rs232 data into the Ipaq

<<<snip>>>


If you use a PC mother board for data acq you can write the stuff in compiled
QB BASIC and DOS which is more or less free at this point in time. Also
DOS is a lot better for real time stuff than any multi-user OS.
You can get a real time executive under lay for Linux from the U of New Mexico
I think. http://www.realtimelinux.org/

I looked into get the Compact PDA  and the cost of all
the stuff you need puts it well over the cost of a PC mother board
for data acq.

As far as the moving map is concerned it would be cheaper to buy an old notebook
computer to run PC moving map software if you have the cockpit room.

If you don't mind running in black and white I will send you my
MM software for free :-) It is not fancy. It has been a few years since the data
base has been updated but I configured the FAA airport data base as
an ASCII text file and it can be read and updated with any text text editor.
In fact I will send you the QB source code. The moving map software
and FAA airport data base zipped will fit on one 1.4 meg floppy.

Paul Lamar

I'm into doing this very thing with a PC and A/D board, using Linux and
OpenGL.  Any particular boards recommended?  Google searches turns up
thousands of hits and so far, only 1 16 channel 12-bit board seems
adequate and it's $350 or so.

I'd love to have the QB file and database file(s), too.

Right now, the PC platform weighs almost 28 pounds with standard case,
power supply, and etc.  I already have it.  A PC-104 based platform
weighs much less but total costs exceed $1500 for just the computer and
A/D board alone.  Any ideas on securing just the motherboard, it's ATX
power supply with inverter, DVD drive, and hard drive withoug the heavy
case?

Thanks,
AI Nut


Mother boards are available at any clone computer store. Here in LA
there is a company with five or so big chain stores called Fry's.
They sell several dozen mother boards starting at about $100
and up depending on the speed of the CPU. Some with or without memory 
and CPU. 

If you go with DOS any old 386SX and up mother board will be more
than fast enough. Go on ebay and say you want to buy one. You will get 
a zillion replies. It should be near free. You won't need a lot of memory.
1 meg or more will be fine.

Throw away the PC steel case. You don't need it. The mother board weighs
less than a pound.  A solid state +5 volt DC to DC converter
should also be less than a pound. What is left is the 3.5 inch hard disk.
Everything else can stay back in the shop. Well maybe not the display
and the keyboard.  What display are you using? The color flat panel displays
I have seen are about 5 pounds with a 12 Volt brick which you won't
need in the airplane. 

Here is a little warm up program for you. This program reads the 
data coming from just about any GPS with an RS232 interface
every 2 seconds and stores it in a file on the hard disk.
You can try this in a DOS windows running on Windows but
I don't think it will work as it accesses the RS232 hardware directly.
If it does work let me know. Best just to boot DOS from a floppy
boot disk on your Windows computer.

The data you see here are called NEMA 0183 "sentences" and contain
a myriad of data about your position, speed, heading and satellite info.
The time is accurate to a fraction of a micro second from the
atomic clock in the satellite. Need to set the clock in your house?
No problem. Let me know when you get this working and I will
send you lots more. If you don't have the QB interpreter let me
know.

Paul Lamar
 
The AirCraft Rotary Engine NewsLetter.              Powered by Linux.
ACRE NL web site.
http://home.earthlink.net/~rotaryeng/            http://www.linux.org

CLS
OPEN "output.dat" FOR APPEND AS #2

OPEN "com1:4800,N,8,1,OP5,RS,RB2048,CD0,DS0,CS0" FOR INPUT AS #1
TIMER ON
ON TIMER(2) GOSUB doit

start:
x = x + 1: LOCATE 1, 1: PRINT x
LOCATE 1, 60: PRINT TIME$;
LOCATE 1, 10: PRINT "Number of characters in buffer "; LOC(1);
'IF LOC(1) > 200 THEN GOSUB doit
GOTO start


'problem here is there has to be exactly 200 characters in the file
'and there is apparently nothing you can do about it.
'adding IF EOF(1) THEN RETURN seems to find end of file

doit:
x = 0
GOSUB clearscr
temp$ = INPUT$(LOC(1), #1)
LOCATE (x2 + 4), 1: PRINT temp$;
PRINT #2,
PRINT #2, temp$
RETURN

'$GPRMC,221842,A,3455.98,N,11823.17,W,089.0,000.0,261092,014.2,E*6A        

clearscr:
FOR z = 1 TO 17
LOCATE (z + 4), 1: PRINT "                                                                        "
NEXT z
RETURN


$GPRMC,005848,A,4513.76,N,11823.17,W,089.0,000.0,291092,017.6,E*68
$GPRMB,A,,,,,,,,,,,,V*71
$GPR00,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*45
$GPGLL,4513.77,N,11823.17,W*75
$PGRMA,183,f,2*0B
$GPXTE,A,A,,,N*3C
$GPBWC,005849,,,,,,T,,M,,N,*16


$GPRMC,005850,A,4513.81,N,11823.17,W,089.0,000.0,291092,017.6,E*69
$GPRMB,A,,,,,,,,,,,,V*71
$GPR00,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*45
$GPGLL,4513.82,N,11823.17,W*7F
$PGRMA,183,f,2*0B
$GPXTE,A,A,,,N*3C
$GPBWC,005850,,,,,,T,,M,,N,*1E


