Running Basecamp and Garmin Express in Linux

[colirv]

I've finally taken the plunge and ditched Microsoft. My PC and laptop now run very nicely, and quicker, on Linux Mint. I'm prepared to do all my routing on MyRouteApp, and do XT upgrades directly via WiFi. However, it seems possible to run the above two Garmin programs either through Wine or in a Windows emulator. Before I start investigating, can anyone offer hints or suggestions - ideally from their own experience? I've scoured the Linux forums and people seem to have met with mixed success.

[Mzokk]

I've used linux mint for years(since version 7)and have never found a satisfactory way of running Basecamp, Express or Mapsource for that matter using Wine and or Bottles so that the programs can run natively in Linux. I have gotten as far as as getting the programs to install but not run satisfactorily. The easiest way round this is to run a version of Windows in a VM, Dual boot Windows OS and Linux off the same drive and choose the OS using Grub at boot. Or have the two OS's running on two separate hard drives and select the OS via boot order in the BIOS or again via the GRUB boot loader. I run two laptops and a desktop at the moment. One laptop is relatively new and runs Win11 only. I have and ancient Toshiba Laptop (Circa 2012) which currently is dual booted with Linux Mint 22.2 "Mate" edition and Windows 10 with Extended Security Updates which as a private user are currently free until October 2026. This will become a Linux only machines when ESU's finish. My desktop machine runs Win11 and Linux Mint 22.2 "Cinnamon" edition on separate Hard drives with the OS selected at boot.

Why do I run two OS's? There are a few Windows programmes I can't find a satisfactory Linux or online replacement for. But for secure transactions banking etc, I prefer to use Linux.

[colirv]

Thanks Mzokk. I managed to dual boot on the laptop, but decided to go full Linux to give that a proper try. I was pleased with the result, but in retrospect I should have kept it dual booting. I tried to dual boot on my PC, but kept running foul of partitioning. In the end Windows was becoming unstable, so I bit the bullet and went for full Linux. So, I think I'll give VMware a go!

[Mzokk]

If you ever do find a way of running Basecamp under Wine/Bottles please share. If you are using Linux and want to Use/Harvest POI's QGIS is very good. It's a fully featured GIS and can do all sorts of things but its good for lifting POI's from OSM mapping

[Mzokk]

If you ever do find a way of running Basecamp under Wine/Bottles please share. If you are using Linux and want to Use/Harvest POI's QGIS is very good. It's a fully featured GIS and can do all sorts of things but its good for lifting POI's from OSM mapping.

[colirv]

I'll follow that up. In the meantime I've given up trying to install Basecamp via Wine. I keep meeting different errors which the various forums seem unable to solve. And I've decided not to install Windows in a VM. Microsoft is just going too far in the wrong direction for my liking! So MRA will do while I play with other options.

[Mzokk]

So I decided to have another go at loading BaseCamp using wine in Linux. I'd previously tried this and hadn't got it to work by installing the software from the Garmin website via wine. This time I thought I'd take a different approach. Firstly Garmin Basecamp for windows is a 32 Bit program and I was never sure that I was correctly installing wine with i386 compatibility. I installed wine on my Linux Mint 22.3 system via the Terminal following these instructions exactly.

[media]]

Here is exactly what I did to install BaseCamp 4.7.5. which follows instructions I found in WineHQ for an warlier version of wine. This is all accomplished via the terminal. These instructions can be cut and pasted into the terminal.

First check Wine is installed.

$ wine --version
wine-11.0

$ mkdir ~/.garmin

$ WINEPREFIX=~/.garmin WINEARCH=win32 wine wineboot

$ WINEPREFIX=~/.garmin WINEARCH=win32 winetricks dotnet461

When asked to reboot, choose "Reboot Later". It takes about 10 minutes, as it install many packages, and you have to press many buttons to allow it to continue.

Then copy a whole C:\Program Files (x86)\Garmin directory from a Windows x64 machine into ~/.garmin/drive_c/Program\ Files/Garmin. You obviously need a functioning windows version of basecamp to do this. I run Windows and Linux on two separate hard drives on the machine I did this on so it was easy for me.

$ cd ~/.garmin/drive_c/Program\ Files/Garmin/BaseCamp

$ WINEPREFIX=~/.garmin WINEARCH=win32 wine BaseCamp.exe

When the last instruction loads Garmin BaseCamp should boot.

I've also installed the City Navigator Europe NTU 2026.30 on Linux

this is what you need to copy from windows into the /.garmin/drive_c file created in Linux

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When you open up basecamp using these commands

$ cd ~/.garmin/drive_c/Program\ Files/Garmin/BaseCamp

$ WINEPREFIX=~/.garmin WINEARCH=win32 wine BaseCamp.exe

you won't be able to see your garmin maps as they will be locked. I fixed this by going to maps > manage map products> unlock regions tab and importing the gmapprom.gma file from the Zumo .system folder. (careful in there don't delete anything or you could brick your unit.)

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So that you don't have to launch Basecamp using Terminal every time you want to use it. Make a script to run the commands to open it

Open a text file on the desktop and insert this text

Open the Terminal and Run the following command:


cd ~/.garmin/drive_c/Program\ Files/Garmin/BaseCamp

WINEPREFIX=~/.garmin WINEARCH=win32 wine BaseCamp.exe

close the text file go to properties and tick allow executing file as a program

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When you click on that BaseCamp will launch.

I've had limited time to play with it and there are a few limitation.

1.BaseCamp can't see the Zumo unit attached to the PC. Linux can but BaseCamp can't.

2. Cant get Express to run so updating would be difficult.

3. In actual use the program seems to work ok with the excption of the + and - signs to expand and contract the folders to see your lists you need to hover over the Icon and right click fo expand/collapse the folder.

I did a backup on the Windows system and imported it into the Linux system and that worked fine.

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[FrankB]

@Mzokk

I may have a go a this. Also trying TripManager. Thanks for the docs.

[Mzokk]

I'm going to try later this evening to get express running and some sort of pass through for USB as it's not much good getting basecamp to run if you can't get the maps to update within linux. I had a bit of a play with it last night and you need two different versions of dotnet set up. Two different wine environments would then be required dotnet452 for Garmin Express and dotnet461 for BaseCamp. That's most likely why you can't use BaseCamp and Garmin express at the same time in the Windows environment.

[lkraus]

That's most likely why you can't use BaseCamp and Garmin express at the same time in the Windows environment.

I have no problems using Basecamp, Garmin Express, and File Explorer simultaneously in WIndows 11 with my XT.

So that may be a Linux or WIne restriction.

Or you may be thinking of MacOS, which I understand allows Android access to only one program at a time.