Technical questions on garmin nuvi 205w

1. According to Garmin, no, but I don't think this is accurate. I purchased the Canada maps on SD card and there was no activation or anything on my unit, so theoretically, I should be able to move the card to another unit and they would still work. However, downloaded maps are unit specific and can't be downloaded to a card that will work in more than one unit.

2. the 205w does have a limited pedestrian mode, but other than that, you can't give it more features than it came with (TTS, etc.)

3. No, you will need to purchase the SD card or Downloadable maps for Canada to get AK and Canada.

4. Any mini-usb cable will work, though I would be cautious about third party chargers.

5. NTbackup will back up the file/folder structure which may help to recover deleted files, but this will not suffice for backing up the firmware on the internal ROM chip.

6. Presumably, it is just like a flash memory device (USB drive, SD card, etc.) just that it is built in and not upgradeable. The 205 and 205w typically come with 2GB of available space - though about half is already filled with maps and other necessary files.

Jeff

Quick and great answers!

If you can't tell, I'm a tech-geek. I really want to take it apart to see the 'innards', and I would love to do an image of it, and other techie stuff, but I don't want to blitz $150 for trying.

as for #2. Why? Is the hardware different between the 205, 215, 265, 275, etc.? I can understand that I can't get BT to work on it, or FM transmitter, or stuff that requires hardware and software, but TTS should be nothing more than software, shouldn't it?

#4 - what is the difference between the $28 Garmin branded one and the $5 off brand charger?

#5 - what would be a good way of having a complete backup of my nuvi's should I ever need to completely restore the unit?

#6 - nothing more than morbid curiosity about what makes it tick.

I'm a geek at heart.
I'm the type of person who 'hacked' my TiVo to a 500gb drive instead of the 80gb it came with. Why? Because I could....and no other reason. I like a challenge, but a challenge that will benefit me in some way. Admitedly though, I have never used more than 80gb on my TiVo...but you never know I guess.

I've hacked my car to install USB and a 110 outlet into it - just cause I could

I hacked my laptop so that I could upgrade from vista to XP pro.

I made a custom cable so that I could use a european phone in the US.

I don't have tape in the middle of my glasses

When things break, I like to take them apart to see if I can fix them. Sometimes I can, sometimes I can't.

....anyway....thanks again all!

I don't think any of us on these boards have a whole lot of experience with the "innards" of these units. It might be best to think of the abilities as being limited by the CPU. Let's make the case it uses true firmware for the OS - ROM rather than RAM. You can't change the OS without changing the actual firmware which would be chips. So, effectively even if the processor could support it, the ROM code won't allow it.

I, and many others have had great experience using third party chargers. I use the one for my Motorola Bluetooth headset which puts out a maximum of 500 ma, about the same as the USB port on the PC.

The only thing you can back up is what is in the user addressable portion of the unit memory. Several people have reported they were able to restore damaged or inadvertently deleted files from the backup. You can't access the OS or its files in that portion of memory.

The only other point I will make is good luck on your endeavors. If you figure out how to get into the protected memory and change the OS to one that will support those features you want to add, more power to you. However - here it comes - Miss Poi does not allow discussions on how to hack a unit in these forums. Right now, we are on fairly solid ground because we are answering questions about things available to anyone, but crossing the line and discussing how to add features to a unit that doesn't have them, then the discussion would be terminated and the entries deleted.

As good a way as any is just copy the contents of the Nuvi's internal storage drive to a folder on your PC. You can also use Windows Backup or any other backup program you normally use. It's just a Fat32 formatted drive your copying the contents of.

Not sure how important it is but you should have file extensions visible and showing hidden file in Windows to be sure you copy all the files that maybe on your Nuvi's drive.

An entirely legal discussion of hacks to your unit can be found on gpspassion.com

is tehre a file with ALL pois on here?