1MTKBABEL(1) General Commands Manual MTKBABEL(1)
2
6 mtkbabel - Tool for managing GPS data loggers based on the MTK chip
7
9 mtkbabel [-abcdEfhilmopRrstvwx]
10
12 mtkbabel is a command line program to operate GPS data loggers based on
13 the MediaTek MTK chip. It was tested on the i-Blue 747, Qstarz BT-
14 Q1000 and on the Holux M-241, it should work also with other GPS
15 devices based on the same chip.
16 The main features are:
18 - Command line interface
19 - Save data log in GPX and raw binary format
20 - If required retrieve all the data, also the old one being overlapped
21 - Change logging criteria: time, distance, speed
22 - Change log format
23 - START/STOP logging
24 - Set OVERLAP or STOP method on memory full
25 - Erase the internal memory
26
28 In order to use mtkbabel, please follow these instructions:
29 1. Attach the GPS data logger device to your computer via USB.
31 2. Now you have to switch the GPS device (at least the i-Blue 747) into
33 LOG or NAV mode, otherwise the device will not be powered on, and no
34 connection will be possible. Beware that in NAV mode the device goes
35 into sleep mode if not connected to any Bluetooth device.
36 3. In order to use mtkbabel you have to either be root (not recom‐
38 mended) and/or you must have read/write permissions for the USB device
39 file, usually /dev/ttyUSB0. This device usually has permissions 'crw-
40 rw---- 1 root dialout', so you can either add your user to the dialout
41 group (in this example) by doing
42 $ adduser USERNAME dialout
44 or (not recommended) make the device world-readable/-writable by doing:
46 $ chmod 666 /dev/ttyUSB0
48 Another option is to write a udev rules file to change the owner and
50 permissions of /dev/ttyUSB0 according to your requirements.
51 4. You can now run mtkbabel. For example, if you want to download the
53 track log and the list of waypoints you captured on the device, run:
54 $ mtkbabel -s 115200 -l off -f foo -w -t
56 The default speed of 115200 baud should work in most cases and you can
58 omit it, for the Holux M-241 you must use 38400 instead. This will
59 turn off the autolog function, which is always turned on when you
60 switch on the device. The track log will be in the file foo_trk.gpx,
61 the waypoints in the file foo_wpt.gpx (both in GPX format). The file
62 foo.bin will contain the binary log file. Downloading the data from the
63 GPS device can take several minutes, depending on how much data has to
64 be transferred.
65 In order to delete all data from the GPS device, run:
67 $ mtkbabel -s 115200 -E
69
71 -a Read all the log memory (overlapped data).
72 -b filename.bin
74 Do not read data from a GPS device, but rather read a previously
75 saved .bin file. Ignore -f option.
76 -c Create a GPX file with both tracks and waypoints.
78 -d debug_level
80 Debug level: 0..7.
81 -E Erase data log memory.
83 -f Base name for saved files (.bin and .gpx). If you, for example,
85 use -f gpslog, mtkbabel will create files which are called
86 gpslog.gpx, gpslog_trk.gpx, gpslog_wpt.gpx and gpslog.bin.
87 -h Show a help text and exit.
89 -i Ignore some error conditions and try to extract as much data as
91 possible from GPS.
92 -l {on|off}
94 Turn logging ON/OFF.
95 -m {stop|overlap}
97 Set STOP/OVERLAP recording method on memory full.
98 -o log_format
100 Enable or disable log fields (FIELD1,-FIELD2,...), available
101 fields: UTC, VALID, LATITUDE, LONGITUDE, HEIGHT, SPEED, HEADING,
102 DSTA, DAGE, PDOP, HDOP, VDOP, NSAT, SID, ELEVATION, AZIMUTH,
103 SNR, RCR, MILLISECOND, DISTANCE.
104 -p port
106 Communication port, default: /dev/ttyUSB0.
107 -R Recover from disabled log: erase data and reset recording crite‐
109 ria.
110 -r time:distance:speed
112 Set logging criteria (zero to disable): every 0.10-9999999.90
113 seconds, every 0.10-9999999.90 meters, over 0.10-9999999.90
114 km/h. Not all the devices support such wide ranges, more reason‐
115 able values are 1-999 seconds, 10-9999 meters and 10-999 km/h.
116 -s speed
118 Serial port speed, default 115200 baud.
119 -t Create a GPX file with tracks.
121 -v Show version information and exit.
123 -w Create a GPX file with waypoints.
125 -x Force reading Holux format. This is required to read-back the
127 binary data produced by some Holux devices, which do not embed
128 into the data itself the Holux identifier string.
129
131 Please report any bugs to Niccolo Rigacci <niccolo@rigacci.org>.
132
134 mtkbabel is covered by the GNU General Public License (GPL), version 2
135 or later.
136
138 Niccolo Rigacci <niccolo@rigacci.org>
139 This manual page was written by Uwe Hermann <uwe@hermann-uwe.de>. It
141 is licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL (version 2 or later).
142 January 20, 2009 MTKBABEL(1)