Jens,

I had the GPS working with the X6100 with Version 0.18, months back. I just installed Version 0.19, and it works with both of my GPS Dongles. Here are some hints and requirements on getting the GPS to sync the time in Oleg's software:

1) First, the GPS must be plugged into the X6100 before powering it up. I believe Oleg indicated this is so the software can detect that there is a GPS installed during power up, so it can configure the Linux system to handle GPS signals. So, first install the GPS Dongle in the Host USB port with power off.

2) Next, check that the X6100 is properly receiving the GPS signals from the GPS Dongle. Turn on power, and wait for the display to show the spectrum, indicating the X6100 is powered up and operating normally. Press the APP button. Select the? GPS button. On the screen, you will see several fields for the GPS. There are two important ones, "Fix" and "Date, time." If there is no data in the Date/Time field, the GPS is not receiving even one satellite, or the GPS hasn't warmed up yet, or the software is not receiving the time/location message from the GPS. If the Date/Time field has today's UTC (Zulu) date and the UTC time looks about correct, the GPS and the software are probably working correctly.

3) Next, the Fix field can have one of three values, "None," "2D" and "3D." With a good UTC time, None probably indicates that the GPS has not received enough satellites yet to do even an approximate location. When the Fix field indicates None, the software time will not update the System Time to the GPS UTC time. The Fix field must show 2D or 3D to allow the GPS time to update the system time. There are several reasons the Fix field may indicate None. The most common are that either the GPS is still initializing, or that it can't see enough satellites. So, first move the GPS/X6100 to a place where it has a good view of the sky. Then, wait for the GPS to indicate a GPS Fix of 2D or 3D. It may take a while for the GPS to initialize, so give it several minutes, and depending on the GPS, it may take the same time to initialize every time you turn on power, though it is usually a lot faster after the first time.

4) Once the GPS app indicates a good UTC time and a Fix of 2D or 3D, the software sends the UTC time from the GPS to the Linux system. The Linux system will compare the GPS time against its own internal system time. If the times are "close," within several hundred seconds or so, it will initialize the system time to the GPS time, then start tracking the GPS time, so the system time is always "synced" with the GPS time. So generally, you should see the system time in the upper right of the screen sync a few seconds after the Fix shows 2D/3D. And, the GPS time should track within one displayed second of system time until you turn off the system.

5) Finally, Linux has one "gotcha" for the time syncing. Linux is set up so that a bad GPS time doesn't set the system time to the wrong value, if the system and GPS times are way off. So finally, if the system time doesn't sync with the GPS time, check that the system time is close to the GPS time. First, still on the GPS App screen, write down the UTC Date and Time. Then, press the APP button, then the APP 1:2 button to get to the APP 2:2 screen. Then press the Settings button. Change the Day, Month, Year and Hour, Min fields to the GPS UTC values you wrote down (you don't have to update the Sec field, as the times will be close enough). Linux will then try to sync the system time to the GPS time, usually within a few seconds. If they don't sync, try turning off the power and then turn it on again.

So, to summarize:

Turn off power

Plug in the GPS Dongle

Turn on power

Go to the GPS App

Wait for the GPS to get a 2D or 3D fix

If the times don't sync, manually update the System time to agree with the GPS time

If this doesn't work, you will probably need to ask for help from Oleg.

One final thing: A while back, when Oleg first installed the GPS function, I couldn't get my GPS to sync the system time. Oleg and I had a discussion about this on this Forum. That's when I/we found out about the times not syncing if the times are too far apart (see above). I dug into Linux and found a parameter I could change in a Linux configuration file that would allow Linux to force an initial sync of the times once the Fix is 2D/3D, no matter how far apart the times are. I just tried patching the configuration file and the patch still seems to be working. However, I don't know enough Linux to know if there are any side effects to this change.

I hope some of the above (long) descriptions/instructions are helpful to someone else.

Jerry K6AN

Saludos. Diego. EA1CN