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Thanks for the replies. I was out of town with the wife. We did some geocaching with the Dakota, worked quite nicely. Anyhow..

I have not tried anything in Wine. I didn't want to have to use any kind of software to manage maps, just drag and drop the files onto the device. Last time I looked into Wine, Debian had removed it from the repos, so I'd have to compile it myself or use some sketchy package from the web.

I have several different IMG files, including the basemap that came with the device, Ibycus v4 (Ontario subset that weighs in around 400MB), and OSM Ontario, etc. As I said before, if I name them gmapbmap.img, gmapprom.img, gmapsupp.img on the device, they work fine and each map shows independently and can be enabled/disabled. I can store a single map on the SD card using the filename gmapsupp.img, and likewise, it can be enabled/disabled. I've tried using just a single map at a time in addition to the basemap, and again, it only works when named one of these specific names.

Before I had left I noticed the issue with Garmin's forums and couldn't search it at all. Now that it's fixed, I read through that thread you linked, Boyd. His problem seemed to be fixed when he removed the dozens of Ibycus tiles.. I did not do such a thing. I used the Ibycus 4.0 ISO, opened up the map set in QLandkarteGT and selected the 94-95 Ontario tiles, then exported that as a single Garmin IMG file. And my Ibycus map works perfectly, and it's probably entirely sufficient for my needs, truth be told.

So, if I can't resolve this problem, then I guess I'll be fine with just the OSM and Ibycus (which is quite good, really). It'd just have been nice to be able to have descriptive names and a higher limit to the number of maps I could store. If I can figure it out, I'd like to look at some of Garmin's offerings, and of particular interest to me is the Backroad Map Books GPS maps.

Here's a listing of all the files and directories on my Dakota:

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rivir@jadis:~$ find /media/GARMIN/
/media/GARMIN/Garmin
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/fs_image.ver
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/Garmintriangletm.ico
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/GPX
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/GPX/Waypoints_02-AUG-12.gpx
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/GPX/Current
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/GPX/Current/Current.gpx
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/BirdsEye
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/gmaptz.img
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/Profiles
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/Profiles/Automotive.gpf
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/Profiles/Fitness.gpf
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/Profiles/Geocaching.gpf
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/Profiles/Marine.gpf
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/Profiles/Profiles.ver
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/Profiles/Recreational.gpf
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/gmapbmap.img
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/ExtData
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/ExtData/006-D0952-05.bin
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/ExtData/006-D0952-06.bin
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/Text
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/CustomMaps
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/CustomSymbols
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/GarminDevice.xml
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/Filters
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/Filters/Geocache
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/Filters/Geocache/Quick Filter.gff
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/startup.txt
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/gmapbmap.sum
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/system.xml
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/.Position.gpx
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/gmapsupp.img
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/README
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/geocache_visits.txt
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/geocache_logs.xml
/media/GARMIN/Garmin/gmapprom.img
/media/GARMIN/.VolumeIcon.icns
/media/GARMIN/autorun.inf


I renamed gmapsupp.img to ibycus.img using my GUI and then checked it in the terminal, and it looks right:

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/media/GARMIN/Garmin/ibycus.img


But it does not work on the GPS. Renaming it back to gmapsupp.img using the GUI makes it work fine again.

I figured Garmin's reply might be to use their Windows software.. I was pretty clear in my email that others on the web have done what I want to do, drag and drop different maps with different names onto an SD card; the OS really shouldn't matter at all for such a task. If they want me to buy ANY of their maps, then they're going to have to tell me how to get more than one on my SD card without having to merge them into a single, slower file (thereby making updates more annoying than need be).

I knew the Dakota didn't support 3D, I just thought it might recognize and load that filename. One extra slot couldn't hurt, right? Even though it's not on the SD card.. :\

Anyhow, I downgraded to 4.10, same thing... I don't think there's much reason to go lower than that, as I'm pretty sure I saw others confirm it working with that version or newer. I really am at a loss.

Edit:

I am not having this issue with my Dakota 20, running FW 5.20

Very interesting.....

Yeah, interesting is one way to put it...

I should also add, I did try putting maps in various directories I've seen mentioned elsewhere for other devices, to no avail.

Thanks for your reply, Boyd. I appreciate your help and knowledge (I've seen you in other threads I read prior to creating this one).

As far as the internal memory goes, I didn't mention it because I want to keep all of my maps on my SD card. But I did test it and found I need to have the files named very specific names: gmapbmap.img (default world basemap, didn't overwrite it but I assume it would work), gmapprom.img, and gmapsupp.img. I had tried another one or two that didn't, like gmap3d.img and I forget what else. As mentioned before, the only name that seems to work from the SD card is gmapsupp.img.

I found the section you quoted from the GarminDevice.xml file, and it is definitely in there. So now I'm even more confused!

I had also tried editing that file (backed it up, of course) and specifying different BaseNames to see if I could force it to read a different name (or wildcard) instead of, for example, gmapsupp, but that didn't work either. I guess that file is a log of some sort rather than a configuration file.

I actually don't have access to a Windows or Mac machine right now. I work on Linux machines for work, and my local family either has no PC or asked me to convert them to Linux already.. I am fairly confident that the files aren't being renamed something wonky somehow because I believe I am pretty tech savvy, and because I can get the maps to load when I manually rename them to gmapsupp.img.

I had actually contacted Garmin support via email before I posted here, but I don't expect a reply as quickly as I could get from people like you. Besides, I didn't know if they would want to actually support me, using free alternatives to their official (and pricy) maps.

EDIT: I just thought of a couple other things to mention. When I first started out, I began with a brand new 4GB SDHC Class 4 card, put my maps on it, as well as a Geocaching.com Pocket Query GPX file. The maps weren't showing up, so I tried on an older 2GB SD card I had kicking around, and they still didn't show up... I thought there was something wrong, but then I noticed that the Geocaching stuff was being read with no problems. So I don't think it's the SD card itself, which was my first suspicion. Also, the maps I've been testing are not huge. Maybe 200MB each, max, so I don't believe there is an issue with sizes or something, especially since it doesn't work if I put just one single IMG file on there with a name other than gmapsupp.img.

I had done a lot of reading before I ordered this GPS unit, and I read several people say that you can put multiple IMG map files onto the microSD card using whatever filename you want. However, I seem to be having problems with this.

On my microSD card, I can put a file under /Garmin/ called gmapsupp.img and the GPS will list it and display it with no problems. BUT, if I change the name to anything else, for example: osmontario.img, then suddenly the unit doesn't see it anymore.

I tried various names and locations on the SD card to no avail. The only name that appears to work is /Garmin/gmapsupp.img on the SD card.

I am wondering if I need to edit something somewhere, or if I need an older firmware or what the deal is... Can anyone assist?

Model: Dakota 20
Firmware: 5.20
PC OS: Linux