[conspire] USB GPS

[Paul Zander]

I recently got a USB-GPS receiver which is not working as well as I had hoped.
Model BU-353.  Sold by assorted dealers on e-Bay and Amazon.  Certainly is the most widely sold.

>apt-get install gpsd  gpsd-clients FoxtrotGPS QLandkarte 

>ls /dev  
 # showed gps device:  /dev/gps0

>dpkq-reconfigure gpsd
 # Used defaults for all settings, except to enter device: /dev/gps0

>gpspipe -r  
 #  returned 0's for several minutes then after getting a fix, it returned data.

FoxtrotGPS 
 # opened and put a big circle on my street on the map. So far everything went well. 


After several days of using foxtrotGPS and Qlandkarte, I found that the GPS is inconsistent. The first symptom is the mapping SW is not responding. There are several possible scenarios:

When the GPS status LED is on steady, it indicates no fix, it is reasonable that the mapping SW has nothing to work with.

The condition I can't understand is when gpspipe is not returning anything, not even data of 0.  Frequently this the beginning of further problems. The computer might stop responding to mouse clicks.  Try to re-boot and the PC hangs during the shutdown.  The only work-around is to use the power supply switch.