GPS anyone?

[ultrakin99]

I wanted to get a GPS (Global Positioning System) installed in my NetBook. But i just wanna find out does any of you guys out there tried using this GPS in a NetBook? If yes, how was it? was it really that impressive as being mentioned? Is it worth the investment (the package is not cheap at all!)?

Thanzzzz...:)

[pliskens]

I have connected a Garmin Etrex to my netbook, it works without any problems. If you are only interested in navigation and waypoint storage I can recommend the etrex euro which costs a little over $100 at gpscity.

[nmbaker]

This Monday I am going to try a CF GPS system, using a PCMCIA adaptor to see if it will work in a Series 7 with CityMaps. I currently use a Garmin GPS12, but want the extra portability. If successful on Monday, i'll issue a link where I know the unit is currently £169.75 until end of Jan. If not i'll let you know. I am also going to shortly try a PCMCIA GPS system and again, i'll report back. The CF ones are for WinCE machines but will work with ARM CPUs, but whether EPOC will recognise it, i'll not know til Monday. Please be patient!

[nmbaker]

Here is a site to obtain a GPS12, which is the model I have used for several years faultlessly, however, note my other reply http://www.maplin.co.uk/default.php?targetpage=/Homepage/frontpage.asp?&CartID=0212141753401447586

[nmbaker]

That link does not take you to the page as expected. search grp12

[nmbaker]

Unfortuneately I couldn't try out one at work, however, just been in contact with www.premierelect.co.uk who sell at £125 for compactflash and £149 for pcmcia version. Both models include in-built & external antennas in the price. Because the units use approx 30mA resting and up to about 120mA searching for satellites, I imagine that either the CF one with a pcmcia convertor or the pcmcia model would work - but I don't know. If you go for a more traditional model, you would need to link it to the unit with a lead from the unit ending in a 9 pin D type RS232 socket, get a male to male cross-over (www.palmtop.nl have the pin outs on their site) and of course your honda lead terminating at the other end with the 9 pin D type RS232 socket - or another one, so that is something to consider when making your purchase.

I hope that covers the issues. The other thing, the CF and/or the PCMCIA type would need to assign a different port address, which should be Comm::1. With WinCE machines this is often Com4, so I don't know about the compatability issues there.

Can anyone provide answers to that one please. All I can say with certainty is it works splendidly with the Garmin GPS12, garmin lead with power feed, a male/male cross-over converter and a spare psion lead in the car, using TomTom CityMaps and RoutePlanner

[nmbaker]

Today I cut off the Honda connector from a spare Psion Link Cable and cut the end off the Garmin GPS PC lead. The object was to make a shorter lead for better portability. The Psion cable contains 10 shielded wires and a bare wire connected to the metal of the Honda connector. There are only three wires which are used for the Garmin cable and these are white, which is connected to the green wire of the psion to end up on pin 4 of the honda, the black wire connects to the black wire of the psion and a yellow wire which connects to the yellow wire of the psion and connects to pin 8 of the honda. The remaining wires can be cut as they are not needed. As long as the cables are insulated, it works beautifully

[cpulster]

I sale NaviMouse GPS system with Psion link (no adapters necessary) fier 189 EUR. New units, work fine with 5mx, 7 and netbook. Please check http://www.pulster.de if you like.
(click on the left "Serie 5mx" and then "Zubehoer")

Christoph

[RvB]

Christoph,

Please can you confirm that this NaviMouse really works well with a Netbook without hidden problems and without the need for nullmodem adapters, etc.?

Thanks, RvB

[cshandley]

Originally posted by RvB
Please can you confirm that this NaviMouse really works well with a Netbook without hidden problems and without the need for nullmodem adapters, etc.?

While I can't say from experience, I suggest you do NOT get it:

It is probably no better than the Tom Tom GPS unit, which apparently has poor GPS reception (so not very good inside a car).

You'd be much better getting a stand-alone GPS unit like the Garmin eTrex. Expansys currently sell a suitable Psion cable for 30 pounds - expensive, but it works very well (no adapters required).

[RvB]

Thank you for the advise. Please could you tell me where I can get this TomTom GPS receiver and whether I need special cables for it (sorry, although I am a fanatic user of Psion since more than 10 years, I am new in the GPS area)?

