Re: [NTLK] All of this GPS talk is making me itchy...

From: Brian (bmcewen_at_comcast.net)
Date: Wed Apr 20 2005 - 18:40:22 PDT


On Wednesday, April 20, 2005, at 06:17 PM, newtontalk_at_newtontalk.net
wrote:
>
> Help me find my beloved PCMCIA GPS Card! It has to be something I can
> buy
> 10-20 of as well.
>

Were you looking at the digest #202? <grin> It must be getting to
summer, last time I think this got much talk was June 2004.

I'll shut up about it again soon, but:

See:
<http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=newtontalk&m=108680916800770&w=2

for a low-power, 12 channel, WAAS-capable CF card GPS.

Froogle shows the -303S for $109 to $145. Add a $14 CF to PCMCIA
adapter and you are golden.

I have the Haicom 303E and it's great. I first heard about it from a
happy lister here quite some time ago. I am not sure there's anything
better suited for inside the Newton, in functionality or cost.

Keep in mind though that for $110-350 you can get a useable external
GPS with display, easy map availability, and you can hook them to your
Newton with Adriano's new cables. Although you can make maps for
GPSMap, it's not trivial. The cheaper GPS don't do WAAS, but things
like the Garmin eTrex (original one) are 12 channel, rugged,
waterproof, have built-in display, will do route-logging, and have data
ports that someone could hook a Newton to with a couple adapters or a
nice custom cable, MSRP $106 US. The CF card thing is perfect for me
but my intended use certainly isn't typical. I've used the original
eTrex both standalone, and hooked to a laptop. The cables (extra
purchase) were serial DB-9 which means you can hook up a Newton with
some adapting.

To address your specific question, I don't know of a low-power
dedicated PCMCIA equivalent, but one could exist. I've had no problems
with my CF-PCMCIA adapter, it's just wires, no circuitry.

Based on Victor's post earlier, make sure you get something that states
support for "true NMEA0183" else you may have issues (this goes for ANY
GPS, external or internal). Some of the GPS (Trimble? I think for one
brand, but that's like 3 year old data) will support proprietary
"binary" modes, but can be switched to regular ASCII NMEA mode if you
have the right software tools from the manufacturer, so read the fine
print.

HTH.

Brian

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