New GO 2505?TM vs. Go720

[45charlie]

Yes that is what I was told.

 

[mikealder]

once they iron out the switch to the Linux file system from a Windows based file system.

There is no switch ,all the TomTom PND units have used Linux since the very first device was released, if someone from TomTom CS has told you that some "linux related switch" is responsible for issues with the new kit then I would question what they were smoking at the time they replied.

No TomTom PND has ever been Windows OS based - Mike

 

[canderson]

No TomTom PND has ever been Windows OS based - Mike

Not that it matters at all to the post in question, but it did occur to me that they could and probably did go from the Microsoft FAT32 system to the native Linux system. Linux supports FAT32, but doesn't have to use it as has been the case until now. The only reason for using it before was to get the needed connectivity to a PC in "external disk / storage" mode. They certainly don't need that on the 1XXX and 2XXX units since there's no support for that anyway.

 

[mvl]

The app 9.x models used Fat32, an MS file system, without paying MS a license.

MS sued, and one of the terms of the settlement was that Tomtom would stop using Fat32 within 2 years. App 10.x therefore can't use Fat32, and probably uses Linux ext2 (but we don't know).

 

[45charlie]

The tech knew what he was talking about but didn't elaborate on the "why" they switched. He said they used Linux file system in previous units but that they had to go to Linux in the new units because of incomparability with their Home app.
I also talked to a female tech who said they had no issues at all. She was definitely smoking something ! I know my 2505 doesn't have an up to date map based on comparing it to my 920 7 month old map !
I rarely buy something based on future promises but I am taking my chances on this unit ! I have been stung on high end computers too many times over the years !

 

[mikealder]

MS sued, and one of the terms of the settlement was that Tomtom would stop using Fat32 within 2 years. App 10.x therefore can't use Fat32, and probably uses Linux ext2 (but we don't know).

Strange that the iPhone app still has all the usual files and folder names that you would be used to seeing and it handles normal file names, it is hidden from view though unless you deliberately go looking - Mike

 

[gatorguy]

Good catch Mike. Perhaps TomTom's recent change to web-based support isn't about FAT32 at all. Then again, who knows? Maybe they're trying to sneak their iPhone app past Microsoft.

 

[canderson]

Good catch Mike. Perhaps TomTom's recent change to web-based support isn't about FAT32 at all. Then again, who knows? Maybe they're trying to sneak their iPhone app past Microsoft.

The web based support needn't (whether it did or not is another story) have had anything to do with FAT32 at all. TomTom could still have written an application to talk to a Linux file system based TT connected by USB. It just wouldn't have looked the same to the PC (wouldn't have looked like a standard mass storage device as previous units have done).

As for the files and folders on the iPhone, they can continue to use exactly the same folder structure under another OS using that OS's means for storing files. In fact, under the hood, the new 1XXX and 2XXX models could have exactly the same file/folder structure within a Linux file system as we're used to seeing via FAT32 -- just that they don't make it visible to the end user now.

 

[mvl]

My guess is that Fat32 on the iPhone is covered by Apple's license.

 

[canderson]

My guess is that Fat32 on the iPhone is covered by Apple's license.

? Can you plug an iPhone into a Mac and have it show up as a FAT32 storage device? Guess what I'm asking .. what FAT32 on an iPhone? (Not an iPhone or iPhone/TT user, but surprised that it would use that).

 

[offthegrid]

TomTom has always been Linux based. Linux has used Fat32 without an issue till this. There is no money for them to go after ubuntu or any of the Linux variations so they never bothered.

I know when the TomTom/MS war started the Linux people were talking about finally building their own system instead of using FAT32.

TomTom fights Microsoft FAT32 lawsuit with suit of its own



"The suit comes several weeks after Microsoft first sued TomTom for various patent infringements on its navigation system, as well as two patents that cover Microsoft's FAT32 filesystem. Because some of TomTom's products are Linux-based, Microsoft's suit is believed to be the first time that Microsoft has directly targeted a Linux product with patent litigation.

Microsoft's FAT patents have been vigorously challenged in the past, but were finally upheld in 2006. Columbia University law professor and the chairman of the Software Freedom Law Center, Eben Moglen, once described the FAT patents as a "proverbial Sword of Damocles hanging over the open source community" and warned that Microsoft could use them to do immense damage to the Linux platform. Indeed, it seems as if Microsoft is going for the gullet with its suit against TomTom, though the Open Invention Network (OIN) may retaliate with its own massive arsenal of software patents if Microsoft decides to push the issue."