MapSource/EEEPC

How to install MapSource on an EEEPC

The Problem

The problem is two-fold:

MapSource

Garmin's MapSource product epitomizes the "one size fits all" mentality of PC software producers in that there are no options whatsoever in the 2009-era products when it comes to installing them. You'd simply better have twice the size of the product available as free space on your main drive or you're stuffed.

Twice the size as any updates are, so called, self-executing binaries which mean in practice they exist solely to unpack themselves to your TEMP folder then install themselves to your %SYSTEMDIR% folder which are almost certainly on the same drive.

The NT European 2009 mapping product is 2GB so you'll need 4GB for any updates.

The EEEPC

The EEEPC 901 XP is a great little product but little is the word. The stock C: is 4GB and the stock D: is only 8GB.

Once you've put Windows XP onto C:, even if it's straight off the restore CD, you're left with a little over 2GB.

The Old Solution

The solution I used before this -- before my keyboard died and in attempting to figure things out I trashed the OS -- involved some funky code to perform directory mounts much like Unix to redirect disk accesses off to a different drive.

When I came to repeat the install, I found that not only could I not remember what that solution was but MapSource was installing the maps to a different location on disk (C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\GARMIN as opposed to the C:\Garmin I vaguely recalled).

Time to revisit the problem. There must be an easier way.

The Solution

I've started from having literally just run the restore CD with Software Updates disabled. If you start letting Windows do any patching or other downloads you'll run out of space pretty quickly and have to start looking at solutions like XPlite.

One of the reasons I've just rerun the restore CD is that in the end, XPLite can only do so much.

So, a barebones, unpatched, non-downloading XP install leaves us with a little over 2GB on C:. Now we can get to work.

(Optional) Remove as much unnecessary cruft from Windows as you can. Do you really need StarOffice, Microsoft Works, Skype etc.? Obviously, if you do, leave them in!
We'll change the TEMP instance so that as the updates are unpacked they unpack onto a drive that has some space on it.

It turns out that the 2009 product installs use the user's TEMP environment variables but we might as well change all of them:
1. create a TEMP folder on D:
2. change all four TEMP/TMP environment variables (both the user's and system) in Control Panel > System > Advanced > Environment Variables
Install the standard MapSource map.

MapSource will be installed to C:\Garmin and C:\Program Files\Garmin and the NT EU 2009 maps will be stored in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\GARMIN\Maps\City Navigator Europe NT 2009.gmap

That City Navigator Europe NT 2009.gmap directory is our problem, weighing in at some 1.87GB. Too much!
Run MapSource just to make sure it's been installed correctly.

Were you to look in the registry it will reference an Installed instance pointing at C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\GARMIN\Maps\City Navigator Europe NT 2009.gmap but you can't just change that as there are several GUIDs that refer to the same thing. Aargh!
Copy the City Navigator Europe NT 2009.gmap folder to D:. For cleanliness (OCD?) you might want to create a D:\Garmin to put it in.
Here's the trick -- and note it only works for the final .gmap folder:
1. Delete the City Navigator Europe NT 2009.gmap folder on the C: drive.
  
  Those of a nervous disposition might want to simply rename it while testing which is fine but don't forget to delete it as the whole point is it's wasting almost 2GB of precious space on C:. We won't be able to install any updates!
2. Right-click in Explorer and select New > Shortcut then browse to wherever you put the City Navigator Europe NT 2009.gmap on D: and select it and when prompted keep the name as City Navigator Europe NT 2009.gmap.
3. Now run MapSource again and it should be none the wiser that you've shifted the maps across drives.
(Optional) For any updates you'll need the TEMP variables pointing at D: so the self-executing binary has somewhere to put itself as it self-expands and you'll still need the 2GB in C: as there's still no option to put the maps directly onto D:!
1. Install the update.
2. Run MapSource and check it has been installed correctly!
3. Perform the same trick as before:
  1. Copy the new map product from C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\GARMIN\Maps onto D:. My update's map is called City Navigator Europe NT 2009.11.gmap
  2. Delete the original on C:
  3. Create the shortcut pointing to your copy on D:.

Tidying Up

As an interesting aside, having installed MapSource and the maps and shuffled everything about I was left with about 2GB of free space on C:.

I then let the Automatic Updates rip and an hour or two later I had 330MB left on C:. Something like 1.5GB of space has been sucked into the combination of patch download and backout information. Much like the update maps, you have the size of the download in one place and then the backed out versions of the code in another, ie. double the space wasted.

This is where you want to be bold and run XPlite to tidy up.

Under the Shrink tab it will delete all the patch backout folders (C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB...$ but, if you didn't "Delete to Recycle Bin," it will complain that Windows has locked the files in C:\SoftwareDistribution -- some 700MB still needs to go.

The files you want to delete are in C:\SoftwareDistribution\Download but you may still have a problem and may need to stop the BITS service temporarily. Even then you still can't delete them directly (SHIFT-DEL) but have to send them to the recycle bin first.

Obviously, having deleted all the Windows Update and backout information there is a finite risk that things could go horribly wrong. YMMV.

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