GPSTRANS(1)

🛰️ GPSTRANS 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because this is the manual page for gpstrans, a GPS utility that talks to your Garmin receiver, and yes it's from 2006 and yes it still eats 💅

---

✨ NAME ✨

gpstrans — communicate with Garmin GPS receiver 🦋

---

🔌 SYNOPOSIS 🔌

gpstrans [ options ]  [ file ]

---

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so gpstrans is literally your little group-chat bridge to a Garmin GPS receiver. It lets you upload and download waypoints, routes, almanacs (those are satellite orbital elements, iykyk), and trackroutes. periodt.

If file is not supplied, data will be read from stdin (that's the -ux switch) or written to stdout (that's the -dx switch). no file, no problem, we're streaming 🫶

---

✨ OPTIONS ✨

• -pport — set serial I/O device. yes, port is glued right onto the flag, that's just how it is bestie 🎀
• -s — set datum, format, offset, and device interactively, and save them in $HOME/.gpstrans. your prefs, your rules 👑
• -i — identify connected GPS. say hi to the little guy 🥺
• -o — turn off GPS device
• -t — get time from GPS
• -ts — get time from GPS and set system time on host. highkey powerful, use with intention ⭐
• -dx — download data indicated by x: r=route, t=track, w=waypoint, a=almanac
• -m — With -dt, downloads track data in the format which can be displayed by Mayko mXmap(1). With -dr or -ur, downloads or uploads route data in a format compatible with Mayko mXmap. crossover episode 🍓
• -ux — upload data indicated by x: r=route, t=track, w=waypoint, a=almanac
• -v — print program version.
• --verbose — Increase verbosity.
• --debug — Add debug printouts.
• --help — Print help text.

---

🌈 CONNECTION 🌈

okay this is the part where you get out your little wires and channel your inner electrical engineer, because we're doing hardware now 🔥

For a DB-25 connector, you may need to connect pin 4, 5 and 6, 8, 20 together. This sets handshake signals so that your workstation can use the serial port to communicate with the GPS. slay, handshakes.

                               1     ### #####
                               o o o # # # o # o o o o o
                                o o o o o o # o o o o o

Connect the Garmin cable as follows:

                                 2 3       7
                               o o o o o o o o o o o o o
                                o o o o o o o o o o o o

            Pin 2 goes to DATA IN  (White)
            Pin 3 goes to DATA OUT (Brown)
            Pin 7 goes to GROUND   (Black)

If it doesn't work in this way, try exchanging pins 2 and 3 at the connector. (the classic "flip it and pray" maneuver, no cap 🙈)

The circular connector on a Garmin GPS II receiver can be wired to a DB-9 connector as follows:

                    _____                    _____,-----,
               3  /       \  4              |     |     |
                 |  o   o  |                |     |     |_____
                 |         <   <- groove -> |=====|     |----,|
                 |  o   o  |                |     |     |    ||
               2  \ _____ /  1              |_____|     |    ||
                                                  `-----'    ||
                                                             ||
               views are looking                             ||
               into connector                                ||
               at each end of cable                          ||
                                                             ||
                                                             ||
                    5   3 2             ________             ||
                    o o o o o          |         \___________||
                     o o o o           |_________,------------'

               DB-9 pin 2 goes to circular connector pin 2
               DB-9 pin 3 goes to circular connector pin 4
               DB-9 pin 5 goes to circular connector pin 3
               other pins are not connected

               (Note: the pin numbers for the circular connector are
               arbitrary, and may not match the `official' numbers.)

If your plug is more recent than the one above (ex: etrex) then you need DB-9 or DB-25 to be connected to your Garmin GPS like this:

                                              _____,-----,
                                   POWER(+)  |     |     |
                                  groove --> |=====|     |_____
                                   DATA IN   |     |     |----,|
                                   DATA OUT  |     |     |    ||
                                   GROUND(-) |_____|     |    ||
                                                   `-----'    ||
                                                              ||
                                                              ||
                                                              ||
                                                              ||
                                                              ||
                                                              ||
                                         ________             ||
                                        |        \___________||
                                        |_________,------------'

DB-25 :

                                2 3       7
                               o o o o o o o o o o o o o
                                o o o o o o o o o o o o

            Pin 2 goes to DATA IN  (White)      Pin 3 goes to DATA OUT (Brown)
            Pin 7 goes to GROUND   (Black)

DB-9:

                                            5   3 2
                                             o o o o o
                                               o o o o

                pin 2 goes to DATA IN  (White)
                pin 3 goes to DATA OUT (Brown)
                pin 5 goes to GROUND   (Black)
                other pins are not connected

For testing, you might try setting the GPS to NMEA-Output and using a terminal emulator program like Kermit. The GPS will send a data record every 2 seconds. As long as you don't see any data on your computer, gpstrans won't work. 💀

After finishing the test, be sure to set your GPS receiver to GRMN/GRMN. do not skip this step bestie, I am begging 🙏

---

🌱 ENVIRONMENT 🌱

• GPSDEV — Serial I/O device. It overrides contents of $HOME/.gpstrans, and is overridden by the -p switch. it's giving middle-child energy in the precedence chain 😭

---

🎀 FILES 🎀

• $HOME/.gpstrans — Has user preferences for datum, format, offset, and serial I/O device (see the -s switch, above).

---

👑 AUTHOR 👑

GPStrans is Copyright 1995 by Carsten Tschach <tschach@zedat.fu-berlin.de>. The datum translation routines are based on the program MacGPS from John F. Waers <jfwaers@csn.net>. Mayko mXmap output format by Matthias Kattanek <mattes@ugraf.com>. German Grid by Andreas Lange <andreas.lange@rhein-main.de>. etrex support by Joao Seabra CT2GNL - <seabra@ci.aac.uc.pt>. Other Garmin formats added by Jim Van Zandt <jrvz@comcast.remove.me.net>. the whole squad ate and left no crumbs 🫶✨

---

🔭 SEE ALSO 🔭

• mxmap(1)
• GPSMan

---

GPS Utility · page dated 2006 May 7 · GPSTRANS(1)

and that's the whole thing, bestie — go forth and talk to your GPS 💖🦋🌸💅