But I did hack_init so the player should have been started without grabbing the serial port. What's going on?

Answering my own question: The removal of -s- thing doesn't happen unless we're actually in the car. So I have to force DC car mode if I've got the GPS plugged in, otherwise the NMEA sentences flow to the player and it acts goofy.

Follow up question: If I'm indoors and the GPS receiver can't see any satellites, what can I use to check and be sure it's even working? How can I see if the software is correctly communicating with the GPS unit and it just hasn't gotten a satellite fix yet?
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Tony Fabris