Palm Pre and GPS (Additional GPS modes: Autonomous, Assisted, and Cached)

[swinokur]

Also, by the way: I'm getting so frustrated with the GPS performance on this PrePlus that I'm just about ready to punch a kitten.(*)

Has anyone heard *anything* from VZ or Palm about this, and what they're doing to address it?

(*) no, I wouldn't *actually* punch a kitten.

[trim81]

I understand now, thanks

1.2 must have wiped out the usbpass, hence my error

(aka anything above 1.2 adds usbdiag, anything below 1.2 does not have usbpass)

[jonaddis84]

Originally Posted by trim81

@jonadddia84..

could you tell me the steps you performed to be able to get into usbpass in 1.4?

Did you doctor down to 1.2 or 1.3?

finally, did you over the air update to 1.4?

did you install any usbpassthrough patches along the way?

I OTA'd originally to 1.4. Installed USB passthrough patch. Applied GPS hack with no problems whatsoever (after retrieving msl for my replacement phone).

I then bricked the phone and doctored direct to 1.4. Installed usb passthrough patch. Checked GPS settings in service programming and nothing had changed.

[Ebag333]

Originally Posted by jhoff80

For me, I applied this in 1.3.5.1. After updating to 1.4.0, I went into QPST, read from phone, and it was still set up that way.

I also just did a full reset, and then a webOS Doctor directly to 1.4.0, and after going into QPST, again, it was still set up as detailed in this thread.

Hopefully that means Palm won't overwrite these settings in any future updates or webOS Doctors.

I updated to 1.4, decided I wanted to doctor it to reset some broken patches (my own fault, didn't uninstall them before the last update). After doctoring I installed my USBPASS patch and verified that the settings stuck. Looks like Palm did not step on them this time.

Originally Posted by trim81

is the usb diag patch from ebag working in 1.4?

Patch works fine for me. Tested on a fresh 1.4 install.

Originally Posted by swinokur

Also, by the way: I'm getting so frustrated with the GPS performance on this PrePlus that I'm just about ready to punch a kitten.(*)

Has anyone heard *anything* from VZ or Palm about this, and what they're doing to address it?

(*) no, I wouldn't *actually* punch a kitten.

As far as I've seen, no one has done a ton of troubleshooting on this. I don't even think anyone has gone into QPST to check the settings there.

Wanna try that?



Something new I noticed....

Have DIAG turned on, and was installing WebOS patches. After about the 5th patch, I went WTFmate^^

Originally Posted by Ebag333

• There are four USB "ports" available, on USB PORT 1 or USB PORT 2 (either one works) assign DIAG. (Note: this will disable internet on the phone until you've unassigned this.)

Looks like in 1.4 enabling DIAG mode no longer disables your 'net connection.

[swinokur]

Originally Posted by Ebag333

As far as I've seen, no one has done a ton of troubleshooting on this. I don't even think anyone has gone into QPST to check the settings there.

I've done *some* testing, but I dont know nearly enough about GPS to be an incredibly useful tester. (I dont, for example have another GPS device here that will show me how many satellites can be seen from my window, etc.)

That said: I went back into QPST in 1.4 and checked my settings. All the settings that were previously set were still set. (I think it would be surprising if the OS upgrading would make a change to the phone - that seems like a pretty dicey proposition, you wouldnt want an OS upgrade to break the phone section).

I noticed that there is a VZNavigatorService running on the PrePlus. (I'm sure it was there in 1.3.5.1 as well). Curious, I went into /etc/event.d and moved its startup script out of the way. This had the effect of making the VZNavigator app stop working - and also appeared to stop the GPS working as well. (at least all of the normal post-reboot "bump the gps to make it work" tricks didn't have any effect.)

I wonder if there is a similar service running on Sprint phones to enable the GPS hardware to talk to WebOS...

[Ebag333]

Originally Posted by swinokur

I noticed that there is a VZNavigatorService running on the PrePlus. (I'm sure it was there in 1.3.5.1 as well). Curious, I went into /etc/event.d and moved its startup script out of the way. This had the effect of making the VZNavigator app stop working - and also appeared to stop the GPS working as well. (at least all of the normal post-reboot "bump the gps to make it work" tricks didn't have any effect.)

That's interesting. I wouldn't think that the Navigator service would control that.

Originally Posted by swinokur

I wonder if there is a similar service running on Sprint phones to enable the GPS hardware to talk to WebOS...

I'm in the process of diffing the WebOS Doctor's for Sprint and Verizon, so far there are surprisingly few changes. I wonder if a dump of the filesystem would show something different.

Unfortunately I don't have access to a Pre Plus, so someone else would have to e-mail me a copy....

[swinokur]

Originally Posted by Ebag333

That's interesting. I wouldn't think that the Navigator service would control that.




