has changed. In addition there is no more package for the maps (the maps are too big for that and there was only one example map anyway). Therefore the roadmap-sfca package should be removed first
ipkg remove roadmap-sfca
The name of the RoadMap package has also changed from roadmap-gtk2 to roadmap. Therefore the roadmap-gtk2 package should be removed:
ipkg remove roadmap-gtk2
On a PDA with 32Mb of RAM, GPE takes most of the available space and less than 2Mb of RAM is left available. For RoadMap to work one need to make some room. The author recommends removing xstroke and the GPE help from the bottom panel.
Another problem is a bug in the Familiar X server that causes the file ~/.xsession-errors to grow infinitely in the ramdisk, eating up all the available RAM in a matter of days.
The work-around is to not start the ipaq-sleep daemon. To do this, comment out the line "/etc/init.d/ipaq-sleep start" in the file:
/etc/X11/Xsession.d/69ipaq-sleep
RoadMap depends on gpsd for receiving data from the GPS device. Therefore the gpsd package must be installed:
ipkg install gpsd
Once this has been done, the serial line must be configured for using gpsd (see the serial line configuration tool in the Settings folder).
RoadMap uses flite for generating the voice announcements. RoadMap can be used without flite, but it will stay silent then.
Note that flite is a very big program: it should be installed on the MMC, SD or CompactFlash (CF) card. Installing flite is easy: just copy the executable file. The problem is more where to find the executable..
There are three steps: first install the RoadMap package, then install some maps and last setup your preferences if you installed RoadMap in a custom way.
There is very little to say here. RoadMap takes less than 300Kb of space, uncompressed. It installs itself in /usr/bin and /usr/share/pixmaps:
ipkg install roadmap (if your feed provides RoadMap) ipkg install roadmap_X.Y.Z_arm.ipk (if you transfered the package)
The RoadMap package is preconfigured for maps stored either in a MMC, SD or CompactFlash (CF) card. The map files must be installed in a subdirectory of the device's root directory named "share/roadmap". The reason for that is to follow standard UNIX convention and make it easier to store other types of data in the device (such as MP3 files).
The file system used for the device is indifferent (RoadMap maps comply with the 8+3 limitation of the FAT file system) but VFAT is recommended (if only because this is the factory default file system).
The map files can be retrieved from the RoadMap site:
The first file to install in the share/roadmap subdirectory is the file named "usdir.rdm". This file is mandatory: this is the index used to retrieve all other map files. All other files are optional: one can load a limited subset of maps only. If a map is not available, RoadMap will issue a warning message.
Start Roadmap, select File / Preferences. The preferences dialog is made of a (long) serie of tabbed screens. Most preferences do not need to be modified.