[HN Gopher] Bringing a decade old bicycle navigator back to life...
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Bringing a decade old bicycle navigator back to life with open
source software
Author : mtlynch
Score : 149 points
Date : 2025-07-26 11:08 UTC (11 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (raymii.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (raymii.org)
| thread_id wrote:
| Thanks!!!! This is a great article. There are many tool
| references to research. "Obsolescence is a choice. Reverse
| engineering is resistance."
| ddtaylor wrote:
| Not sure if I missed it, but are those updates going over HTTP
| without SSL as well?
| MobiusHorizons wrote:
| The article says they used mitmproxy which installs a system
| certificate
| ddtaylor wrote:
| I think the payload after that though is that MITM proxy
| delivering an HTTP link to an EXE that anyone can payload
| with MITM, same attack surface.
| jxntb73 wrote:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Embedded_CE_6.0
|
| Huh, intresting.
| firebot wrote:
| Osmand(fDroid) + brouter
|
| Best offline navigation there is. You can even customize your
| navigation profiles.
| morsch wrote:
| Too bad that using brouter with osmand is so complicated.
| u8080 wrote:
| Organic Maps is also very solid project
| MayeulC wrote:
| It is, but brouter's navigation is really much better. Just
| yesterday, I was in a relatively unfamiliar, small (european)
| city which I needed to cross. Organic Maps was sending me
| trough small streets I would have shared with cars. I fired
| up OSMAnd + Brouter to compare, and ended up picking the
| latter: it sent me trough bike/bus-only roads, then a park,
| to reach a dedicated bike lane along the river, far from any
| traffic. The trip was a pleasure, though maybe a few percent
| longer.
| danieldk wrote:
| The nice thing about real GPSr units and things like Garmin
| watches is that they (depending on the model) can last a week
| to even weeks. E.g., if you use a GPSmap 67s for 8 hours per
| day, it lasts 3 weeks. In the older units you can even put AA
| batteries.
|
| Cycling with a phone with the screen on and at full brightness
| (which is what you need on a sunny day), a phone will last a
| few hours at most. The magic of good GPSr units is that they
| use a transflective display, the sun is your 'backlight'. (And
| of course using something more akin to a microcontroller than a
| smartphone SoC.)
|
| Also, in contrast to smartphones, these things are really
| rugged. Like last year I was cycling through the alps and
| accidentally dropped my GPSmap at ~30km/h (without a case or
| protection, who puts them on a GPSr?). It only has some
| scratches.
| MayeulC wrote:
| It is really good, and Brouter-web is really useful too.
|
| However, that combo is a battery hog. For some reason, OSMAnd
| drains a lot more battery when using it in guidance mode with
| Brouter, even though routing is much faster than with the
| built-in algorithm.
|
| I heard that Locus maps has a much better brouter integration,
| though it is unfortunately closed-source: battery-efficient,
| automatic brouter detection, profile selection from within the
| app.
|
| I also wish the brouter app would get a fresh coat of paint (a
| UI redesign), but that is secondary.
| jakedata wrote:
| I have a waterproof Garmin Nuvi GPS that will directly accept
| OpenStreetMap data on micro-SD card. It is in bicycle mode and
| running on a DC-DC converter from my e-bike pack. I am quite
| satisfied with it despite being 20 years old. The external
| storage and well defined format have saved it from becoming
| e-waste.
| danieldk wrote:
| Garmin is really good when it comes to open maps. I can still
| put new OpenStreetMap maps on an old Garmin 62s like it's 2010.
| I recently replaced my Apple Watch by a Garmin Fenix 7 Pro and
| even though it's not really advertised, it just accepts good
| old map .img files. I put on the Dutch cycle network overlay
| without any issues, just like I did with my Garmin GPSr units.
| fsckboy wrote:
| > _There is no other input than the touch screen, so I can shoot
| and nothing more, but hey, it runs DOOM!_
|
| hook Doom up to the internal nav, then you can ride your bike
| around and shoot. "I know you love riding your bike, and I know
| you love playing Doom, so I put your bike into Doom!"
| internet2000 wrote:
| $10 for an accessible Windows CE PDA is a pretty good deal. If I
| were OP, I'd fire up an appropriately old version of Visual
| Studio and vibecode some patches to the open source app he found.
| roywashere wrote:
| Raymii is one of my heroes! :-) great and accessible hacking on
| this device
| lutusp wrote:
| It's an example of modern tech capitalism: you buy a nifty
| consumer product, after which you don't own it, _it owns you_.
|
| The few exceptions to this rule are run by conscientious
| developers who make sure their products don't rely on their maker
| for continued support. But by this generous act, such companies
| fall behind their predatory competitors.
|
| It's late-stage capitalism at work. You buy some food, but you
| don't eat it, it eats you.
| SoftTalker wrote:
| The joke's on them, I just try to avoid "nifty consumer
| products" now. After getting burned a number of times, I have
| developed a very strong "no gadgets" rule. And if it connects
| to the internet or needs regular "updates" to remain usable
| that is an additional major strike against it.
| aeblyve wrote:
| I don't miss the world of a million purpose-built gizmos like
| this. Smartphones are a very good thing, so long as android is
| still mostly free.
|
| Fun exercise nonetheless
| CommenterPerson wrote:
| Sorry disagree here. I use a Garmin for driving. Don't wish to
| contribute to the surveillance economy. I love what the OP has
| done and look forward to more such.
| bayindirh wrote:
| While smartphones are good all around devices, and Apple showed
| that a smartphone with a good camera, DAC, screen and sensor
| suite can exist, purpose built devices still beat them.
|
| They have longer battery life, more predictable performance,
| and a wider range of operation parameters.
|
| I'll always prefer my specialized equipment for serious music
| listening, my ebook reader for longer reading and honestly pen
| and paper for serious note taking. They perform better and I
| get more performance with less effort.
| aeblyve wrote:
| I had a nice ebook reader at one point, but now I prefer
| Zotero on Linux and Android for reading.
| raudette wrote:
| Mounting a modern phone to a bicycle will damage the cameras -
| they can't handle the vibration - see
| https://support.apple.com/en-ca/102175
|
| I have an iPhone that I believe was damaged in this way.
|
| So you'd probably want a purpose built bike computer, an older
| phone that you don't care about the camera, or perhaps there
| are fancy vibration dampening mounts that could work.
| dwayne_dibley wrote:
| "Why are there no laws requiring device manufacturers to open
| source all software and hardware for consumer devices no longer
| sold?"
|
| See stop killing games.
| wildzzz wrote:
| Why is there so much added pixelation in photos where part of the
| bezel is shown? Is the author trying to hide fingerprints?
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(page generated 2025-07-26 23:00 UTC)