Frank's Blog

Once upon a day… there was an Apple Imac with OS 10.5 that denied to startup.
The grey screen with the apple logo and the circulating little thing just didn’t disappear.
So I was called.
I started the system while pressing cmd-v between the “taaa”-chime and the apple logo appearing. So the system switch to text mode and gave me some more informations. It stucked with an hd error. So, the problem was found.
I started the Mac again with an appropiate install cd and pressing “c” to boot the little system with the helper tools.
After selecting the language I ignored the installation dialog and started the disk utility from the menu bar.
But disk utiliy didn’t find partition, just the whole harddisc without any information.
I quit the graphical disk utility and started a Terminal in which I typed:
“diskutil list”. This tool was able to show the lost partitions.
So, there was some information left, but how recover them ?
I searched for a tool for recovering the partition table on OSX.
testdisk should do this, but I cannot bring it to run on the install system quickly so I decided to give it a try with the Linux distribution CAINE. It’s a live system to do forensics analysis and also contains the testdist tool.
Booting from the fresh burned CAINE disc took some time but finally I had a Linux desktop (which I not really needed for now) and started testdisk within terminal.

Testdisk found the lost partitions and let me write them back to the EFI sector.
So far so good.
I started the diskutility from the install cd again and now it listed the partitions but kindda incomplete (marked in light grey) and verify and repair fails.

Now I changed my strategy. There is a harddisc problem anyway, so I have to replace it. But I would like to recover the user data on it. Therefore I don’t have to start the installed OSX. Instead I started again CAINE which let me mount the partition without any problems and I copied the home folder via network and rsync to another Mac.
Problem solved for this time (what took me so long ?).

I tried out the Dakota 20 some days on my way to work. As the instructions say, it could take some minutes till the receiving of satellite signals is established. Well, on my way to the subway station, which was 5 minutes away, the GPS didn’t get any signal, but later on leaving the subway and going to work (12 minutes) it did, finally.

On the way back I decided to go without any transportation. Again it took some time till the device knew where we were. I recorded these tracks and imported it later with the basecamp. I added also some way points of my “frequent places”, like work, home, etc.
Here’s a screen shot of the bascamp, as you can see it has a kindda “raw flavour” due to just having the base map installed.

The next day I followed another strategy to start using the Dakota. I went out to the next place with more sight to the sky, not with huge buildings all around. There I started the Garmin and stood still and waited. It took just two minutes till it got enough satellite signals. Maybe this is the best way to use it. Afterwards, while going through the streets it didn’t loose the signals and was able to record the track.

I’ll figure it out with some more testings soon.

So, my present for me this Santa Claus was the GPS Garmin Dakota 20.

I opened the box and was astounded because there was little accessoires. I excpected a carabiner to fix the Dakota on a belt or a backpack, but there was just one of these bands which come with usb-memories, maybe this one is a bit tougher. I also missed batteries (2x AA, Mignon), what’s harder as having a brand new toy and no battery to try it out ? Every child knows this.

Anyway, even the documentation was little, that’s one thing I like. I’m used to download current versions of software and documentation, because cds or these little guide books (quickstart, manual, ect,) like to disappear during the time of hardly need and search for it.

So, I opened my Apple Mighty Mouse to get some batteries (don’t worry, 2 or 3 weeks ago I bought the new magic mouse which is in use know).

I started the Dakota inside the flat and waited for signal from above, well, from satellites, of course, but it didn’t seem to fetch any. I placed it outside the window for a while, but … no change.
Okay, I have to admit, here in Madrid city the buildings are high and nearby.

Instead of going outside I started on the other end, going to Garmin website and downloaded and installed the software for Mac OSX.

I started the base camp and saw a rudimentary map and not the smoothiest navigation in there.
Seemed, I’m some kind of spoiled from applications like Google Earth, etc.
Never mind, go ahead, I thought, go search for maps.

I started searching on NOeGS where I tried to follow the link to the Egypt site, but it was broken. Here is the new one.
Other stuff I found at GPSMapSearch.
I downloaded some but the Garmin apps didn’t accept them. I placed them manually (the device memory is mounted automatically on the Mac) in the top folder of the Dakota. Starting the Dakota the new maps are directly activated.
So, I have more detailed maps in the little device and very basic ones in the Garmin apps in my iMac.

Btw., Maps, land maps, to be precisely (this time sea maps are not interesting for me).
There seems to be 3 types, topologicals, street maps and street maps with routing information.
The few I downloaded are up to some MBs big. I was told, the non-free maps are up to 1.5 GB big. They have to have a lot more informations than the free maps, maybe for routing, etc. For these a SD memory card is unavoidable.

The Dakota has 850 MB onboard (enough to start) and can handle cards up to 4 GB while the older GPS (the stable and approved GPS 60 series, e. g.) just 2 GB. If you have to combine 2 non-free maps (streets and topo) you’ll reach at limits with the older ones.
Another point is the comfort. Just load the needed maps on the device instead of carrying 2 or 3 memory cards with you.
Never mind, these comercial maps I’ll check out another day.

Now that I have some more spanish streets on the device I’m ready to explore!