How to Unlock Chicago 8000 GPS
One of my forum readers has come up with a way to unlock a Chicago 8000 GPS. If you happen to have a Chicago 8000 GPS, you can follow the instructions in this thread . Thank you Jackwang878!
Navigon 2100 Accessories
Navigon 2100 (Mobile Navigator 6) Skins
My Navigon 2100 comes with Mobile Navigator 6 preinstalled. Like MioMap 3.3, you can change the skin of it. The file is in MN6 directory and it’s called MN6ResourcesBinary.res . There is an active thread discussing the skin for Navigon 2100 on GpsPasSion.com. If you have time, you can read through the 100+ pages of discussion. There is another thread dedicated to just the finished skins. This is where I got the skins for my package. You can download more skins from this thread.
I modified a script that does skin switching for MioMap 3.3 to work with Mobile Navigator 6. Therefore, you can switch the skin from within Navigon 2100. You can find the script in my Navigon unlock package. The script is called tweaks.mscr in the Script directory on the storage card. If you want to add more skins, just create a separate directory for each skin under Skins directory and put the MN6ResourcesBinary.res file in that directory.
Here are the screenshots of the skins I included in release 4.2.
350Z by BLUE
Mini Cooper by josephgullett
L0st3 by L0stS0ul
Superman by cajnape
How to Unlock a Mio C230 Bought in Mexico
I helped one forum user to modify my Navigon unlock package to use in a Mio C230. The default navigation software is Destinator. The original thread is here.
Note that the tweaks application is only for Navigon 2100. Please just ignore it.
How to Unlock Navigon 2100
I am going to post a series of articles about unlocking and customizing Navigon 2100 GPS. Note that unlocking is a process to enable your Windows CE based GPS to run other programs not intended by the manufacturers. It is possible to run other Navigation software like iGo or TomTom on Navigon if you own the software. However, this blog and the associate forum are not for discussing how to obtain the unlicensed software and maps. Any questions about illegal downloads will be either ignored or deleted.
This is my first unlock release for Navigon 2100. It’s release 4.2 because it’s based upon my Mio C230 release 4.1. What’s new is My Apps (WolfNCU) which lets you add your own programs to the desktop easily. A skins swticher is also included for you to switch skins for MN6.
Other Articles Related to Navigon 2100
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How to Unlock Navigon 2100 Release 4.2
This is my first unlocking guide for Navigon 2100. It is base upon the Mio C230 unlock release 4.1. What’s new is My Apps (WolfNCU) which lets you add your own programs to the desktop easily. A skins swticher is also included for you to switch skins for MN6.
BEFORE YOU FOLLOW THE PROCEDURES TO MODIFY YOUR PNA. YOU KNOW THAT YOU MIGHT RENDER YOUR PNA UNUSABLE AND YOU MIGHT VOID YOUR WARRANTY. YOU DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISKS. THE FOLLOWING STEPS HAVE BEEN TESTED ON US MODEL OF NAVIGON 2100 ONLY. THEY ARE NOT MEANT FOR NAVIGON 2100 PURCHASED IN OTHER COUNTRIES EVEN THOUGH THEY MIGHT WORK.
Background
Before you begin, make sure you read the post entirely and you have no questions about each step. A little background might help you understand what you are doing. At startup, Navigon executes autorunce.exe which invokes MN6, the navigation software for Navigon. We just change the name of the original autorunce.exe and put our unlocking script in its place. This way we trick the Navigon to run the unlocking script.
Step by Step Instructions
- Put the SD card that comes with Navigon into your computer’s card reader. If you don’t have a SD card reader, you can connect your Navigon to the computer directly using a mini-USB cable(not included).
- Change the file autorunce.exe on the SD card to autorunec.exe.
- Download the zip file from here.
- Unzip the file and copy everything to the SD card. Note that if you already have a Skins directory, just copy the content of Skins directory to your existing Skins directory. Here is a screenshot of the folders and files on the storage card’s root directory.
- Put the SD card back to the unit. Turn it off completely by pressing and holding the power button for a few seconds.
- Turn on Navigon 2100 by pressing the power button and holding it for a few seconds. A dialog pops up telling you the unlock is done and begging for donation.
Click on OK to continue.
Mini Manual
There are 3 desktops included in this package. You can use the left and right arrows on the lower right corner to switch between the desktops. The top row and bottom row are the same for each desktop. The top row from left to right:
- Restart: Restarts the unit.
- Toggle Screen Orientation: Toggles the screen between landscape or portrait mode.
- Taskbar: It’s not working at this time. If you know how to get this to work, please share the info.
- Toggle Keyboard: Toggles MioTool(keyb.exe) which you can use to open an on-screen keyboard. You need a stylus to us it. Make sure the cursor is in the input field of the window when you use it. Tap the ab icon again to close the on-screen keyboard.
- Volume: Changes the volume. The default volume is set to maximum. You can use this to change volume before playing a game with sound like Tetris.
