Magellan Maestro 3100

 

This is to document some of the modifications I have been able to do to my Magellan Maestro 3100.

 

Some of the Magellan Maestro 3100 specifications include:

  1. Has a 320 x 240 pixel color display, diagonal size 3.5 inches,
  2. Uses an ARM 920T processor running at 400 MHz,
  3. 750 thousand points of interest (POI),
  4. Runs Windows CE 5.0

 

BEFORE YOU FOLLOW THE PROCEDURES TO MODIFY YOUR MAGELLAN MAESTRO 3100, YOU KNOW THAT YOU MIGHT RENDER YOUR 3100 UNUSABLE AND YOU MIGHT VOID YOUR WARRANTY. YOU DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISKS. Ok, enough of that. Here is what I have been able to do. I will start with the easier and less risky modifications and progress up to more radical modifications that I have been able to do.

 

A.   Backup Your Magellan 3100

 

  1. Turn on the 3100 and connect it to the computer using the USB cable (included in the package). (I did not load Magellan’s software from the included disk.)
  2. The 3100 shows up as a flash drive. Mine is assigned as the F drive. I’ll use F drive in the following steps. Substitute it with the actual drive letter of your system.
  3. Back up all of the files on the F drive. Keep them in a safe place in case you make any mistakes or want to return the 3100 to its original configuration.

 

B.   Personalize Your Magellan 3100

 

  1. Turn on the 3100 and connect it to the computer using the USB cable.
  2. Replace or edit the splash screen. Using your favorite image editor, edit the file F:\APP\TNShell_Bitmap\Venus2\SplashScreen_V2_Animation1.bmp. (There is another splash screen file - SplashScreen_V2_Animation2.bmp – but I am not sure when it is used.)
  3. Disconnect the 3100. The device should soft reset automatically.
  4. Test your modification – if the splash screen did not show up with the soft reset, use a paper clip or something similar to push the reset button on the side.

 

The size of the image should be 320 x 240 pixels. If your file is too small, it be put in the upper left hand corner of the display and the rest of the display will be black. If the file is too big, it will be truncated– the image’s upper left 320 x 240 pixels are displayed. I have added my name and address to my splash screen, in case it should become misplaced then there would be a chance of it being returned.

 

C.   Move the Map Files to a SD Card

 

  1. Buy a 2 GB or maybe bigger SD card. The Magellan documentation is not specific on the maximum size that the 3100 can handle or if the card has to be formatted before it is put into the 3100. Anyway, I am using a 2 GB SD card that I had formatted as FAT. (The “Backup” command saves some of the files from the F:\USR subdirectory into a subdirectory, “\backup”, on the SD card.)
  2. Turn on the 3100 and connect it to the computer using the USB cable.
  3. Now, the 3100 shows up as two flash drives. On mine the F drive was the same as before and the SD card showed up as the G drive.
  4. Make a subdirectory called “MAP” on the G drive (the SD card).
  5. Copy all of the files form the F drive (the 3100’s main flash drive) to the MAP subdirectory on the SD card. There should be four (4) files:

a.       Index.mct

b.      NRBM_NA.MGI

c.       US48.IMI

d.      US48_POI.POI

      The main map file, US48.IMI, is close to 1 GB all by itself.

  1. Copy F:\APP\Media.cfg to Media.cfg.org or something similar to make a good backup copy.
  2. Using your favorite editor, modify the Media.cfg file. Change the text that has “\HDD\MAP” to “\SDMMC Card\MAP” in three (3) locations. Note the space between SDMMC and Card. In this document I have put in a non-breaking space, so copy and past may not work. I have put a copy of my modified Media.cfg file here (right click and save):

http://goeken.homedns.org/Weather/Magellan3100/Media.cfg

 

  1. Disconnect the 3100. The device should soft reset automatically.
  2. Verify that the 3100 is functioning correctly. You may have to use the paper clip to reset.
  3. Turn the 3100 off. Remove the SD memory card. Power the 3100 back on. A popup error should say “Map Initialization Status: Please insert SD Card with map”.
  4. Turn the 3100 off. Inset the SD card and power the 3100 back on.
  5. Verify that your 3100 is functioning correctly.

 

You could modify the Media.cfg file so that you leave the map on the main drive and just put the POI on the SD card.  Then if you started the 3100 without the SD card, it may be able to do the mapping and just fail when trying to do POI stuff.  I have not had time to check out this configuration.

 

Utilizing this method one should be able to replace the map with a different or bigger map. At this point, one could delete the files in the original MAP subdirectory in order to free up a lot of space; however I have left mine there and will show you how to switch between the map and POI file on the SD card and the original files. But first, I will show how one can replace the POI file with a larger one.

