[clug] GPS on Linux

[Ben Nizette]

On Wed, 2009-08-12 at 16:24 +1000, Ian McLeod wrote:
> Anyone had any success with GPS USB / Bluetooth devices on Linux?  Just 
> realised that without built in GPS on our new Netbook this will be 
> essential for travel.  Presume can work ok with Google Maps or free open 
> source software that can use some commercial maps or freely available 
> maps.  Google Maps is preferred as it is free and uses quality mapping data.

Pretty much any GPS will work with the Linux gpsd which can in turn
interface with heaps of programs providing mapping data eg
openstreetmap.  Check out the gpsd site for a list of "officially
supported" units but really pretty much everything just appears as an
actual/usb/bluetooth serial port over which NMEA strings get sent, you'd
have to be pretty unlucky to hit a device which didn't work well.

	--Ben.