The bottom row from left to right:
- GPS: Invokes MN6.
- Media: Invokes TCPMP. This is a versatile media player. It plays various video formats and MP3. It can also be used to view photos. I added the plugin to play FLV video downloaded from YouTube or other flash video sites. Plugins for playing Podcast video are also included.
- FileMan CE: Invokes FileMan CE, a file manager for CE devices. You can use it to launch other programs not on the desktop or manage files.
Main Desktop
- Paint: Invokes PocketPaint. This is a simple paint program.
- Calculator: Invokes MyCalculator. To exit out MyCalculator, tap About and then the “X” in the about screen.
- Photos: Invokes GQe. You can use it to view photos on the storage card.
- Notes: Invokes NotePad, a notepad program for creating/viewing text files.
- Tweaks: Tweaks Management. I have modified a MioMap Skins switcher to switch MN6 skins.
- uBook: uBook reader. It can open HTML, TXT, RTF, PDB and PRC (not secure) ebook files. A free Webster dictionary is included. I don’t know if anyone is interested in reading a dictionary, but it’s there.
- NoniGPSPlot: A straight line GPS application.
- XnViewPocket: Image viewing application. You can use it for photo slide show.
- My Apps: If you want to add your own programs, this is the place.
Games Desktop
In this desktop, there are a lot of new games. Most of the games are from XFlib. If you like the games, please consider a donation to their site. You can download a lot more games from the site. Some games run in portrait mode. Ameridan has come up with a way using scripts to rotate the screen automatically. I have borrowed the scripts to run these games.
- Lights On: Invokes LightsON. The goal of the game is to turn all lights on.
- Free Cell: Invokes FreeCell, a poker game.
- Sudoku: A Sudoku game from XFlib.
- Caisses: A Sukoban clone game from XFlib.
- HexaVirus: My personal favorite from XFlib. Your goal is to active every virus in 30 moves or less.
- Aquella: A JezzBall-like game from XFlib.
- BallBreaker: An interesting game from XFlib to test your reflexes. All the balls are shooting at your cursor. Try to lure the balls to hit the block(s) and break them.
- SmartMahjongg: My favorite PocketPC game. It’s now possible now that we have .Net compact framework 3.5. The game is a bit slow to load, please be patient. If you like it, please consider a donation. This is the author’s site.
- Tetris: A classic Tetris game. Click on the block to rotate it. Click on the left or right side of the window to move the block.
- Shift: Another game from XFlib. Click on the border of the screen to move the blocks that can move in the direction. When 3 or more of the same block form, they disappear.
Utilities Desktop
- RegEdit: Registry editor for your PNA.
- iTaskMgr: Shows you CPU, Process and Task(Application) info. You can use this to terminal a process or switch to an application.
- Move: Utility to move windows around.
- DPMS: Turn your screen off.
- Resinfo: Invokes Resinfo. It shows you some resources informations for your device. Kinda like task manager in Windows. You can use it to terminate applications or processes.
- Restart: Restarts PNA. Use this when an application crashes or after you load new files to the SD card.
- Rotate: Rotates the screen counter-clockwise by 90 degrees.
- Snapshot: Invokes CapScrUtil. A screen capture utility. Remember to store the image to either Storage Card or My Flash Disk for easy access to the screenshots.
- Settings: Invokes Control Panel. Note that some of the settings might mess up your unit. Please use it with caution.
- SirfTech: Utility to manage settings for GPS. Can be used to turn off static navigation. This program is NOT included in the package. Please download it from the author’s site.
Note
- I have not found a way to terminate MN6 gracefully. Therefore, a utility called WolfToolbar is included for quiting MN6. WolfToolbar is executed first every time you try to start MN6. You can exit out MN6 by clicking on WolfToolbar icon and then click on Task. This brings up the task manager, you then click on Process tab and select MN6.exe to terminate it. If you think WolfToolbar is really annoying and you don’t want to use it, find the file MioNav.mscr in the Script directory and delete the line that says
Run ("\Storage Card\Script\wolftoolbar.exe") - If you want to use your own background image, just create a 320×240 bitmap file. Put them in the Script\desktop directory. Edit the ini files in the directory to use the bitmap file you created. main.ini is for Main desktop, gmaes.ini is for Games desktop and utilities.ini is for Utilities desktop. Change the variable BackgroudBitmap to point to the new file.
- If you want to change or add the icons(shortcuts) on the desktop, you can do so by editing the files in note #2. An icon entry is like this.
ICONXPBUTTON x = 0 y = 95 Command = \Storage Card\Script\your_program.exe SizeNormal =64 SizePushed =64 ScaleAlpha = 80 IconNormal = icons\youricon.ico ScaleAlpha = 100 IconPushed = icons\youricon.ico
- When you have the program and icon(64×64) ready, copy the program to Script directory and copy the icon to Script\desktop\icons directory and modify the variable Command, IconNormal and IconPushed. Note that you have to use absolute path for Command, but use relative path for IconNormal and IconPushed. If you follow this rule, you can use the included SystemInformation32.exe in that directory to test the desktops on your computer. This tool is very useful for those who like to change the desktops frequently. I have commented out some of the ICONXPBUTTON sections on the ini files. If you want to use them, remove the # signs in front of the lines.