 

D.   Replace the POI File

 

1.      Turn on the 3100 and do something to get a feel for the size of the POI file. For example, from the main Navigator screen, select “Points of Interest”, then select “Search By Category”. On the bottom of the “Select Category” screen, you should see the number of category matches with the original POI file. Choose a few categories and count the number of items in each category.

2.      Download the files US48_POI.part1.rar and US48_POI.part2.rar as discussed here:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=66&threadid=2120938

and found here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/71136036/US48_POI.part1.rar.html

http://rapidshare.com/files/71136036/US48_POI.part2.rar.html

3.      Follow the directions to extract the files. Note that the files are password protected. The claim is that the resulting file, called US48_POI.POI, will contain 6 million POI vs. the 750,000 POI in the original.

4.      Turn on the 3100 and connect it to the computer using the USB cable.

5.      Copy this new US48_POI.POI file to G:\MAP\US48_POI.POI. Make sure you are copying it onto the SD card.

6.      Disconnect the 3100. The device should soft reset automatically.

7.      Verify that the 3100 is functioning correctly. You may have to use the paper clip to reset. Verify that you now have additional POI. Compare with what you had done in the first step.

 

The source claims that this new POI file will not work for other Magellan models. However, I compared a binary dump of this new file with the original file from Magellan and it appeared to be in the correct format. I also have been using it with no problems. Let me know if you have any problems.

 

E.   Add the File Manager

 

  1. Turn on the 3100 and connect it to the computer using the USB cable.
  2. Notice that one can only see four (4) executables. In F:\APP you should see:
    1. Navigator.exe
    2. TNCommander.exe
    3. TNShell.exe, and
    4. UsbTransfer.exe
  1. Since Navigator.exe is the largest, I guessed that Navigator.exe is the real guts of the 3100 and is started on power up. The first part of the trick is to rename Navigator.exe to something else, I used MyNavigator.exe. Note, leave it as an executable.
  2. Download a copy of the ARM based Windows CE File Manager. I am using a copy from here:

http://bbs.100gps.com/attachment.php?aid=14343

here is another version:

http://navmanunlocked.wikispaces.com/space/showimage/FileManCE.rar

 

  1. Copy all of the files that begin with FM_ and the FileManCE.exe file to F:\APP. If the copy of the FileManCE files contains the file toolhelp.dll, I do not think you need to copy it onto the 3100. The 3100 has a copy of toolhelp.dll in its Windows directory. For me and the first source of the FileManCE files, I copied these eight (8) files into F:\APP:

a.       FileManCE.exe

b.      FM_Customize.dll

c.       FM_FileOperations.dll

d.      FM_Find.dll

e.       FM_Icons16.dll

f.        FM_Icons256.dll

g.       FM_ProcessList.dll

h.       FM_WindowList.dll

  1. The second part of the trick is to rename FileManCE.exe to Navigator.exe. Now the 3100 will start the File Manager instead of the Navigator.
  2. Carefully check your modifications.
  3. Disconnect the 3100. The device should soft reset automatically.
  4. Verify that the 3100 is functioning correctly. You may have to use the paper clip to reset. You should see the File Manager running. You may want to change some of the default settings – like font size and that you want to show hidden/system files.
  5. On the 3100, change directories until you are in \HDD\APP. Double click on MyNavigator.exe (or whatever you called it), wait a few seconds for it to start, and verify that the original features of the 3100 still work.

 

At this time you may want to add additional applications. Some small ones can fit into the \APP subdirectory. If you deleted the map or POI file, then much larger applications can go in the \APP subdirectory. Otherwise, larger applications can be put on the SD card. You can search for and down load a copy of MioC230r2.zip. This zip contains the files used to hack the MIO C230. I found a Task Manager and Regedit in it that work on the 3100.

 

I am still searching for the latest and greatest version of FileManCE that is also complete. If you know where I can get it let me know and I will update this document and install it on my 3100.

 

When you start the 3100 you may first see the File Manager and then the Warning screen to not play with the 3100 while driving.  I have seen somewhere that someone had disabled this warning screen, but I have found a way to make this modification to the 3100. If someone knows how to disable it, please let me know.

 

F.    Switching Between Map Files

 

  1. Turn on the 3100 and connect it to the computer using the USB cable.
  2. Create the subdirectory F:\Save, and then traverse into F:\Save.
  3. Create two subdirectories in F:\Save: one called HDD_Map and the second called SD_Map.
  4. Put the original Media.cfg file in F:\Save\HDD_Map – the Media.cfg file that points Navigator.exe to map and POI files on \HDD.
  5. Put the modified Media.cfg file in F:\Save\SD_Map – the Media.cfg file that points Navigator.exe to map and POI files on \SDMMC Card.
  6. Disconnect the 3100. The device should soft reset automatically.
  7. Verify that the 3100 is functioning correctly.
  8. Since the name of the file has been maintained, you can use the new File Manager to copy the needed version of the Media.cfg file into \HDD\APP.
  9. Test with and without the SD card.

