usb input to axim ?

philnext · 01-06-03, 01:52 AM

Hi,
Does anyone have any idea if i can do this with my axim?

I have found a gender changer for usb, it makes males into female inputs, so you can plug in modem as in a cell phone, cams etc. Well since none of the pdas out there including this unit have actual inputs that are usb, and you can't get a serial cable yet for this unit, well i had to try something. Please comment on what i did and help me with it.

First i have a Nextel web enable packet gold data phone, it come with a usb cable or a serial cable. Of course if you use the darn serial cable you need a gender change and a null modem adapter plus the two serial cables, that a lot of stuff anyone make a combo cable that has everything built in?

Well, since my cell phone has a modem built in the computer has to find it in windows as a standard modem or with a driver disk a motorola iden modem, if you need the driver. I called motorola tech support and they said plugging both cables together with the gender changer would work. Well, i did it with the axim and it didn't see the modem or act like it was dialing. Oh, i also have to use dial up networking with a phone number to log on to network as S=2, of course the axim keeps adding other numbers to this dialing string which i could not get rid of. I called two techs at dell one said it would not work at all using my setup, the other who was really a labtop specialist said it could, who do i believe. Well he said to install the modem driver and wait for windows ce to ask me to plug in usb cell phone.
Does this make sense to anyone out there or is usb so different that this can't be done? I had the casio with a serial cable setup and it worked fine but in this case with no serial cable i guess i have to wait for it to come out and then i will have a ton of cables and connectors to deal with.

So who out there knows if this setup will work?

Thank you all,
Phil :D

Ok thanks for all your advice now tell Dell to make this device work as a host usb, anyone work for them in the right department that can change these things? Well, i guess i am stuck using the serial cable when or if it comes out, and better come out soon, i really got this device to go on internet on the beach, because of the low battery drain, my labtop just could not cut it as well as it being too large to use anywhere. And no my nextel cell phone does not have a Infared in it, but being a tech i could make it possible for the phone by converting the serial output to light, just a thought. Still it does not make sense why no pda manufacturer does not have an input for usb, like added a cam to pda would be a snap if it had a input host usb. So what is wrong with this standard?
I am just upset Dell made a great product that without thinking about what we really need.

commoved · 01-06-03, 09:12 PM

Sorry, no go. All USB devices reqire a host, master, or controller (take your pick of a name). Microsoft Windows CE does not include host software. The PPC can only act as a device.

The USB "gender changer" cable you talk about is probably a lap-link cable. It doesn't do anything by itself. But if you are running Lap Link software on two PCs, you can use this cable to let the two Lap Link sessions talk to each other and exchange files. This is not really a USB application -- just something Lap Link rigged.

RS232 null modem cables sometimes work because it's just two devices passing data (kind of like peer to peer). Of course, sometimes they don't work because of baud rates, protocols, and just generally getting two devices to agree on anything.

Tom61 · 01-07-03, 04:39 PM

Quote:

I have found a gender changer for usb, it makes males into female inputs

That's probably an adapter to turn a regular USB cable into an extension USB cable, so you can plug in a device that's further away. Like deichenlaub said, this won't help you.

Quote:

Well since none of the pdas out there including this unit have actual inputs that are usb

Not true, the Casio E-200 has host USB, but not many drivers are written for WinCE and USB. (anything completely standard will work, like keyboards, but anything requiring additional drivers won't)

Quote:

Of course if you use the darn serial cable you need a gender change and a null modem adapter plus the two serial cables, that a lot of stuff anyone make a combo cable that has everything built in?

Once someone starts shipping serial cables for the Axim, serial 'device' cables are likely to come afterwards. Serial device cables are out for just about every other PDA out there, I don't see why manufactures would exclude the Axim. A serial device cable is usually a couple inches long, and lets you plug in a serial device without gender changers, null modems, etc.

Quote:

Well, since my cell phone has a modem built in

Does it also have an IR port? If so, you can probably use it through that. Setup the internet connection on your Axim to use 'generic irda modem' and line up the two IR ports. As far as the Axim adding numbers to the dialing string, it's probably putting in the Area code in, there should be a setting to disable that.