osm viewer, gosmore

How to view an osm? I tied gosmore on a geofabrik *.osm file by doing
cat mymap.osm | gosmore rebuild
The result is gosmore.pak in the same folder as the osm file.
Running gosmore in that folder gives a blank gui with a panel on the right with names and some controlls and so no mat in sight.

What is wrong with my understanding of osm and/or gosmore.
Any suggestions, also for alternatives for gosmore are welcome. I only want to view maps, zoom pane etc.

Up and running is Navit but I thought something simpler must be possible.

I am running linux ubunto 8.10 on amd64 and on asus eee 901
many thanks
Janwillem