 

G.  Add "The Core Pocket Media Player" (TCPMP)

 

  1. Download what I think is the final free Beta copy of TCPMP (version 0.81RC1) from here:

http://www.aximsite.com/boards/showthread.php?t=135614

  1. Extract the TCPMP files.
  2. Turn on the (modified) 3100 with a SC card installed and connect it to the computer using a USB cable.
  3. Again, the 3100 shows up as two flash drives. On mine the F drive was the same as before and the SD card showed up as the G drive.
  4. Go to the G drive (the SD card) and create a new subdirectory – I called mine “AddOn”.
  5. In this new subdirectory, create a subdirectory called “PLAYER”.
  6. Copy all of the extracted files into G:\AddOn\PLAYER”.
  7. Create a G:\Music subdirectory and put some music files in it. TCPMP handles most audio formats.
  8. Create a G:\Video and put some short video file in it. TCPMP handles most video formats.
  9. Disconnect the 3100. The device should soft reset automatically.
  10. Verify that the 3100 is functioning correctly. You may have to use the paper clip to reset. You should see the File Manager running. On the 3100, traverse to \SDMMC Card\AddOn\PLAYER. Double click player.exe.
  11. You may have to change some of the default settings of TCPMP – like use system volume and how video files are handled. Initially when I started TCPMP I had no sound, but after changing some settings, everything started working correctly.
  12. Use TCPMP’s File menu to open an audio or a video file and verify that TCPMP is working correctly.
  13. Exit TCPMP and verify that the rest of your 3100 is working correctly.

 

H.   Known Issues

 

There are still some problems with this approach.

  1. If you exit from the File Manager, you cannot do anything else until you power cycle.
  2. No keyboard input when you are in new applications.
  3. Some of the application decorations appear to be missing – i.e. the iconify and close buttons that should appear in the upper right hand corner of the application. They just look like blank buttons.
  4. There is no way to exit the Navigator and return to the File Manager.
  5. No battery indication when using the File Manager or other new application. The 3100 may power off unexpectedly.
  6. When you power down and power up, the 3100 tries to return to its last state. Sometimes the real Navigator will be running but it is “behind” the File Manager. Use the Task Manager to determine what is running and switch to the Navigator. Hopefully future hacks will provide a “Desktop”.
  7. Also since the 3100 tries to remember its last state, sometimes when you reinsert the SD card, the file manager does not show it – just traverse to another directory, then back, and the subdirectory “\SDMMC Card” should show up.
  8. I know with all my testing that I have probably put some strange things into the Windows system registry. It would be nice if there were a way to clean it up. However, on the plus side of this, my 3100 does associate audio and video files with TCPMP and I can double click on a file and it will start playing.

 

There have been times when I have noticed that the Navigator was running under the File Manager.  So I choose to exit from the File Manager and the Navigator kept running fine.

 

As discussed in some forums, the 3100 has a nasty habit of rebooting sometimes when it has to recalculate your route.  With these modifications, I do not think it will be rebooting, the (My)Navigator.exe application should just die, and you are left with the File Manager running. At which point you will have to restart the (My)Navigator.exe application manually.

 

As a result of the above idiosyncrasies, this hack is just a step toward what may become a better hack. With these modifications, one can see the entire file system and hopefully find ways to hack it better.

 

Please let me know if you have any problems with any of these modifications, if you have any better ways of doing this, or if there are any clarifications I need to make. If my links no longer work, please do a search first to find other copies of the required files. If you have problems, please, first carefully re-read the information I have provided and see if that solves your problem.

 

My 3100 has a small hole by the lower right hand corner of the display. Anyone know what this hole is for?

 

Since I see this as a living document for now, I have it hosted on a server in my house (it’s based on a (also hacked) NSLU2). If the traffic becomes too great, I may have to move it to a different server.

 

Since the Magellan 3100 uses the same CPU and same OS as the MIO line of GPSs, one can look at the hacks for the MIO series and use some of the same applications. For example, I found the file MioPlug_Play_TCPMP_V1.zip and initially used its version of TCPMP. I think it is also compatible with the Smart Phone. Some files from http://www.smartphone-freeware.com may be useful.

 

Some of the techniques used here may be applicable to other models of Magellan GPSs.

 

And finally, a link to a set of pictures (sorry the quality is bad, I will work on getting better ones when I have time and some more sleep):

http://goeken.homedns.org/Weather/Magellan3100/Pictures/

 

Enjoy,

David Goeken

dgoeken@hal-pc.org

Original: December 8, 2007