Solved GPS Direct on Archos Cesium 80

[Plantje]

I am used to having my tablet available in the car. This started with my Asus R2H which I had mounted nicely in my lease car. That did cost me quite some money. And with a new car that was out of the window. (My lease cars last about max 4 years)
Then new tablets came and I had them mounted in the car one way or another. Now I think my Surface 3 is too large to mount in the car. I have an Audi A3 Limousine and everything looks nice and sleek and I'd like to keep it that way.

So, I am thinking of using an Archos Cesium 80 that I have been using for a different purpose until now. It's really nice to have a Windows based multimedia player with internet access in the car. Today I tried using my Holux GPSlim 236 GPS receiver in order to see if I can use the device as navigation system/speedcam warning as well. I installed GPSDirect and connected GPS receiver using Bluetooth. Then I went to the GPSDirect tool and hit "Install" under the "Sensor Driver". Then it seems the Maps application is able to use the GPS receiver. But it was all but fast! It was really sluggish!

Did I do something wrong? I have downloaded the maps for the Netherlands (and yes put them on a SD card). Is there something more that needs to be set in GPSDirect? Those guys have a terrible website! So if there is an alternative way to make sure the Maps app (and other Windows apps) can use the GPS receiver I am happy to hear of those!

 

[sharpuser]

@Plantje

I think the combination of the Archos Cesium and Holux GPSlim are slow, because the COM port is not queried frequently enough. I have no experience with this combination, but I would advise you start increasing the baud rate as high as it can go to still function.

 

[Plantje]

Thanks for looking at it! I understand you don't have experience with the given combination. I just wanted to see if you had a general idea on what may be a good attempt to improve this.

But, the way I have used GPSDirect is correct? Just install a "Sensor Driver" and I should be good to go?

As for the baud rates. Can I just use anything or is it better to experiment with the values in the range 9600, 14400, 19200, 38400, 57600, 115200, 128000 and 256000?
Somehow I do recall from the past that this device supported 115200. Strike that...just checked here and it is 38400

 

[Plantje]

Thanks! Setting it to 38400 seems to have done the trick. I have tested it this morning and navigating was a breeze! Sometimes when I had been in another app for quite a while GPS position was lost, but that may have several different reasons.
So, it worked out because of setting the baud rate to 38400 or because I currently only have the GPS sensor connected through bluetooth and not GPS sensor and the car's stereo. (I am driving a replacement car, so I can tell more on that matter tomorrow when I got my own car back.)

 

[sharpuser]

Excellent, @Plantje !

 

[Plantje]

Today I drove to work and I had Nextgen reader open in one half of the screen and the maps app in the other half. It tracked me the whole way!

Back from work I used it the same way only this time I had it calculate the rout to my home and guide me there. That seemed too much for the 1GB of RAM. Every 15-20 minutes the app got stuck. However, upon starting the Maps app again the GPS position was instantly available again. Seems to work!

Unfortunately I cannot expand the RAM of the device.