GPS Advisor

Portable GPS manufacturer Garmin has posted the source code for its Linux-based Nuvi 8xx and 5xxx series portable in-car GPS devices on its Web site.

Rumours circulated earlier this year that these devices were based on embedded Linux, but Garmin had said that "the information about the operating system of Garmin devices is considered proprietary". Under the GNU General Public License 2, under which the Linux kernel is licensed, anyone distributing this code must also make the source available.

However, the company has now made this information available publicly on its Linux Source Code page.

The page allows you to download the source code used by version 3.70 and 3.80 of the Nuvi 5xxx series, as well as versions 2.60, 2.70, and 2.80 of the Nuvi 8xx series.

The downloadable files are bzip2-compressed tarballs.

As yet, no models in the 5xxx or 8xx series have been released in Australia.