Regarding the Garmin standalone solution, what cables do I need to get it into the serial port of my netBook?

I would like to use it also just outdoor (not in a car), so will these GPS receivers work on batteries?

I would very much appreciate your help.

Regards, RvB

[cshandley]

Hi RvB,

I think you may not have understood my original post - I will try to clarify.

Originally posted by RvB
Thank you for the advise. Please could you tell me where I can get this TomTom
GPS receiver and whether I need special cables for it?

I was saying the TomTom GPS reciever is probably similar to the NaviMouse
thing.

The TomTom unit apparently was not very good (poor recieption).

Anyway, the TomTom unit is not sold anymore.



Regarding the Garmin standalone solution, what cables do I need to get it into
the serial port of my netBook?

As I said, Expansys sell a special cable.

<sigh> It took me under 10 seconds to get to Expansys's site, type "Garmin
Psion" in the search box, and get this link:

http://www.expansys.com/product.asp?code=GPS-PSI-CAB



I would like to use it also just outdoor (not in a car), so will these GPS
receivers work on batteries?

I vaguely recall the TomTom unit did NOT use batteries. I can't speak for the
NaviMouse unit.

The Garmin eTrex uses 2 AA batteries, and can last for a long time on these.
Plus, it is *great* to use withOUT a Psion - the built-in software can do a lot.

[andyahern]

cshandley wrote
The Garmin eTrex uses 2 AA batteries, and can last for a long time on these.
Plus, it is *great* to use withOUT a Psion - the built-in software can do a lot.


I also use a Garmin Etrex (Legend) with and without my Psion and can recommend it. This allows you to be flexible when choosing between a large screen, or a compact GPS solution.
There are times (eg mountain walks) where the you wouldn't want to use the Psion due to its weight, weather conditions etc.

One point to be aware of is that you will need access to a Windows PC if you want to transfer maps, routes etc from Garmin's Mapsource CDs, as the software is not EPOC compatible.

Cheers,
Andy

[jezza]

I use a Palmtop GPS unit that I acquired from eBay about 6 months ago for £70.

The GPS unit is designed to be mounted on the outside of a vehicle and has a very strong, soft magnetic base to achieve this. It takes power from the cigarette lighter socket, so is not portable other than for vehicle use.

The GPS is a SiRF 12 unit and has excellent reception. I use it with both Routeplanner and Streetplanner millenium. I used it to drive from Farnborough to Harley Street and the combination worked fabulously getting me from door to door with ease.

I recommend the TomTom GPS, on two provisos
(1) you can actually lay your hands on one
(2) you want to use it in-car

Cheers

[swing]

Although the expansys cable is cheaper, if you want a cable which both powers the Garmin and the Psion (5mx only, not netbook) as well as acting as a data cable, see http://www.serialleads.co.uk

Steve

[RvB]

Dear all,

Thanks a lot for your valuable information. I think I will go for the Garmin eTrex Vista solution with Psion-eTrex cable provided by Expansys. I have put myself on the stock alert so hopefully they will be able to take orders soon.

Regards, RvB :cool:

[cshandley]

Originally posted by swing
Although the expansys cable is cheaper, if you want a cable which both powers the Garmin and the Psion (5mx only, not netbook) as well as acting as a data cable, see http://www.serialleads.co.uk

Steve

Expansys also sell a cable which supplies power & data, but the Garmin eTrex has pretty good battery life (depends on how often you use it).

Anyone know what will happen if you tried to power a Netbook like this? It's not a good idea, but it might not do any damage.

[swing]

I spoke to the guy at SerialLeads, who indicated that he had not tested it.

The 7/netbook need 15v, whereas the cable supplies 5v (which is what the 5mx is expecting). He did not know what supplying that voltage via the serial cable would do to the unit, but he did indicate he could supply a version of the cable which did not supply power to the psion for the same cost (although it would need explicitly requesting on the order).

Also, if I remember correctly, SerialLeads supply the cables to Expansys, and hence SerialLeads are slightly cheaper (and can obviously accomodate requests such as these that Expansys cannot), although I don't think SerialLeads supply the non-power lead anymore.

