GPS shopping tips?

[Michael Jinks <mjinks@uchicago.edu>]

Hi all.

As a motorcycle enthusiast, I've got an itch for a GPS unit that will
mount on my handlebars and save me from ever trying to fold a road map
again.  Not to mention my propensity for getting lost.

As a Free Software enthusiast, I'm wary of electronic doo-dads which
won't talk to my Debian boxen, or which will do so only to limited
extent.  I'd hate to buy a spiffy new GPS unit only to find that I've
just paid for a bunch of features that I'll only be able to use if I set
up a Winders box.  For example I hear that the Garmin line comes with a
Windows app which lets you view maps, plot routes and so forth, and send
data back and forth from the GPS over USB.

I did find gpstrans (http://sourceforge.net/projects/gpstrans), which is
encouraging.  Has anyone had experience with this or any other
GNU-friendly means of managing a GPS device?  Any brand preferences,
gotchas, or other words of advice?  My googling efforts thus far have
been mostly inconclusive.

Thanks much,
--michael
-- 
# Michael Jinks, IB # JFI/MRSEC/EFI Computing # University of Chicago #
      Reader!  Think not that
      technical information
      ought not be called speech;  -- Anonymous, "How to decrypt a DVD"