<<<snip>>>
Also, how would I get my iPaq Pocket PC to run both Anywhere Map and log data from
my engine monitor at the same time?
Finn
Install Linux on it :-)> Good luck on that Finn. You need a PCMCI card with
both a GPS and an RS232 port. BTW are PCMCI cards even available with
RS232 or any other type of serial port for that matter?
Perhaps you can get a PCMCI card with a bidi printer parallel port.
Then you will have to write a driver for gathering the data which
is very very difficult to do in windows.
The easiest thing to do is get an old 386SX mother board at a swap meet.
Get a power supply that runs off 12 volts and an old 3.5 inch floppy drive.
Use those parts to make a data acquisition computer for the baggage compartment.
Boot DOS 5.0 off the floppy and I will write a data acquisition software program for you
in compiled QB in about five minutes that will store the data directly on the floppy
boot disk. When it is full the data acquisition will stop. Remove the floppy
from the drive after you land and copy the data to any PC.
The reason this is so easy is DOS allows direct hardware access to the ports
in real time while Windows and Linux do not.
If you want to do this I will donate the 386SX mother board, the floppy drive
and loan you the 12 to +/- 5 volt DC converter power supply. You handle the
data acquisition plug in card for the ISA bus and the sensors and wiring.
I got scads of this old stuff lying around almost too expensive to ship
to Florida for what you can buy it locally for. For use as data acquisition
equipment it is both ideal and a steal.
The lower half of this picture is all you need. You don't need the CRT.
You might need a cheap keyboard however as some bios's won't boot unless
they see a keyboard.
The Nov 2001 issue of Nuts & Volts has an article on how to do this
on page 73 complete with source code on the software driver for a RS232
serial port.
1 800 783 4624 http://www.nutsvolts.com
I did this back in 1989. Greg Richter and I both published articles in
KitPlanes mag about the same time on how to use PC's for data acquisition
and moving maps.
Paul Lamar
Paul, & all, I am currently researching this VERY topic! Any info and
especially hardware you can sell me will help enormously. I intend to
put a Linux based PC in the baggage compartment to do exactly what
you're describing! I'm trying to find a 16 (or more) channel a/d board
(each channel independently settable) with Linux drivers. So far, I've
only found one and it's $325 or so, with Linux drivers but the drivers
don't seem to be fully developed. I need to monitor everything I can
off the engine sensors during the initial flight phases to tweak as much
as possible, of course.
2nd, I'm looking for a gps mouse to connect to the serial port and
software for the moving map display. There is a good flight sim that
works in Linux and Windoze with source that I can modify for real time
following using the gps instead of calculated via the joystick. It has
a pretty good database, too. If I get *real* ambitious, later on I may
try to incorporate digital terrain data, too.
With the recent drastic drop in costs of the LCD displays, a 15 inch
display at $300 should work very nicely. If the normal dislays aren't
bright enough, there is a site that sells used 1500 nit displays for
about $300, as well. I don't know how to convert the store-bought spec
of 350:1 contrast ratio to nits, so I don't know if we're comparing
apples to apples.
Any chance of getting reprints of Paul's and Greg's articles?
Thanks,
AI Nut
No reprints unfortunately. I have been thinking of digging them up and
scanning them in.
I think you are making it hard on your self trying to do everything in one
computer. Use an old PC running DOS for data acquisition and a Windows
computer with off the shelf moving map software unless you enjoy
the challenge. Almost all cheap boat GPS's have RS232 ports with what
is called NEMA 0183 protocol. Garman plays dirty tricks on some of their boat
GPS's by busting them to 99 kts so you have to buy their AC units.
NEMA 0183 protocol RS232 is standard for all Windows computers running moving
map software like Flitesoft.
Paul Lamar
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