Running Mapsource or S&T

[RossKean]

On the road, I use a HP Netbook. This is suitable for email, weather reports, web browsing, downloading from my camera etc. The computer is small and very rugged but it has a solid state hard drive. The solid state drive is very robust and is not prone to issues from the high vibration environment BUT it has insufficient capacity to load and run either MS Streets & Trips or Garmin Mapsource. Does anyone know whether either of these programs can be installed and configured to run from a USB memory stick? I realize it wouldn't be fast but that is not a big deal for me. There would be times when it would be nice to use the computer to edit/modify/create Garmin routes. Much easier to do on the computer than on the GPS itself (Nuvi 765T).

Thanks

Ross

 

[TomInPA]

I have not tried it, but I think Mapsource can run from a removable drive, which would have the same effect as putting it on a memory stick. It's one of the few programs that does not install to the Program Files folder, and I'm now aware of any mysterious DLL and registry entries. It is fundamentally a pretty old-tech program.

To test it, I just copied to my external drive, and launched Mapsource from there. It came up with the latest maps and everything. I see no reason this wouldn't work. The whole folder was only 1.4 GB including maps.

 

[RossKean]

I have not tried it, but I think Mapsource can run from a removable drive, which would have the same effect as putting it on a memory stick. It's one of the few programs that does not install to the Program Files folder, and I'm now aware of any mysterious DLL and registry entries. It is fundamentally a pretty old-tech program.

To test it, I just copied to my external drive, and launched Mapsource from there. It came up with the latest maps and everything. I see no reason this wouldn't work. The whole folder was only 1.4 GB including maps.

I never checked but I assumed the total file size (including North America maps) would be larger than 1.4GB. If its that small, I should be able to find enough room for it on the SSHD. Thanks for checking.

Ross

 

[wfooshee]

I copied the C:\GARMIN folder to my thumb drive, and copied the MAPS folder I found under C:\PROGRAMDATA\GARMIN to the GARMIN folder on the thumb drive. I then took the thumb drive to another computer with no Garmin software on it, and was told that my map set was locked.

You'd have to go through the unlock procedure for your maps, just like the original install, to unlock them on the netbook.

Street & Trips doesn't even try to run from a thumb drive. It might if it was installed to the thumbdrive while the drive was in the netbook (to get the registry entries placed correctly,) meaning you'd need the DVD drive attached at the same time. OTOH, S&T installs to less than a gig.

 

[Welldunn]

In your maps folder there should be a file that has your gps serial number in the name xxxxxxx.gma it is the file for the unlock code. Move this with your maps and it should open on any computer. I think....

 

[RossKean]

I copied the C:\GARMIN folder to my thumb drive, and copied the MAPS folder I found under C:\PROGRAMDATA\GARMIN to the GARMIN folder on the thumb drive. I then took the thumb drive to another computer with no Garmin software on it, and was told that my map set was locked.

You'd have to go through the unlock procedure for your maps, just like the original install, to unlock them on the netbook.

Street & Trips doesn't even try to run from a thumb drive. It might if it was installed to the thumbdrive while the drive was in the netbook (to get the registry entries placed correctly,) meaning you'd need the DVD drive attached at the same time. OTOH, S&T installs to less than a gig.

The Netbook doesn't even have a DVD or CD drive. It's a minimalist computer suitable for web stuff; not much else. It does have a camera and will run Skype.

In your maps folder there should be a file that has your gps serial number in the name xxxxxxx.gma it is the file for the unlock code. Move this with your maps and it should open on any computer. I think....

Will try it tomorrow.

 

[backdraft]

If you can read a SD card you can buy the latest version on ebay on sd and use mapsource to read it

 

[wfooshee]

The Netbook doesn't even have a DVD or CD drive. It's a minimalist computer suitable for web stuff; not much else.

But you can attach a USB optical drive to it, which would be why I said you'd need the DVD drive attached.

In your maps folder there should be a file that has your gps serial number in the name xxxxxxx.gma it is the file for the unlock code. Move this with your maps and it should open on any computer. I think....

Probably not, because my experiment included the entire contents of the GARMIN folder and the MAPS folder, and I was told my maps were locked.

 

[Welldunn]

The Netbook doesn't even have a DVD or CD drive. It's a minimalist computer suitable for web stuff; not much else.

But you can attach a USB optical drive to it, which would be why I said you'd need the DVD drive attached.

In your maps folder there should be a file that has your gps serial number in the name xxxxxxx.gma it is the file for the unlock code. Move this with your maps and it should open on any computer. I think....

Probably not, because my experiment included the entire contents of the GARMIN folder and the MAPS folder, and I was told my maps were locked.

I was having a problem unlocking mine a few days ago. Garmen tech support emailed me the file I'm talking about. Then had me copy it to my maps folder and then I was unlocked. Don't know any more than that. I'm a hardware guy. Software is for those other folks across the hall.

 

[Aasland]

Instead of copying folders and junk to a USB stick, can you just install to the USB stick instead of c:/program files/ ?