----- Original Message ----- From: James Nick Sears To: Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2003 4:45 PM Subject: Re: [EE]: PDAs and Serial Ports > This isn't a bad idea, but there are going to be 5-10 of these units around, > so I'd need a flash card for each. Also a big part of the PDA idea was to > allow each round of data collection to only require one trip out to the > devices in the field (they will be spread over a large pile spanning ~10 > acres) so in order to achieve this with removable memory I'd then need twice > that many (one to take inside and a new blank to place in the device). So > at around $15-20 per card, I'm quickly back up to the $300 range. And with > no ability to check conditions live in the field as I was planning to do > with a PDA. > > Not to mention my design is basically complete with RS232 comms to a PC, so > if I can get a PDA working with RS232 I'll save big in time, which is really > my main concern at this point in the project as it is going to be very low > quantity production and my time is limited so I'm willing to spend a few $$$ > to save a few days of development time. But $150 for a CF serial IO card on > top of my $300 PDA does seem to push things into the realm of being extreme. > > As another alternative, does anyone know about accessing the IR port on > PDAs. I know there is a thread going right now about PICs and IR so I'll > read that and check through the archives and see what I see. How reliable > is an IR data connection, especially during real world conditions of shaky > hands, dirty windows, etc. > > Still for the reasons above I'd rather stick with RS232 so any more > suggestions on PDAs would be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks, > Nick cybiko classic. Comes with RS232 and RF comms built-in. Also MP3 attachment that takes smart media cards. The unit is less than GBP 20 from farnell. Regards Sergio Masci http://www.xcprod.com/titan/XCSB - optimising structured PIC BASIC compiler -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics