Serial/PS2 GPS cable

[GraemeF]

Hi there...

Cheapskate that I am, I'd like to connect my existing GPS mouse to my new iPAQ 4150. I used to use my GPS with my laptop, and it took power from the PS2 port and sent data through the serial port.

Is there a cable that will allow me to use this with my iPAQ, preferably drawing power from the cigarette lighter in my car? I've seen cables that connect the serial cable but not the PS2 cable.

Cheers,
G.

[Janak Parekh]

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but I haven't seen any Pocket PC with PS/2 support. I don't think you're going to find one with it, either. As it is, many new notebooks don't have a PS/2 port...

--janak

[GraemeF]

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but I haven't seen any Pocket PC with PS/2 support. I don't think you're going to find one with it, either. As it is, many new notebooks don't have a PS/2 port...

AFAIK it only gets power from the PS/2 port, ignoring the other pins, so I was hoping that an adapter might be able to power it from the cigarette lighter instead...

[Janak Parekh]

AFAIK it only gets power from the PS/2 port, ignoring the other pins, so I was hoping that an adapter might be able to power it from the cigarette lighter instead...
Ah, totally missed that. Sorry. ;)

I suspect someone could build such an adapter, although I haven't seen one of those, either. If you're feeling handy, you could probably assemble such a cable yourself... :)

Before you go any further, do you know if this GPS unit will actually work with your iPAQ, though?

--janak

[GraemeF]

AFAIK it only gets power from the PS/2 port, ignoring the other pins, so I was hoping that an adapter might be able to power it from the cigarette lighter instead...
Ah, totally missed that. Sorry. ;)

I suspect someone could build such an adapter, although I haven't seen one of those, either. If you're feeling handy, you could probably assemble such a cable yourself... :)

Before you go any further, do you know if this GPS unit will actually work with your iPAQ, though?

--janak
I don't see why not - assuming the iPAQ is capable of receiving RS232 data (I'm new to this PDA lark, so that's a fairly uninformed assumption :wink: ). What I mean is, it's a standard GPS unit.

Just wondered if anyone had seen a cable like this... or could point me to a resource to help me build one :)

[Sven Johannsen]

Not sure this is worth the effort, but.... You need to find a cigarette lighter adapter that puts out 5-5.5 volts (not tough, most PPC ones are in this range) and find a female PS2 socket. The pinouts are easily found on the web ( http://www.bbdsoft.com/keyboard.html ). Then you can power your GPS. Of course you haven't powered your PPC with this arrangement. You could hack through a serial sync/charge cable to splice that in (Pinouts likely available at Beverly Howard's site). At that point you have a very nice kludge, if you haven't messed up and fried something.

You could also go to Deluo and get a GPS designed for your particular PPC.

[GSmith]

Depends on how cheap you are how much time you have and if you're willing to experiment.

What about those dongles you get with the combo PS/2 and USB mice? If the electrical connections and Male/Female polarity are right, you could combine it with a USB cigarette auto adapter and you might get power to a PS/2 connector.

[GraemeF]

Depends on how cheap you are how much time you have and if you're willing to experiment.

What about those dongles you get with the combo PS/2 and USB mice? If the electrical connections and Male/Female polarity are right, you could combine it with a USB cigarette auto adapter and you might get power to a PS/2 connector.
Never mind - I just ordered a new Bluetooth GPS reciever. Can't wait!

Thanks for all your ideas anyway! :D

G.