netpad charger & serial cable wanted

[netpadmad]

Hello Psionists,

I am looking for a standalone single battery charger NP3001 for my netpads.
No need for a power supply to be included, the standard Psion item will fit.
Also, I need a grey-coloured serial cable (10-pin netpad to 9-pin D-sub), since the black ones are only suitable for the EPOC-versions.
Please look in your bottom-drawer amongst all the forgotten Psion parts.

Thanks.

[netpadmad]

Charger still wanted (anyone, please?), but delete the request for a grey RS-232 netpad cable : I managed to make a suitable adapter to change the black cable's pinout as required for ActiveSync.

[plupkination]

I am just curious where you got the information concerning the serial port pins? I would be interested in that info, as well as the pinout information for the back of the netpad (where it connects to the docking station). Any info here would be greatly appreciated.

[netpadmad]

I am just curious where you got the information concerning the serial port pins? I would be interested in that info, as well as the pinout information for the back of the netpad (where it connects to the docking station). Any info here would be greatly appreciated.

Hello Plupkination,

I found the info on netPad Serial Ports in the supporting documents of the netPad SDK, as obtainable from Psion Teklogix' website: http://www.psionteklogix.com/teknet/pdk/netpad-pdk/epoc_downloads.htm But, of course, it is also available from http://www.garethjmsaunders.co.uk/psion/downloads.html

Only pinouts of the 10-pin serial connector are listed. By comparing this listing to the actual wiring of the older (EPOC-only) cable the (minor) differences became obvious.

Apparently, when the docking station is involved the communications protocol becomes much more complicated, since the IR-port is used in a supporting role as per this quote:


Chapter 1 : Docking Station & Intergrated Ports
Overview
This documents the hardware specification for the netpad's integrated serial port, and logical device driver API for the serial port on the docking station.

Notes about the docking station's serial port
The docking station must be powered for the netpad to communicate with it.
While the netpad is docked, the IR ports on the netpad and docking station are used to provide access to the docking station serial port. If a program is using the IR port, via raw IR or IrDA, the docking station serial port can not be used.
For the purposes of flow control, the logical "end" of the serial lead is the docking station. The selected flow control is used between the docking station and remote device, and communication between the docking station and netpad uses the internal IR implementation's flow control.
Behaviour at 115200 bps
The docking station's serial port is slightly slower than rated if you try to use all the bandwidth of a 115200 bps connection. This is unavoidable, because the data and control protocol overhead must be relayed to the netpad via the 115200 bps IR link.
Some protocols become particularly slow at 115200 bps, because they interpret the slower speed as connection problems, and resend data. In particular PsiWin will be far slower at 115200 bps than 57600 bps.
Where possible, we recommend using a speed of 57600 bps or less when connecting equipment to the docking station's serial port. From ROM release 1.60, the netpad's Link To Desktop dialog does not allow a speed of 115200 bps to be selected when connecting via the docking station

I hope this answers your question.
PS: Why "thumbs down"?
PS2: I do no longer need a battery charger.

Regards,

netpadmad

[plupkination]

Thanks for your reply!! Unfortunately when I click on the netpad SDK link on the page you posted in your reply I'm getting a 404 not found error... Maybe support for these is dwindling? Could you post what you found, Also, where did you manage to find the battery charger? I could use one of those as well. Ohh, and sorry about the thumbs down.. I thought it was a question mark! heh

[netpadmad]

Thanks for your reply!! Unfortunately when I click on the netpad SDK link on the page you posted in your reply I'm getting a 404 not found error... Maybe support for these is dwindling? Could you post what you found, Also, where did you manage to find the battery charger? I could use one of those as well. Ohh, and sorry about the thumbs down.. I thought it was a question mark! heh

It seems that the pdf-file on netpad serial ports that I am trying to upload is larger than the 100 kb limit as specified by this forum. I will try to split it up, this will take some time though.
Meanwhile, battery chargers are regularly being offered by UK eBay vendors.
The good news is, prices seem to have come down (at last) to a sensible level, i.e. 5 to 10 pounds.

regards,

NPM

[plupkination]

ok great. apparently we aren't allowed to exchange email addresses in posts, since I did include my email address in my last post. It seems to have been edited out. If I can find a way to put an address in my public profile I will. You may feel free to send whatever you have directly to me then. Thanks for all your help! And yes I did see a charger on ebay altho i had just missed the end of the auction! aack! lol Thanks again!
PS if you can read this my netzero email is the same as my name on pdastreet here heh :D i believe i am allowed fairly large attachments.. plupkination@netzero.net