[kismac] Re: GPS USB to Serial Compatibility

  • From: Galen <blueandwhiteg3@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: kismac@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Mon, 28 May 2001 14:50:16 -0700

A few replies to various posts:

>>> What are the "right" drivers? The adapter came with nothing but Palm
>>> Desktop software.
>
> You may run into a problem here...  IIRC, the Palm USB cable is just
> that, a cable.  The Pal Pilot itself does all of the protocol
> translation, similar to my Kodak Digital Camera which had a DIN-8
> plug on the camera itself, and the a choice of a USB cable or a 9-pin
> Serial cable to transfer images to your computer.  The Camera
> actually has both interfaces built into it, and merely senses which
> type of cable is attached to it.
>
> Also, IIRC, your standard Serial and USB do not use the same types of
> data transmission (I.e. Tx, Rx, RTS, DTR pins going high/low to
> represent data...) Which is why devices like the Keyspan USB-Serial
> adaptor are still rather bulky.

This thing is actually an adapter and, when I bought it, wasn't exactly 
cheap. It is a USB cable and a rather long box-like thing that has a 
standard serial port on it so I suspect it is at least partially a 
serial to USB adapter. It certainly has to change around some data for 
the USB bus, and it seems to have a pretty good power requirement (500 
mA). Furthermore, it shows up on the USB chain without anything 
connected, so it at least has a full USB controller chipset on it.

>> What are the "right" drivers? The adapter came with nothing but Palm
>> Desktop software.
>
> There are quite a few drivers for various chipsets Serial to USB
> connectors around. Just try them. You may find them listed under the
> 'software' button or 'support' button of resellers. I have a few
> drivers available for those interested.

Can you give me some suggestions? I could just hit all the Mac OS X 
sites for serial to USB adapters, but I'm guessing there are half a 
dozen drivers or more available, some of which might conflict, so I'd 
probably have to install each one, test it, and then uninstall and 
repeat with the next driver. Or, if you have some interesting driver 
that isn't generally available, drop an email directly to me.

ASP reports my adapter as follows:
"USB Serial Adaptor"
"Product ID     128 ($80)"
"Serial Num     00337462"
"Vendor         Palm Computing, Inc."
"Power (mA)     500"

I'm not sure that's very helpful to anyone (it doesn't exactly specify 
the chipset or anything like that) but it might be.

I'm borrowing the GPS device (Garmin eTrex Vista) on thursday afternoon 
(PST) and will give it a try. I'll let you know how it works. I'm just 
borrowing it to give it a try, I am probably going to get a Garmin 
eTrex Legend GPS, the model just below the Vista (less memory, no 
electronic compass or barometric altimeter) with the same data 
interface, same design, etc.

>
>> P.S. Does anybody know why it sometimes takes up to a few days for the
>> emails I send to this list to get sent out to everyone in the list? In
>> this case, my original message was sent on the 26th at 2:25 AM but
>> didn't get sent on the mailing list until the 28th at 12:25 am.
>
> Well, today you seem up to speed.

This is quite odd. I'm on other lists (not at freelists) and I've never 
seen this happen and I've never seen any significant (>5 min) delay in 
email getting to a person's inbox.

Galen


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