Steve

[nmbaker]

Luckily i'm in a position to test whether certain CF cards that we sell, although make no mention of EPOC will in fact work in Series 7 and Netbooks. I have a Series 7 with personality upgrade to Netbook which tomorrow I am going to be testing with a CF GPS card with internal aerial but that supports an external aerial as well. As I travel widely with my existing setup of a Garmin GPS12 and a 5mx linked permantly in the car, I would prefer the better screen of the Netbook and portability of the Netbook in the car. I use an invertor to power the netbook if away for a time so am not bothered about battery life, so I won't necessarily be testing that unless time prevails. I am therefore really only checking to see if Port 1 on the Psion will read the data stream without drivers or not as the manufacturers state. They seem to think in terms of PocketPC and don't understand the concept of the Netbook much. I shall let all interested parties know when I have the result either pro or contra.

[swing]

My understanding is that the CF slot is simply a memory slot, and cannot be used for any serial based devices (or anything else that is not CF memory, save Microdrives of course)

However, the PC Card slot does support both memory and serial, as it supports modems.

So, you may find more success with a PC Card to CF adaptor (but only if the adaptor can cope with serial - although I would suspect a PC Card to CF adaptor that came with or is explicitly supported by the CF GPS manufacturer would be fine).

I note that Route Planner Europe supports Comm::0 and Comm::1 for serial GPS support, and I think that Comm::1 is the PC Card slot, which implies that it may work.

How do you find the screen in the car? The few times I have used it, the screen is so washed out by the bright sunlight, I have given up using it with the GPS. So much so, that I'm considering moving to a Symbian phone and getting a Bluetooth GPS and doing navigation via that instead.

Do let us know how you get on

Steve

[Mobilix]

We have tested a WorldNavigator CF GPS in the PCMCIA-Slot of a 7book.

It works with Street/Citymaps and Route, so a serial connection through PCMCIA is possible.

But it is very slow in satellite recognition (tested against Palmtop GPS Mouse and Garmin etrex Legend) and uses much power from the 7book. I also think, that it can communicate only with 8 instead of 12 satellites.

I travelled with the 7Book, GPS Mouse and Route for 6 hours in the car, where the power connection from the lighter to mouse and 7book didn't disturb the 7book.

Ciao
Thomas
PsionWelt.net (http://www.psionwelt.de)
Mobile2Day.net (http://www.m2d.de)

A picture of the test configuration:
http://www.psionwelt.de/bild03/7book_cf-gps.jpg

[nmbaker]

As promised, I have now tested this product with a Netbook and can confirm that it works having tested it in the car park at work. There is no mention of EPOC or Series 7, or Netbooks, but I simply placed it in a PCMCIA CF adaptor and it found that I was in Preston in the works car park about 5ft away from where my Garmin GPS12 thought I was! So Lewis' thoughts were correct and it can also be bought from CPC plc, product code CS08711 and their tel is 08701 20 25 30. Delivery is next day usually if item is in stock, which it is at the moment, as I checked. Further info is available from www.pretec.com and I can also confirm that this is 12 channel. It seemed to compare favourably with the GPS12 for cold boot, has a lithium ion battery in built to make warm starts quicker, and this was certainly the case compared with the Garmin. As for battery life affecting the Netbook, this wasn't tested, as mentioned in the previous post, and time during test had to be brief as another busy day of Technical support issues ensued.
As this is a unit that allows an external aerial, reception could be further improved, but again this was not tested.

I admit with the Netbook in sunshine contrast and brightness can be an issue as temperature rises, but I tend to use the 5mx mostly in the car for this purpose and in the winter and at night, the Netbook. as continuous adjustment is annoying. It is better if you ignore the colours screen and opt for greys and then just adjust accordingly. With Route Planner, there isn't much of a problem, but you could easily make up a black shroud around the screen which certainly stays with me in the car. Used the Netbook today for instance with no problems in the sunshine, but did know where I was going!
Nick

[dushaw]

From Kevin Millican:

The next version of RealMaps (v5.13) has support for PCMCIA / compact flash GPS units.

You can download a preliminary copy at :-

http://www.millican.info/files/realmaps513.zip

regards

Kevin