Gps on ubuntu

I'm trying to get a cheap, generic USB GPS receiver to work on Ubuntu Hardy Heron.

I'm not sure what software to use and I'm not sure if how to configure the device. Here's what happens

Connect gps device

Sep 14 17:39:50 stinkerbelle kernel: [ 3692.418097] usb 4-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 3
Sep 14 17:39:50 stinkerbelle kernel: [ 3692.445968] usb 4-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Sep 14 17:39:50 stinkerbelle kernel: [ 3692.447559] pl2303 4-1:1.0: pl2303 converter detected
Sep 14 17:39:50 stinkerbelle kernel: [ 3692.447726] usb 4-1: pl2303 converter now attached to ttyUSB0

A blue LED blinks constantly inside the receiver when it is connected: on for one second, off for one second.

Disconnect gps device

Sep 14 17:39:39 stinkerbelle kernel: [ 3688.430891] usb 4-1: USB disconnect, address 2
Sep 14 17:39:39 stinkerbelle kernel: [ 3688.431524] pl2303 ttyUSB0: pl2303 converter now disconnected from ttyUSB0
Sep 14 17:39:39 stinkerbelle kernel: [ 3688.431570] pl2303 4-1:1.0: device disconnected

Installed gpsd even though the graphical package management tool didn't tell me that gpsd was an option. Google is my package manager.

Now gpsd starts and talks to the device now:

gpsd /dev/ttyUSB0
telnet localhost 2947
Trying 127.0.0.1...
Connected to localhost.
Escape character is '^]'.
i
GPSD,I=Generic NMEA
f
GPSD,F=/dev/ttyUSB0

Cool.

I have gpsdrive and viking gps viewer installed. They don't do anything yet.

I installed gpsbabel via apt-get, thanks to Google's recommendation. Now viking can acquire the device, but not get much else.