LK8000

This page was last updated on 10 February, 2014.

LK8000 is a fork of the XCSoar Open Source navigation software, released under the GPL v2 license. It runs on three general types of hardware:

• Personal Navigation Assistants (PNAs) that run Windows Mobile. These have built-in GPS receivers and include most satnavs apart from TomTom units, which are Linux-based. Those with an SD card slot and the ability to run programs from the SD card are easiest to set up.
• Windows Mobile handhelds connected to any NMEA 0183 compliant GPS. This includes CF-card receivers that plug into an iPAQ or a slot in its sleeve, as well as any receiver that can be connected to the device's serial or Bluetooth connections. This includes Garmin GPS II+ and GPS-35 receivers. They do not need inputs from any other devices and, in general, do not pass information to the GPS, apart from sending a 'start data stream' command to a Cambridge GPS-NAV.
• Laptop or desktop PCs running Linux or Windows operating systems. This type of installation is intended for becoming familiar with LK8000 before flying with it. Running LK8000 under Linux requires Wine to be installed.

LK8000 installation for a PNA with an SD card

This description assumes that you're installing the software and data files directly onto the SD card via an SD card reader attached to your PC.

Setting up the SD card

• Download a copy of LK8000 and its manual from the LK8000 website.
• Unzip the file onto your SD card. This creates a folder called LK8000 which contains executables for all devices including PNAs. These are:
  • LK8000-PC.exe is for Windows XT, W2K, Vista, 7 or 8. This lets you to get to know LK8000 or test data files on a standard PC.
  • LK8000-PNA.exe runs on devices that use Windows Mobile 5 or 6
  • LK8000-PPC2002.exe and LK8000-PPC2003.exe are for iPAQ PDAs or equivalent depending on whether the PDA is running Windows PPC 2002 or 2003.

Preparing LK8000 for execution

Like many embedded operating systems, Windows Mobile/Windows CE must be configured to match the hardware it controls. However, many vendors make other customisations too. Here we are concerned with the vendor's approach to booting off the SD card. Some PNA models are designed to keep additional maps on the SD card and so they boot their navigation software off the card. Others expect an update program on the SD card which, when booted, will update the maps and software in the PNA's built-in memory. This is reflected in the name of the executable on the SD card and this in turn affects us, since Windows Mobile will only boot a program with the name it was customised to use when it is in the expected place on the SD card. We fool the PNA into running the soaring program by renaming it or making other changes, e.g. using a shell.ini file. There is more on this in the notes about each type of PNA and in Creating a shell.ini file.

LK8000 keeps its data files in subdirectories of the same directory, called LK8000, that contains the programs. This directory must be placed in the root directory of the SD card. It cannot be renamed or LK8000 will be unable to find the data files. Detailed directions by PNA make and model follow:

• Binatone B.350
• Binatone B.430
• Binatone R350
• Binatone R430
• Binatone S500
• Binatone X.350
• Binatone X.430
• HP 310 and HP 314
• Medion S3747 10/02/14
• MyGuide 3218WE
• MyGuide 4228
• Navigon 40 easy
• Oudie 2 Lite
• If you have another type of PNA, see Other things to try.

Once you have LK8000 installed on your SD card, you need to complete these steps:

• create a shell.ini file on the SD card, but note that you can skip this step if your'e using a Medion S.3747 PNA, which appears to ignore shell.ini.
• Mount the SD card in your PNA
• Start LK8000
• Set the COM port(s) and baud rate
• After its working its a good idea to follow these suggestions.

How I do it: an alternative approach

The benefit of this way of doing things is that you can test a new SD card image before copying it to an SD card and you end up with backup copies on the PC of all the SD card images you've created.

I unzip the issued archive into a directory on my PC's hard drive and add the various airspace, polars, maps and turnpoint files into the appropriate subdirectories in the LK8000 directory. Unless the installation instructions for the particular program version say otherwise you can usually add the profile (.prf) and task (.tsk) files from the previous version as well.

I name the directory containing the SD card image, i.e. the programs, data, manuals and shell.ini file, to reflect what's in it. For instance, an SD card image using LK8000 2.3p is put in a directory called sd_lk8_23p.

This makes it easy to check the installation before putting it into the PNA by running LK8000-PC.exe. I use Linux rather than Windows but can run the LK8000-PC.exe version under Wine, a Windows emulator.

You can do the same thing under Windows by double clicking LK8000-PC.exe. LK8000-PC should always run but it won't find the data files unless you've put the LK8000 directory in a specific place. The following is known to work:

1. Create an 'SD card image' folder in My Documents, e.g. sd_lk8_23p if I'm installing LK8000 2.3p.
2. Unzip the LK8000 distribution zip file into it
3. Add the airspace, polars, maps and turnpoint files into the appropriate subfolders in the LK8000 folder.
4. Optionally add the profile (.prf) and task (.tsk) files from a previous SD card image into the _Configuration and _Tasks folders respectively.
5. Add a copy of the shell.ini file into the 'SD card image' folder.

You can now run LK8000 by double clicking the LK8000-PC.exe program in the LK8000 folder, but remember to run it in 'Simulate' mode unless you happen to have a GPS receiver with a clear view of the sky attached to one of your PC's COM ports!

I set up a new SD card by plugging it into a reader on the PC, deleting everything on it and then copying everything in the 'SD card image' directory onto it. This card should run immediately when its plugged into your PNA and it is cold booted.

Data sources

These data sources tell you where to get the files you'll need to use LK8000 in the UK.

Set-up notes

Once you've installed the data files on your PNA and used page 1 of System Setup to tell LK8000 the names of the files to use, there are a few settings on other pages that you'll probably need to change to get it working correctly. The rest can be left on the system defaults until you've flown with it a few times and know what you'd like to alter. For instance, I fly over a flat landscape, so I turn the terrain display off because the default white background gives the display more contrast, but this means that I have to change the overlay letters to black to make them easier to read. I also prefer the bottom ribbon to have black letters on a light grey background.

The essential changes are:

• On page 2 [Airspace], make sure that Airspace display is set to 'Auto' or the screen will show all airspace all the time. This can make the screen almost unreadable if you're near a major airport.
• On page 5 [Glide computer], Auto wind needs to be set to 'Circling' if your vario can't supply airspeed information to LK8000: this requires both a vario that can output this data and a serial input on your PDA or PNA to accept it. The other modes, 'zig-zag' and 'both' don't work without this data.
• If LK8000 can't find the GPS, go to page 8 [Devices], which lets you change the com ports. Setting both to be a Generic serial port on COM7 working at 4800 baud works on my Binatone B350 PNA. If you have a Myguide 4228, set the com ports to COM7 at 57600 baud.

Upgrading

• Take copies of your data files and put them on your hard drive, i.e. not on the SD card. By "data files" I mean your:
  • airspace
  • configuration
  • map
  • polar
  • tasks
  • waypoint
  files. Its a good idea to do this anyway in case your SD card gets lost or damaged.
• Delete everything on the SD card.
• Install the new LK8000 version as described above.
• Put your data files back in the appropriate subdirectories.

Be sure to read the installation instructions that come with the new LK8000 version and don't restore any files it tells you to ignore.

Support

• You can get the latest version of LK8000 from the LK8000 website.
• LK8000 does not need the GRecordDll.dll to generate G records.
• WINE can be used to run the Windows version of LK8000 on a PC running Linux. This should also allow you to run it on a Mac under OS X but I haven't tried it. See Installing Wine on Max OS X for details.
• For further help in setting up SD cards, etc. you can contact me. If you prefer it, I can supply preloaded SD cards or update an existing one.