Need better serial data connection to Palm

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot,sci.geo.satellite-nav (More info?)

Does the T2 have Bluetooth? If so buy a Bluetooth receiver.

Richard

"Dave Martindale" <davem@cs.ubc.ca> wrote in message
news:c8ofpm$619$2@mughi.cs.ubc.ca...
> I have a Tungsten T2 running Mapopolis Navigator with their maps. It
> has a GPS mode where it receives continuous position updates from an
> external GPS receiver and plots your location on the map, scrolling the
> map as necessary. I've had all this working using the standard data
> cable for the GPS receiver, a serial hotsync cable for the Palm, and a
> 3-wire male-male null modem cable.
>
> However, the connection seems to be very unreliable; Navigator keeps
> popping in and out of tracking. I think the problem is where the serial
> hotsync cable connects to the "universal connector" on the T2. This has
> got to be the worst design of connector I've ever seen for field use;
> nothing holds it together, or even holds the connector in the correct
> orientation to the Palm. There are no pins and sockets to connect each
> circuit; just a row of spring-loaded fingers and contact pads. I can
> see that it would work reasonably well in the charging stand, where the
> Palm is held at a fixed angle, but as a way of maintaining a connection
> on a portable/mobile piece of equipment it's just plain poor design.
>
> Is there any solution to this? I suppose I could just get a serial
> hotsync cradle, and use something like a rubber band to keep the Palm in
> the cradle despite bumps in the car. Or is it possible to convert the
> serial NMEA data stream to infrared pulses in a format that the Palm's
> IR receiver can handle?
>
> Yes, I know I could buy a Bluetooth GPS receiver, but that's expensive
> and I don't want to buy another receiver. I want to use one of the ones
> I have.
>
> Dave

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot,sci.geo.satellite-nav (More info?)

"Dave Martindale" <davem@cs.ubc.ca> wrote in message
news:c8ofpm$619$2@mughi.cs.ubc.ca...
> I have a Tungsten T2 running Mapopolis Navigator with their maps. It
> has a GPS mode where it receives continuous position updates from an
> external GPS receiver and plots your location on the map, scrolling the
> map as necessary. I've had all this working using the standard data
> cable for the GPS receiver, a serial hotsync cable for the Palm, and a
> 3-wire male-male null modem cable.
>
> However, the connection seems to be very unreliable; Navigator keeps
> popping in and out of tracking. I think the problem is where the serial
> hotsync cable connects to the "universal connector" on the T2. This has
> got to be the worst design of connector I've ever seen for field use;
> nothing holds it together, or even holds the connector in the correct
> orientation to the Palm. There are no pins and sockets to connect each
> circuit; just a row of spring-loaded fingers and contact pads. I can
> see that it would work reasonably well in the charging stand, where the
> Palm is held at a fixed angle, but as a way of maintaining a connection
> on a portable/mobile piece of equipment it's just plain poor design.
>

All universal connectors are not equal. The most stable one I have is the
one sold by Gomadic for Palm to Phone cable combos. On the other hand, the
one sold by Gomadic as a DIY UC is not stable at all and easily breaks. The
advantage of the one mentioned first is that it has a dorsal plate touching
the palm chassis which supports the connector and makes it less prone to
move. You can further reinforce the junction with tape. I tried it now on a
Tungsten T. Quite good fit. You could even glue a longer rigid support to
the plate that goes further up the back of the Palm and hold it down with a
rubber band situated over the row of buttons.

If you want this connector, you probably have to buy a whole cable combo
(www.gomadic.com)

Inside the connector all contacts are available for soldering. The inhouse
resistor determining serial/modem function is 99 kohms.

Maybe Gomadic would sell only this connector to you. Would be interesting to
know. iQue users are also interested.


Jonas Lonnroth
Brussels

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot,sci.geo.satellite-nav (More info?)

If the T2 uses the universal connector there are some good serial cables
out there. check with supplynet or pc-mobile.

Dale

Dave Martindale wrote:

> I have a Tungsten T2 running Mapopolis Navigator with their maps. It
> has a GPS mode where it receives continuous position updates from an
> external GPS receiver and plots your location on the map, scrolling the
> map as necessary. I've had all this working using the standard data
> cable for the GPS receiver, a serial hotsync cable for the Palm, and a
> 3-wire male-male null modem cable.
>
> However, the connection seems to be very unreliable; Navigator keeps
> popping in and out of tracking. I think the problem is where the serial
> hotsync cable connects to the "universal connector" on the T2. This has
> got to be the worst design of connector I've ever seen for field use;
> nothing holds it together, or even holds the connector in the correct
> orientation to the Palm. There are no pins and sockets to connect each
> circuit; just a row of spring-loaded fingers and contact pads. I can
> see that it would work reasonably well in the charging stand, where the
> Palm is held at a fixed angle, but as a way of maintaining a connection
> on a portable/mobile piece of equipment it's just plain poor design.
>
> Is there any solution to this? I suppose I could just get a serial
> hotsync cradle, and use something like a rubber band to keep the Palm in
> the cradle despite bumps in the car. Or is it possible to convert the
> serial NMEA data stream to infrared pulses in a format that the Palm's
> IR receiver can handle?
>
> Yes, I know I could buy a Bluetooth GPS receiver, but that's expensive
> and I don't want to buy another receiver. I want to use one of the ones
> I have.
>
> Dave

--
_ _ Dale DePriest
/`) _ // http://users.cwnet.com/dalede
o/_/ (_(_X_(` For GPS and GPS/PDAs

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot,sci.geo.satellite-nav (More info?)

"Jonas Lonnroth" <ispe_nospam@skynet.be> wrote in message news:<40b07fbe$0$9525$a0ced6e1@news.skynet.be>...

> All universal connectors are not equal.

Actually it is the other way round. All universal connectors should be
equal.
It is the sockets in different Palms that makes the difference.

The universal connectors that most cable makers use for Palm M5xx have
been working very well, until ...... Palm changed the designed of the
sockets slightly in Zire71 and most Tungstens. I do not think it was
intentional but the connectors that had been use with M5xx for so long
could not lock into Zire71/Tungstens because of the change in design.
I would rather think that it was a design flaw.

As a result the traditional "hook" type connectors would not hook into
the socket. It would slip. The only type of connectors that could lock
into Zire71/Tungsten satisfactorily is the "spring latch" type -
emulating the cradle type of connector.

We do have the "spring latch" type connectors for Zire71/Tungsten but
we make only a few more popular cables with this connector, not all.

Pc-Mobile
----------------------------
http://pc-mobile.net/gps.htm
Reply to gps2@pc-mobile.net

Archived from groups: comp.sys.palmtops.pilot,sci.geo.satellite-nav (More info?)

This solution should work:

Replace your hotsync cable + null modem adpter with PZ7SM(P) on:

http://pc-mobile.net/p500.htm

> Is there any solution to this? I suppose I could just get a serial
> hotsync cradle, and use something like a rubber band to keep the Palm in
> the cradle despite bumps in the car. Or is it possible to convert the
> serial NMEA data stream to infrared pulses in a format that the Palm's
> IR receiver can handle?
>
> Yes, I know I could buy a Bluetooth GPS receiver, but that's expensive
> and I don't want to buy another receiver. I want to use one of the ones
> I have.
>
> Dave

Pc-Mobile
-----------------
http://pc-mobile.net/gps.htm
Reply to: gps2@pc-mobile.net