GPS Devices Documentation

Install GPS utilities

1. Open a terminal and install the GPS utility

On Debian/Ubuntu/Linux Mint and other distributions derived from these do:

sudo apt-get install gpsd gpsd-clients

On Arch Linux/Parabola GNU/Linux-libre/Manjaro and other similar distributions derived thereof do:

sudo pacman -Sy gpsd

On Fedora/CentOS/Redhat Enterprise Linux/Alma Linux/Rocky Linux and similar distributions derived thereof do:

sudo dnf -y install gpsd

2. See GPS data:

cgps -s
xgps

You should see something like this if it's working:

Once the device has a signal lock (it'll say 2D Fix or 3D fix) you'll see the green light start blinking on the GPS USB module. It can also blink prior to getting a signal lock as well, and if your indoors it may have difficulty getting a signal lock. Best to go outside for your initial testing.

video demo

Notes: You might need to do the following on older releases and/or other distributions:

Modify /etc/default/gpsd to include /dev/ttyACM0 in DEVICES="" section:

sudo sed -i 's/DEVICES=\"\"/DEVICES=\"\/dev\/ttyACM0\"/' /etc/default/gpsd

Note: You may need to do:

sudo modprobe cdc_acm usbserial