OpenTom – Roll Your Own TomTom Distro


TomTom already runs Linux. The OpenTom project (Internet Archive Link as of 2022) has documented the hardware and software to allow custom software builds to run. The Wiki covers everything from build tools to hardware connections. So far, a mp3 player has been released using the build tools. Hmm, I might have to pick one up to develop on myself.

Thanks to [kniVes788] for the tip.

21 thoughts on “OpenTom – Roll Your Own TomTom Distro

  1. Ha, I’m kind of surprised my tip made it up here. I put it in while bored at work, and only half expected it to even be seen.

    I was looking for a reason to justify my buying the tomtom, and this really seems like a reason. The 910, though expensive, could be made into an entire mini-linux enabled system. It has alot of potential I think.

    Wardriving on it would be the killer app though.

  2. I have a tomtom and although its great for GPS, the MP3 player functionality of OpenTom is quite awful. It doesnt save your playlists from one session to the next, and it is painful to add playlissts as you have to add one MP3 at a time, can’t add whole directories and it has trouble playing things with low bitrates (like audiobooks). If anyone can (or has!) developed something that does these things, it would be quite incredible!

  3. @2 — I agree. The linux kernel has been so important in the consumer device world that it would be terrific to see a “built on linux” sticker on these devices. I think such a campaign would go a long way toward consumer adoption of the OS.

  4. That is certainly an interesting idea. They had “Intel Inside”, so why not a similar advertisement campaign for devices that use the Linux kernel?

    Of course, I guess the issue is the lack of one large entity controlling and pushing to get the kernel into as many devices as possible. Intel had a whole advertising department that came up with and implemented the stickers.

    Best they could do with Linux would be to amend something onto the license. “All embedded devices using the Linux kernel must clearly display clever stickers.” Worth a shot.

  5. @7 — you’re almost there. You’re right in comparing it to “Intel Inside” — that was a brilliant campaign and set AMD back years. AMD did ultimately gain through a superior product line (at least briefly) but it took a long time.

    Intel Inside actually made consumers care about having a particular kind of processor when in fact it make no difference to 99% of them.

    The only place you lose me is when you want to amend the agreement to force the issue. I think if you did something a like a small, understated version of the penguin with a ‘built on linux’ slogan you could get plenty of volunteer compliance.

  6. Hey I also posted the opentom project to hackaday. THe only problem is you either have your tomtom act as a satnav product or an MP3 player, it cant do both together which seems a bit pointless, dont you think???

  7. @9: It looks as though, in the screenshot, there is functionality to run the GPS and the mp3 player without a reflash…
    @10: The mp3 player is just a proof of concept, not to be taken seriously as of yet

  8. Anyone fancy making a tomtom software that will data log for track use… so you can download data from the TomTom onto your computer and get things like lap times, top speeds, track, track lines…

    I cant find anyone else that has done it, and im not too good at coding with Linux, so someone out there must be able to do it.

  9. if you’re looking for a map, good luck. Seriously.

    To the linux thing, that is awesome. I remember I had a sanyo easystreet that did the same thing, except with windows. ran windows ce 5? i think? and I used miopocket to give me a decent GUI, although the basic windows 98 style GUI was available. Very cool tech.

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