Ok, now for part 2:
The easiest way to talk to the GPS hardware directly is to use libisi (header file available from http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=93906 ) and http://www.cncmods.net/files/pn_location_isi.h which is the header file containing all the modem location server info for the N900 cellular modem.

liblas calls the following libisi functions:
isi_client_cleanup (cleans up a isi_client_t structure)
isi_client_init (initializes an isi_client_t structure and sets callbacks that will be called by libisi. the only callback liblas cares about is the "receive" callback. Pass zero for the channel.)
isi_client_run (starts a private timer for an isi_client_t structure, call this after isi_client_start)
isi_client_sendto_resource (sends data to a phonet resource using an isi_client_t structure, pass zero for the address and 0x54 aka PN_LOCATION for the resource)
isi_client_set_recv_buf_size (sets the receive buffer size for an isi_client_t structure)
isi_client_start (starts an isi_client_t going, call this after isi_client_init)
isi_client_subscribe_indications (registers a client to receive indications from a given phonet resource, you want to register for 0x54 aka PN_LOCATION)
isi_glib_init (initializes libisi using a glib context)
msgbuf_add_ptr (adds data to an isi_msgbuf_t structure)
msgbuf_get_ptr (gets data from an isi_msgbuf_t structure)
msgbuf_init (initializes an isi_msgbuf_t structure)
socket_cinfo_init (initializes a comm_channel_info_t structure)

Feel free to hit me (here or in IRC) with any questions you may have about this stuff.