$GPRMC,005852,A,4513.86,N,11823.17,W,089.0,000.0,291092,017.6,E*6C
$GPRMB,A,,,,,,,,,,,,V*71
$GPR00,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*45
$GPGLL,4513.87,N,11823.17,W*7A
$PGRMA,183,f,2*0B
$GPXTE,A,A,,,N*3C
$GPBWC,005852,,,,,,T,,M,,N,*1C


$GPRMC,005854,A,4513.91,N,11823.17,W,089.0,000.0,291092,017.6,E*6C
$GPRMB,A,,,,,,,,,,,,V*71
$GPR00,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*45
$GPGLL,4513.92,N,11823.17,W*7E
$PGRMA,183,f,2*0B
$GPXTE,A,A,,,N*3C
$GPBWC,005854,,,,,,T,,M,,N,*1A


$GPRMC,005856,A,4513.96,N,11823.17,W,089.0,000.0,291092,017.6,E*69
$GPRMB,A,,,,,,,,,,,,V*71
$GPR00,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*45
$GPGLL,4513.96,N,11823.17,W*7A
$PGRMA,183,f,2*0B
$GPXTE,A,A,,,N*3C
$GPBWC,005856,,,,,,T,,M,,N,*18


$GPRMC,005858,A,4514.01,N,11823.17,W,089.0,000.0,291092,017.6,E*6E
$GPRMB,A,,,,,,,,,,,,V*71
$GPR00,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*45
$GPGLL,4514.01,N,11823.17,W*73
$PGRMA,183,f,2*0B
$GPXTE,A,A,,,N*3C
$GPBWC,005858,,,,,,T,,M,,N,*16


$GPRMC,005900,A,4514.06,N,11823.17,W,089.0,000.0,291092,017.6,E*65
$GPRMB,A,,,,,,,,,,,,V*71
$GPR00,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*45
$GPGLL,4514.06,N,11823.17,W*74
$PGRMA,183,f,2*0B
$GPXTE,A,A,,,N*3C
$GPBWC,005900,,,,,,T,,M,,N,*1A


$GPRMC,005902,A,4514.11,N,11823.17,W,089.0,000.0,291092,017.6,E*61
$GPRMB,A,,,,,,,,,,,,V*71
$GPR00,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*45
$GPGLL,4514.11,N,11823.17,W*72
$PGRMA,183,f,2*0B
$GPXTE,A,A,,,N*3C
$GPBWC,005902,,,,,,T,,M,,N,*18


$GPRMC,005904,A,4514.16,N,11823.17,W,089.0,000.0,291092,017.6,E*60
$GPRMB,A,,,,,,,,,,,,V*71
$GPR00,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*45
$GPGLL,4514.16,N,11823.17,W*75
$PGRMA,183,f,2*0B
$GPXTE,A,A,,,N*3C
$GPBWC,005904,,,,,,T,,M,,N,*1E


$GPRMC,005906,A,4514.20,N,11823.17,W,089.0,000.0,291092,017.6,E*67
$GPRMB,A,,,,,,,,,,,,V*71
$GPR00,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*45
$GPGLL,4514.21,N,11823.17,W*71
$PGRMA,183,f,2*0B
$GPXTE,A,A,,,N*3C
$GPBWC,005906,,,,,,T,,M,,N,*1C


$GPRMC,005907,A,4514.25,N,11823.17,W,089.0,000.0,291092,017.6,E*63
$GPRMB,A,,,,,,,,,,,,V*71
$GPR00,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*45
$GPGLL,4514.26,N,11823.17,W*76
$PGRMA,183,f,2*0B
$GPXTE,A,A,,,N*3C
$GPBWC,005908,,,,,,T,,M,,N,*12


$GPRMC,005909,A,4514.30,N,11823.17,W,089.0,000.0,291092,017.6,E*69
$GPRMB,A,,,,,,,,,,,,V*71
$GPR00,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*45
$GPGLL,4514.31,N,11823.17,W*70
$PGRMA,183,f,2*0B
$GPXTE,A,A,,,N*3C
$GPBWC,005910,,,,,,T,,M,,N,*1B


$GPRMC,005911,A,4514.35,N,11823.17,W,089.0,000.0,291092,017.6,E*65
$GPRMB,A,,,,,,,,,,,,V*71
$GPR00,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*45
$GPGLL,4514.36,N,11823.17,W*77
$PGRMA,183,f,2*0B
$GPXTE,A,A,,,N*3C
$GPBWC,005912,,,,,,T,,M,,N,*19


$GPRMC,005913,A,4514.40,N,11823.17,W,089.0,000.0,291092,017.6,E*65
$GPRMB,A,,,,,,,,,,,,V*71
$GPR00,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*45
$GPGLL,4514.41,N,11823.17,W*77
$PGRMA,183,f,2*0B
$GPXTE,A,A,,,N*3C
$GPBWC,005914,,,,,,T,,M,,N,*1F


$GPRMC,005915,A,4514.45,N,11823.17,W,089.0,000.0,291092,017.6,E*66
$GPRMB,A,,,,,,,,,,,,V*71
$GPR00,,,,,,,,,,,,,,*45
$GPGLL,4514.46,N,11823.17,W*70
$PGRMA,183,f,2*0B
$GPXTE,A,A,,,N*3C
$GPBWC,005916,,,,,,T,,M,,N,*1D