- If you experience programs with your unit, you can hard reset the machine using the power button on the top.
- The use of unlicensed maps is illegal. Please don’t ask me where can you get maps not licensed for your device or how can you get MN6 to recognize the unlicensed maps. Any question regarding unlicensed maps will either be deleted or ignored.
Backing Off
If you don’t like it the way it is, you want to undo everything. It’s very easy to revert back to the factory state, just delete all the files you copied to your unit and rename the autorunec.exe back to autorunce.exe. Hard reset your unit afterward.
If you find my articles useful and you would like me to continue this project, please consider making a donation to my site. Thank you!
[Update:] If you have questions about the unlock guide, please visit our forum.
Navigon 2100 at a Glance
I saw a great deal for Navigon 2100 on Staples.com . After discount, easy rebate and coupon, the total comes to about $84.00. The price is excellent for a GPS with TTS (Text to speech). The shipping is fast, too. I ordered it on Tuesday and it arrived on Wednesday.
It came in a very tiny box.
It has all the accessories for an automotive GPS. What’s interesting is a sticker saying this GPS is PIN protected. I don’t know if this is enough to deter the thieves. I am not going to leave my GPS in my unattended again after my first GPS got stolen.
The surface of the Navigon is shiny and looks great initially. However, it’s very easy to get your figer prints all over the surface.
This is a shot with Mio C230. Navigon 2100 is thinner but broader than C230. The built quality is good and it also has bigger speaker on the back. A 2GB SD card is included with 48 states maps.
This is how it look in the mount. Note that it’s kinda hard to get the unit off the mount. You need to bend the holding bracket quite a bit to get it out. I am afraid that I might break the bracket someday.
The package does not include a printed manual. You have to visit the company’s web site and download it. Be sure to register your unit. I got a link to a free update which includes the latest maps right after my registration.
One major advantage over Mio C230 is the Navteq maps. Almost all the new roads in my neighborhood are included. How does it do about navigation? I took it out for several short trips and found it performs very well. I have read some complaints about routing problems, but I only experienced this problem when I accidentally select a very nearby destination. From my understanding, you can fine tune how it routes, I will post my findings once I learn more.
Unlocking Navigon is very simple. They put everything on the SD card, it’s easy to identify the autorun executable. I have successfully modified my unlocking scripts for Mio C230 to be used on this unit. I will publish the whole package once I get the kinks out of it.
OCN 8 Is Finally Out
I wrote a post about OCN 8 back in May. It was long over due at that time. Now, 4 months later, it’s finally ready to ship. The estimate ship date is 9/19/2008.
The regular price for OCN 8 on a 2GB microSD card is $75.00. BuyGPSNow.com has a sale going on right now. If you purchase it before 9/30/2008, the price is $59.95. Click here for the direct link. Shipping is $8.00 to US. The price is better than I expected.
It looks promising, but there is a potential problem. This version does NOT support PNA or PND like Mio C230 that we love. It is only compatible with PDAs and SmartPhones running Windows Mobile OS. Here is a short list of compatible devices.
Free Map Update for Mio Moov and Knight Rider GPS
Mio Tech has just announced a special one-time offer for one Free Map Update for Mio Moov and Knight Rider GPS customers, who purchased a unit between 4/1/2008 and 1/20/2009.
You must register first, otherwise you have to purchase it later on. Please see this page for details. They have a new web site up for registration.
There is no mention about updates for older GPS, maybe we should complain to Mio Tech.
How to Update SpeedCam File for MioMap 3.3
It’s been a while for me to write something about Mio C230. Some of you might notice the recent posts about iPhone. I have not forgotten about my little Mio C230 yet. It’s just that I don’t have much time to cover both topics.
Anyway, remember that I wrote a post about updating the speedcam file for Mio C230. The file was compiled back in 2007 and it has not been updated since then. I thought it’s time to get an updated file. This time, I’ll tell you a way to generate the file using free download from a web site. As long as the site keeps updating the file, the data should be accurate.
- Visit this site. Click on the Download button to download the file.
- Click on iGo 8 Text Format on the next screen. Name the file speedcam.txt .
- Connect your Mio GPS to the computer using a USB cable. The device shows up as a drive (Mio Device).
- Browse to the folder MioMap\MioMap\POI\SPEEDCAM on the Mio Device. If you have previous file in the folder, make a backup and then either delete it or rename it.
- Copy speedcam.txt to this location.
- Disconnect the GPS. (You might want to do safely remove the mass storage device before you disconnect it.)
The next time you run MioMap, you can see the speedcams on your map.
Notes:
- If you have previously added some customary speedcams, the info is lost if you follow this guide to update the file.
- The downloaded file includes both red light cameras and speed traps.