SilasBRAZIL

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SUCCESS, SDG-810 IS WORKING FINE ON X51v AT LAST!!!
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Hi everybody,
I think this is the right place to post this, like an answer to the first post of this thread, which I liked so much. It's been a month now since my first post here at Aximsite. All this time I tried, week after week, to make my WM5 BrazilianPortuguese X51v (ROM version A01), purchased in late december 2005 and received in mid January 2006 through Dell of Brazil, recognize SPECTEC SDG-810 2 in 1 SDIO GPS Receiver and microSD memory card reader. (I also posted at Dell's Community, no luck there).
As time went by with no solution at all, I even thought - out of despair and being passionate for GPS - of upgrading my firmware and changing language to English, in order to get that wonderful A12 update (later I learned that this hack is currently available only to X50 machines, through risky hexadecimal editing of the heading of a file uncompressed from Dell's ROM image self-extracting zip).
Among everything I've read in Aximsite and other PDA forums, the only piece of information that I supposedly needed, without knowing it, was "COM4@38400", can you believe that? And why I spent so much time trying every combination of hardware and software COM/GPD ports and baudrate with no success? Or why no software at all was able to *LIST* "COM4: - Spectec GPS Driver" under "Port settings"? I'll be damned if I know the exact reason! I had installed a bunch of GPS apps to my Axim to no avail. I still wonder, why they didn't recognize the very original Spectec driver from the mini companion CD before, and now they do?
The fact that triggered proper working was that I started trying drivers from Spectec website other than the recommended one and suddenly, voila! I could be sure my card worked, it was not some falsificated fake product with a random timer designed to stop the LED from blinking in less than one minute to pretend lock on satellites! Nice NMEA strings started to scroll before my eyes!!!!!!!! And yes, they were not fake, in no way a fake product could guess right my home's lat-long indoors!
I wanted to know what happened so I could avoid it in the future, because I even got to install the driver meant to PPC 2003SE. I had more than one driver installed. Thus I started testing combinations of a single driver installation along with popular GPS apps. I tested ten different softwares against:
a) the original Spectec driver from the companion miniCD;
b) the respective downloaded driver from Spectec website;
c) an Indian company ARASAN driver;
d) the PPC 2003SE driver.
Between each series of tests I hard-resetted my axim just to make sure. Each step I took was written to a txt file, so I could analize it backwards, as well as tell everybody about it further. In case you're interested, please read on... or just skip to "CONCLUSIONS".
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step 1) I performed a hard reset;
2) I installed the card original Spectec driver from the companion mini CD (a file dated may 24, 2006 - size 63.5kB in my system). Through Activesync, needless to say. No soft resetting afterwards.