I'm in the process of diffing the WebOS Doctor's for Sprint and Verizon, so far there are surprisingly few changes. I wonder if a dump of the filesystem would show something different.

Unfortunately I don't have access to a Pre Plus, so someone else would have to e-mail me a copy....

Didn't they post the direct links to the different doctors on the main page of P|C the other day?

[Cinnabarcorp]

I need the drivers for the Reduced CDC Abstract Control Model (R-ACM) and Generic Serial. I cant seem to have them installed with the drivers provided with the first post. Im running 1.4 and ive never done this attempt before. Help?

[Ebag333]

Originally Posted by swinokur

Didn't they post the direct links to the different doctors on the main page of P|C the other day?

Yup and that's where I got them from. There's not many differences in the packages, nothing that I found to explain why GPS would function differently on the Pre Plus than the Pre.

I'm curious to see the live file system to see if there's something in there that can explain it.

[swinokur]

Originally Posted by Ebag333

Yup and that's where I got them from. There's not many differences in the packages, nothing that I found to explain why GPS would function differently on the Pre Plus than the Pre.

I'm curious to see the live file system to see if there's something in there that can explain it.

Aaah, I think I get it. (I thought the Doctor files had .zips in them that *were* the file systems, but perhaps not?)

do you just want a .tar.gz of / or just certain subdirectories?

[Ebag333]

Originally Posted by swinokur

Aaah, I think I get it. (I thought the Doctor files had .zips in them that *were* the file systems, but perhaps not?)

They do, but I'm not sure how much of that actually ends up on the device in the form you see in the Doctor. Certainly nothing that I saw (and I could have easily missed something) would point towards GPS being setup differently.

Originally Posted by swinokur

do you just want a .tar.gz of / or just certain subdirectories?

A zip of / is fine.

[Cinnabarcorp]

So is anyone able to help me??

[sf_basilix]

Originally Posted by swinokur

I noticed that there is a VZNavigatorService running on the PrePlus. (I'm sure it was there in 1.3.5.1 as well). Curious, I went into /etc/event.d and moved its startup script out of the way. This had the effect of making the VZNavigator app stop working - and also appeared to stop the GPS working as well. (at least all of the normal post-reboot "bump the gps to make it work" tricks didn't have any effect.)

This sure sounds like Verizon is keeping us from using GPS unless you purchase their app....

a similar thread going on here as well:

http://forums.precentral.net/palm-pr...ml#post2283789

[Cinnabarcorp]

So when doing this I should enable all GPS Modes?

[sushi]

Originally Posted by saltthefries

I came across these drivers on another forum, and they seem to work in XP with 1.3.1. I'm able to access my Pre via serial in BitPim, but I'm not trying to use the phone for GPS right now.

Thanks for these. Couldn't get thee OP linked files to work.

[meshuga]

At first, I couldn't get the drivers to work either. Following the suggestion by Rudedog, I edited the .inf files from the drivers and replaced '216' with '316. Then they installed great! I followed the rest of the steps no problem.

Just got done testing. GPS seems much more responsive! I can't wait to do a real world test when I'm in cali this weekend.

[Quintus]

Originally Posted by meshuga

At first, I couldn't get the drivers to work either. Following the suggestion by Rudedog, I edited the .inf files from the drivers and replaced '216' with '316. Then they installed great! I followed the rest of the steps no problem.

Just got done testing. GPS seems much more responsive! I can't wait to do a real world test when I'm in cali this weekend.

I had to do the same. This instruction is repeated over and over again in this thread. I wonder if Ebag333 shouldn't post this in the OP. I know that there is a direct link in the OP for people to find the answer but some are obviously still having trouble with it. Although the link is good, it doesn't specify that you need to open the driver using a text editor and perform a search and replace "216" with "316". This might be helpful for many as this is not the easiest patch to apply.

[NuttyBunny]

Hey, does anybody know if this is needed/works on a GSM Pre?
I think we have true GPS since when I'm outdoors the GPS acquisition is almost immediate, and dead on at least on Google Maps and Minimap. Also smartrunner works beautifully.

[grndslm]

Originally Posted by NuttyBunny

Hey, does anybody know if this is needed/works on a GSM Pre?
I think we have true GPS since when I'm outdoors the GPS acquisition is almost immediate, and dead on at least on Google Maps and Minimap. Also smartrunner works beautifully.

Hmm... how to troubleshoot whether your GPS works with or without cellular service.... hmm...

Have you tried airplane mode and THEN getting a fix?

On a Sprint phone, you type ##GPS# into the phone app in order to get a GPS fix. Think it's similar for GSM, but not exact. Could be, tho.

[goky]

Originally Posted by grndslm

On a Sprint phone, you type ##GPS# into the phone app in order to get a GPS fix. Think it's similar for GSM, but not exact. Could be, tho.

Just to clarify: Press the buttons on the phone keypad (on the screen), not the keyboard:

##477# is what it looks like.