Configuration

Configuration

A few crucial parameters should be configured in the GPSMan main file gpsman.tcl. Default values for user options are set in the file config.tcl but as they are overwritten by the values in the preferences file they are more conveniently changed when running the program.

GPSMan needs a user directory that will contain the users preferences file and other data, and a user temporary directory. The paths to these directories and the name of the preferences file are given at the beginning of gpsman.tcl. When GPSMan is launched and does not find the user or the temporary directories, it attempts to create them and if this fails asks for them to be created and leaves. If the preferences file does not exist, it forces it to be created.

All the temporary directory files will be deleted when GPSMan starts up. This means that problems may occur if GPSMan is launched when it is already running and using temporary files.

Users wanting to load their own Tcl/Tk code (at their own risk!) can do so by putting it in a file named patch.tcl in the GPSMan user directory. This file will be loaded immediately after all the GPSMan source files.

If GPSMan has been installed from the Debian or other Linux/Unix distribution packages no changes are mandatory. Otherwise, on Unix systems the information on the program source files directory, user directory and default preferences file must be correctly set. A default serial port device can be defined and will be used if no argument is passed to the main program.

On other systems the same applies to the information on the serial port.

Parameters that should be configured in gpsman.tcl are:

for non-Unix systems: serial or USB device to which the receiver will be connected; users of GPSMan must have read/write permission.
path to the directory containing the program source files.
path to the user GPSMan directory that will contain the preferences file and other files for user definitions (like user-defined projections); this directory is normally not to be used explicitly by the user. In MS-Windows for users not logged in as administrator it may be useful to have this directory under the user's "Application Data" directory, what is obtained by the following Tcl instruction:
set USERDIR $::env(APPDATA)\\gpmandir
name of the preferences file; the user directory is searched for it only if there is not a file under the same name in the current directory.
user temporary files directory; it defaults to .tmp under the user directory.

The following list gives a description of all the options that can be configured in the file config.tcl:

the language to be used by GPSMan; new languages can be included by translating the lang*.tcl files that contain the text and messages in Dutch, English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese (help here will be acknowledged) and inserting new abbreviations for month names in the ALLMONTH array.
use of character composition (accents, cedilla) using Western European (isolatin1) mode, and of Delete key to delete last character.
choice of main window: there are three permanent windows for the map, lists, and receiver connection; either the map or the lists window can be selected as being the main window.
GPS receiver dependent values: GPS brand, baud rate of serial communication, default receiver protocol (only for Garmin receivers), whether all characters should be accepted in names and comments, length of names, comments, maximum numbers of waypoints, routes, waypoints in routes, and track points, use of creation dates and of lowercase letters in strings. In the distribution, the values are set for use with a Garmin Quest.
(for Garmin receivers only) whether or not routes should be automatically numbered when they are sent to the receiver (default is no).
(for Garmin receivers only) enabling support for laps (default is no).
(for Lowrance receivers only) sampling interval, in seconds, when acquiring tracks.
default symbol and default display option to use with waypoints; correct names for symbols and display options can be found in file symbols.tcl.
default for whether items read from a file should be displayed on the map.
default line widths for representing routes, tracks and polylines on the map.
when displaying a track, count of track points before showing point number or date; 0 means no numbers, 1 means all points numbered, 2 every other point numbered, and so on.
what to show when pointer goes over a track point on the map: either its number or its date.
whether polylines on the map should react to mouse events; they should not if they are considered as background information.
behaviour when reading a data item with the same name as another item of the same type in the data-base: either overwrite the existing one, or create under a new name.
behaviour when a data item with hidden information is changed: remove the hidden information, keep it, or ask the user.
distance unit to be used.
altitude unit to be used in data items; this option has no effect in altitude values displayed in real-time log or navigation windows of the Garmin variant.
altitude threshold in user units needed when computing cumulative ascent/descent: any altitude change below this value is discarded; it should be set to around 11m (the default) for normal GPS receivers, and to around 2m for receivers having a barometric altimeter. Computed values will not be displayed if inconsistent with this value.
format of positions, default datum and time offset (1 meaning 1 hour less than UTC), date format.
default map projection and cursor position format when starting with an empty map.
accurate formulas for computing distances and bearings; they should be selected except on very slow computers.
whether to ask for confirmation of projection parameters.
whether to use a window to control slow operations, and help balloons.
MapGuide text format default version.
operating system command to print or to further process a Postscript file generated by GPSMan (in the user GPSMan temporary directory), or empty if unavailable; the file path will be appended to the command.
operating system command to display the image in a file, or empty if unavailable; the file path will be appended to the command.
operating system command to open a terminal (command-line) window, or empty if unavailable.
map dimensions, length of line for displaying a scale, and initial map scale given as the distance corresponding to the given line length. The possible values for this distance depend on the choice of unit made before.
default font, fixed (monospaced) font, map font, travel window font and elevation graph font; the possible values are:
- default for the default Tcl/Tk font (not recommended for the fixed font)
- fixed or a list or string with fixed followed by a size in points
- a Tcl/Tk font description that can include the font family and parameters for the size, weight, slant, underline and overstrike.
The fonts for the map, the elevation graphs and travel window can be changed while running the program.
size of icons used for the waypoint symbols: either 15x15 or 30x30 (in pixels); GPSMan logos are adjusted to the selected size.
interface appearance: number of maximum elements per menu, initial positions of windows, dimensions, colours.
saving the program state on exit and deleting the saved state files after restoring.
permission of created files (in Unix numeric notation).
default paper size and usable paper dimensions.
abbreviated names for months in all known languages.
paper sizes and dimensions, used when saving plots or maps as Postscript files. The dimensions are floating-point numbers followed by c for centimetres, i for inches, m for millimetres, or p or nothing for printer's points (1/72 inch).
output formats for floating-point coordinates in seconds, minutes, degrees, and grades; obviously changes in these formats will not increase the data accuracy!
whether GPSMan data can be appended to an existing file when saving; this should be used with care as a file with conflicting time offsets may result that will not be loaded by GPSMan.
choice of echo in password-style entry boxes: none or a character.
options used when importing Kismet .network files: which Kismet network types should be converted to waypoints, symbols to use for each encryption under each type, default symbol for encryption values not described in the previous option, which prefix to use for names if the ssid is missing or name repeated, initial number to add to the prefix when forming name.

GPSMan User Manual and the GPSMan logo images by Miguel Filgueiras are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Configuration