GPS VIEWER
3) I installed Holux GPS Viewer;
4) I plugged in SDG-810, and waited until the green led stopped blinking - to speed up locking on sats, I unplugged the Axim from the usb cable and extended it outside my room's window;
5) I opened GPS Viewer, set manually COM4@38400, and tapped "Open GPS"; This is where I suspect things went right - maybe this command changed something INSIDE the card itself. NMEA strings started scrolling up the screen right away!
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[EDIT] The first time SDG-810 was recognized, I had drivers "a", "b" and "c" installed at the same time. Never before this GPS Viewer command "Open GPS" had had any effect, or Spectec driver been listed in other GPS apps (some apps require that you pick up just which COM *number*, say from 1 to 5 or 1 to 11. Others will show you only COM ports actually in use by identified devices). The steps I'm describing now are things I've done AFTER the card came alive, but I'm not sure about what really made it to work for the very first time. I want to stress this, because I think that was a situation impossible to re-create now with my own card. There's no way it won't be easily recognized now - like the card itself was not the same as it was before. I would like to have a brand new, untried card, to see how my system would play with it. [end of edit]
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6) I tapped "Close GPS";
7) Tapped "Tools/Exit";
8) I opened GPS Viewer again - it showed default COM1 and baudrate 4800;
9) I tapped "Scan..." - It searched all COM ports and found NOTHING after "Scan completed!" How many times I did this before following instructions from the manufacturer, at every baudrate setting?
10) I looked at "Start/Settings/System/GPS" - it showed "Software port" = "None", "Hardware port" = "None", let windows "Manage GPS automatically" was checked. I left it at that and exited from "Settings".
11) I returned to GPS Viewer and changed baudrate to 38400 and tapped "Scan..." - IT FOUND NOTHING!
12) I closed scanning result report window - Set COM port to "4" and baudrate was still 38400. I just tapped "Open GPS" and NMEA strings flowed right away.
13) However, GPS Viewer didn't show correct time and date, it kept displaying "friday, july 1, 2005", the date my Axim always assumes after a HR. It didn't show lat-long either, kept displaying "Acquiring: 3D"
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From now on I will save my english folks, if you don't understand a statement, just install the mentioned application and follow the steps, you should be able to identify "commands" and "messages". Please don't mind if I mix narration and instructions, past tense and imperative, all right?
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GPS TWEAK
14) "Setup/Port setting"... Ports list shows "Spectec GPS Driver" at COM4 (it never had showed this before for one month's worth of trying, trust me!) Select it, set "Speed" at 38400, "GPS Protocol"=NMEA, tap OK button.
15) Tap "Setup/Connect", NMEA strings fill up the screen and keep refreshing once a second.
16) I tried to switch to Sirf mode, it never went past "Entering decoding thread", although command "Poll version" sent a "cmd 84" that got a response, followed by a acknowledgement line. Same true regarding the use of "Poll WASS/EGNOS Status", that sent a "cmd 98". This reminded me of dial-up modem manual AT commands.
17) I learned that if you don't use "Setup/Disconnect" before "Command/Swith to..." you end up with "sentence corrupt" when back in NMEA mode. Don't panic, keep calm and do it all again tapping "Disconnect" before each "Switch to" command.
18) Under "Start/Settings/System/GPS" I set hardware port to COM4@33600 (WM5 doesn't list a 38400 option). Set software port to COM3 (an apparently unassigned port).
19) I exited GPS Tweak and did a soft-reset - when back in GPS Tweak, the listing under "Port" now showed
COM4: - Dump File Transfer
COM4: - Rndis
in addition to the already present
COM4: - Spectec GPS Driver.
IT DIDN'T SHOW THIS EARLIER, and I don't think this had nothing to do with my changing of windows GPS settings. Sirf mode never went past "Entering decoding thread", and to worsen things, both "Poll" commands never got their respective responses anymore... But NMEA mode remained normal and readily available anytime.
20) I cleared both software and hardware port settings under "Start/Settings/System/GPS" and performed a SR. But GPS Tweak kept its new behavior. When in Sirf mode, Sirf sentences never ever showed up, though you can switch directly (without tapping "Disconnect") to NMEA, after tapping OK on the dialog about "GGA, GLL, GSA, GSV, RMC, VTG, MSS, User 8, User 9, User 10" parameters.
By the way, I experimented changing these according to the values suggested in the pocketgpsworld.com article "Tweaking and Testing your GPS Receiver" by Dave Burrows (quote: "What I would recommend is that you set GGA=1, GLL=0, GSA=5, GSV=5, RMC=1, VTG=1, MSS=0, User=0, User=0, User=0"). The new settings reflected on NMEA sentences like expected (the string VTG was missing, since GPS Tweak had it set to zero, and showed up.) But when you switch modes GPS Tweak resets them to its own default.

WINFAST NAVIGATOR
21) When you choose "Port settings" in WinFast Navigator, it says "Error! Couldn't find value!" You have to tap 6 times the "ok" control to get rid of the message, then the port config dialog appears. It does have an option for 38400, but under "Port" it lists only
Serial COM1:
BTUart COM5:
IrCOMM COM3:
IrDA COM2:

No deal.

GPS4PPC
22) When you tap "GPS/Connect", it lists "COM 4: Spectec GPS Driver". When you choose it, it will say "GPS is connected". Tap "ok" and nothing good happens. If you tap "GPS/Connect: port 4" it says" "error opening port: 4" and "GPS disconnected". Soft-reset, over again and same thing. I gave up.

NAVMAN GPS INFO
23) Starts with "Error Sleeve Not Attached". Correction: it doesn't start at all - tap "ok" and you're back to "Programs" window. Same thing after a SR. Is it designed to interface just with CF cards? I wonder.

POCKETGPSMAP
24) Works OK, GPS info window shows everything it should, the way it should. I need some time to create/calibrate some maps, then I will post a comment about it.

MOVMAP
25) I really like this simple movingmap freeware, I have easily calibrated some maps and successfully loaded them to it. Unfortunately, it doesn't support 38400 bauds, there's no option between 19200 and 57600. Sirf support is neither present nor really needed. Would be nice if the author added the 38400 option.

GPSDASH (shareware tested)
26) Works OK, but wait... read further.

COMPEPOCKET-LAND 2.1 (demo tested)
27) Works OK.

TOMTOM (ttgps206_arm.CAB - not a recent version for sure.)
28) Lists Spectec driver all right, but runs extremely slo-o-o-o-w, I couldn't wait and did SR! I increased the registry key "BlockTransferSize" value from 64 to 256KB (SD/MMC related), having read about it in the 2nd post of this thread, but Tomtom kept waisting my time, and crashes as soon as you tap and hold anything looking for unknown options. I must say it does show lat-long and signaltrength, but numbers don't update. I can't say if it would work ok if a microSD card was present. Remember to select "NMEA 0183v2 38400" from the dropdown list.

VITO SMARTMAP v 3.54 (14 days trial)
29) It's the only software I used on hiking before on my Axim X51v (WM5 Brazilian Portuguese, January2006). It worked well with a bluetooth GPS ( a "mouse" one, not a BT/SD card like Spectec SDG-812). Unfortunately, SmartMap doesn't have the 38400 bauds option, the closest one (33600) does not work. It does scan ports one to five (actually in reverse order), but when it reaches port 4 scanning freezes, though the Axim remains functional. I shall see if there's a newer version that supports 38400. By the way, WM5 GPS Settings don't support it too, otherwise maybe automatic GPS management could fool SmartMap3.54 into vacant COM3. I'll never know if this really works, unless Spectec come up with a driver that assigns SDG-810 to a COM listed in windows (and a windows standard baudrate).

***********2nd HARD RESET***********

30) After performing a second HARDreset, I installed the driver downloaded from Spectec webpage (sdg810-driver-for-750.rar). Believe me, I repeated the exact procedures above, for all softwares, in the same order, and the only difference was that Vito SmartMap didn't freeze when scanning - it tried port 4, found nothing, and just went on. Probably it could've been like this before, had I performed a softreset.

*********3rd HARD RESET***********

31) After a 3rd HR, I installed the ARASAN SDIO UART driver, a file also named "Spectec-GPS.exe" and also packed as "Spectec-GPS.rar". Its uncompressed size is 727KB, instead of just 63.5KB of the driver from the miniCD.

GPSVIEWER
32) It worked almost the same way as before (COM4@38400, NMEA strings, bargraph of signalstrength, no reading of lat-long nor time and date), but this time it crashed in less than one minute, "problem with the mGpsCmd.exe", said a standard windows error report (Would you be kind enough to send this error report to MS?). Now GPSViewer will auto shut-off randomly very often, or crash when you switch from "Setup" to "GPS Status" and viceversa.

GPS TWEAK
33) Same as before, it displays "COM4: - Spectec GPS Driver", BUT THERE IS NEWS: when you "Poll version", it now does get the answer I mentioned earlier, "SiRF: SW Ver: GSW3.2.4Pat2_3.1.00" plus 3 little "squares" (unknown characters), followed by "SiRF: Command 84 Ack".
And as an answer to "Poll WAAS/EGNOS Status" it gets:
SiRF: DGPS Poll response
Source: WAAS/EGNOS
Mode: 00
Timeout: 18sec
SiRF: Command 98 Ack
If you try "Setup/Disconnect" and "Port settings" to switch to NMEA, sentences scroll up just saying "NMEA: No leading $", "NMEA: Corrupt sentence". You have to switch modes through "Command" to be successfully back to NMEA. Like before, the option "Signal strength" doesn't work.

WINFAST NAVIGATOR
34) Same as before, it does not recognize the Spectec driver.

GPS4PPC
35) This time it took a little longer to load, and loading it now always lingers. It listed "COM 4: Spectec GPS Driver" like before and didn't work, as before. I then remembered to softreset, and did so without closing GPS4PPC nor unplugging the card. After the Axim restarted, WM5 greeted me with "Unrecognized card". Just to make sure, I ran GPS Viewer and it didn't work anymore. GPS Tweak didn't list the Spectec driver anymore either.
I unplugged the card and SR'ed again, plugged the card back, it locked on sats immediately. GPS Viewer worked again for some seconds until I switched to "GPS Status" and got a crash and a error report like usual. Uff... so relieved! At this point I was afraid these apps messed with card's firmware, like DVD player Region code hacking. GPS Tweak scrolled NMEA sentences again. OK, go on testing the remaining apps against the ARASAN driver.

NAVMAN GPS INFO
36) "Error Sleeve Not Attached" as before.

POCKETGPSMAP
37) Works GREAT like before. And like MOVMAP, there's no install, no wizard, no CAB - you just copy the executable file plus the Atlas folder to anywhere via activesync and run it from there. Keep it simple guys, thank you Andrej Krutak!

MOVMAP
37) No 38400 bauds option, remember? This must be easy for the author to fix.

GPSDASH (shareware tested)
38) I didn't test it with the ARASAN driver, it has an irritating shareware limit of just 50KB, not enough to feel how it behaves for more than a little second. I DELETED it with no regrets.

COMPEPOCKET-LAND 2.1 (demo tested, 500KB limitation)
39) Works OK just like before, no softreset needed after install. It has an option to SiRF protocol, but when I try to select it, it says "Error, received data is not SIRF protocol!" I'm not sure if I have to use some specific tweak app to change the card "itself" to SIRF, could somebody please tell me?

TOMTOM (ttgps206_arm.CAB)
40) Same sluggishness, such that you are led to think the axim has entirely crashed, but that's not the case. Listen to "Patience" from Guns'n'Roses and don't worry, be happy. This time I didn't bother to do the SD/MMC 64K to 256K BlockTransferSize registry tweak. What for?

VITO SMARTMAP v 3.54 (14 days trial)
41) Same as before.

****4th HARDRESET - driver meant to PPC 2003SE****

42) After a fourth HR I installed the driver meant to PPC 2003SE, not the one from the miniCD, but the one downloaded from Spectec site, "general_sdio.CAB", only 25KB. (I can't see why the folder "GPS for PPC2003" on the miniCD has 13 different files summing up to 7,7MB).

GPS VIEWER
43) No SR was needed, GPS Viewer worked like before. When I switched from "Setup" to "GPS status" and viceversa the screens corrupted, then after a w-h-i-l-e they were restored. The app didn't crash like it used to (when using the ARASAN driver). Instead, it began to behave like Tomtom. I turned off the axim, unplugged the card and did a SR. Plugged the card back and ordered GPS Viewer to scan ports at 38400. Scan completed fast as usual, nothing found as always.

GPS TWEAK
44) Just like before, BUT the "Poll" commands are functional. Must I wait forever when SiRF enters decoding threads?

WINFAST NAVIGATOR
45) Just like before, no deal.

GPS4PPC
46) Same nothing. Just lists the Spectec driver.

NAVMAN GPS INFO
47) "Sleeve not attached".

POCKETGPSMAP
48) This time a message told me "couldn't open //COM4", but it was caused by garbage left by previous apps for sure - a SR (card unplugged first) solved the problem and PocketGPSMap ran smoothly.

MOVMAP
49) No 38400 bauds option.

COMPEPOCKET-LAND 2.1 (demo tested, 500KB limitation)
50) Just like before, no more, no less.

TOMTOM (ttgps206_arm.CAB)
51) I tell you it pays to be methodical! During these two days risking the integrity of my softreset button membrane, I almost ran out of patience about Tomtom, I was really tempted to skip running it with the PPC 2003SE driver!
Great news about it, maybe it doesn't mean so much once Tomtom seems to be a software with many evolving versions, and this one I tried is pretty basic. But it runs lightning fast with the 2003SE driver!
No BlockTransferSize nor microSD memory card present needed. Signal strengh bars, lat-long numbers, speed and direction fields update fairly well at every 1 to 2 seconds, you can switch between Tomtom screens and change options with no lag at all. But...
As long as you don't tap the "x" control, meant to minimize the window. This control now actually kills Tomtom, it is wiped from memory, at least becomes invisible both through "Start/Settings/Memory" and the Switch Bar (is it named like this in english?) Just re-open tomtom from "recent programs" Start menu and it's up and running, no re-config needed, just go on navigating.

VITO SMARTMAP v 3.54 (14 days trial)
52) No 38400 option. I will look for a newer version. BTW I want to apologize, several install files used in these procedures I downloaded a lot of months ago, long before I bought the SDG-810 - some of them may just be out of date.
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CONCLUSIONS
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The Spectec SDG-810 original driver from the companion mini CD works all right, but not at first. The reason why is not clear, it is as if something inside the card itself needs to be changed by some tweak app using the ARASAN driver. Then this one can be uninstalled, and the original driver from the mini CD will be recognized and listed by most of GPS apps at "Port settings". In order we can confirm this, it's important all of you having a hard time with SDG-810 mark your present situation BEFORE trying the ARASAN driver. This will help device driver writers improve SDG-810 functionality.
The driver meant for PPC 2003SE works just fine on a X51v running WM5. In the end, if you use WM5, it is a question of determining what driver works best with your particular application. And remember, you don't have really to perform hardresets, you can just uninstall any version of the Spectec driver through the option "Remove programs" under "Start/Settings/System".
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[EDIT] Now WM5 will pop up "Unrecognized card" whenever I uninstall the card driver (or do a hard reset) and then plug the card in. This wouldn't happen before the first time the card was recognized. Everytime I inserted SDG-810 in the axim before, its LED lighted indicating power consumption, but it was as if no communication at all took place. Now it's different, after a HR or driver uninstall, WM5 accuses the presence of something new in the system when the card is inserted.
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A PIECE OF ADVICE: Never remove the card in a single move (just holding it and pulling it out of axim). You should always push it inwards, like it´s a SD memory card, in order to unlock it, only then pull it out. I mean, you can remove it just by pulling, but eventually you will disarrange the locking mechanism, as I did this week. The cards will not lock in place anymore, the SD slot spring will force them outwards. Too bad... I managed to somehow disable my spring, now I can insert SDG-810 (or an ordinary SD memory card) and it will not fall if I turn the axim upside down, and even shake it... Both SDG and the memory card still hold in place and work well, but I fear this will not last forever, so be warned.