GPS and Axim

[tsulak]

Anyone have any luck hooking their GPS up with dell's new serial?

[cdnsupra]

I have not seen or heard of any success yet, and that is exactly what i am trying to do as well.

[tsulak]

I am hoping to see a success story here soon.

[JohnD]

I can't get mine to work either.
I've connected my serial cable to the serial output cable of my Garmin GPS12 with a null modem and gender-changer in between. I set the Garmin output to NONE/NMEA (NMEA 0183 2.0) @ 4800 baud.

I am using (trying to) Microsoft Pocket Streets. I have set the Axim to COM 1 (also tried Com 2 and 3). When I try GPS Tracking I usually just get the rotating "wait" icon (similar to the hourglass), but nothing ever happens and I eventually have to do a soft reset. Sometimes I get a message saying the "The communications port is available, but no signal is being received. Make sure the GPS receiver is turned on and connected to the correct port".

I also tried reversing the null-modem and even tried it without the null-modem...all with no success.

I know the GPS is working because it works serially on my desktop PC.
I did notice that the desktop PC wouldn't connect when I had the Garmin set 9600 baud, but when I set it to 4800 baud it worked fine.

Is there a way to set the baud rate of the Axim?
What else can I try?

[JakeRich]

I have a Magellan Meridian Gold and it works with the serial cable. My setup is that I have the serial cable from Magellan, a Null Modem connector, the Serial cable from Dell and a 400 Mhz Ax using Mapopolis. To get it all working, I follow this set of steps:

1. Connect the serial cable to the Magellan, then to the Null Modem cable, then to the Dell serial cable.
2. Turn on the Ax, start Mapopolis.
3. While the startup is underway, plug the Serial cable into the Ax.
4. Tell Mapopolis to find the GPS at the default location (which is COM1).
5. Turn on the Magellan. Sometimes the Magellan takes longer to start communicating and Mapopolis will time out looking for it, in which case I tell Mapopolis to search all ports.
6. The find each other and communications starts.

Works every time.

What I did notice is that if I plug in the serial cable and turn on the Magellan first, the Ax acts like it's trying to connect to a PC and sync. I get the spinner and nothing happens and I have to soft reset to gain control again. I think the Dell solution is still using the USB port connect lines on the Axim, so when it sees a signal there Activesync tries to take over and do its thing. If you let the mapping software capture the COM 1 port first, then AS doesn't wake up and you are good to go.

I have all default settings (NMEA, 4800, etc.) on both Mapopolis and Magellan.

I have also been able to get Holux's GPSViewer to connect to the Magellan using the same process.

Hope this helps.

[JohnD]

You and several others have reported success using Mapopolis and a Magellan. From your post it appears that Mapopolis gives you the option of selecting a baud rate. Pocket Streets does not appear to give that option.

I tried the procedure you suggested and still no success.

I'm also wondering if the cable length would make a difference. My Garmin serial cable is about 8' long and the Dell cable is about 5', giving a total of 13'. As I stated, it works on my Dell desktop PC, but not on the Axim. Maybe the Axim doesn't have enough power for the longer cable.

I'm also thinking that I may need to manually set the baud rate on the Axim, but I can't find a way to do that.

[JakeRich]

Try Holux's GPSViewer from here. It can set the COM port and speed for you to test and wil show the NMEA statements as they arrive. The cable length may be a problem, but it's still within the limits of RS232, if Dell adhered to that standard. I don't have a Garmin, but I noted that the setting you reported was NONE/NMEA. Which is that, NONE or NMEA? Are you sure the Garmin is putting out NMEA statements? You said it worked with the desktop, but is that set for NMEA statements or Garmin-specific stuff. GPSViewer also has a version for the desktop, so you could try that, too, to confirm NMEA statements are being generated.

[JohnD]

The "NONE/NMEA" setting on my Garmin 12 means that the GPS input is set for NONE and the output is set for NMEA. That is the same setting that worked on my desktop pc running Microsoft Streets and Trips.

I'll try the GPSViewer program you suggested.

Thanks

[JohnD]

Well, I've had some success with my Garmin GPS12.

I downloaded and installed the GPSViewer program. It did find the GPS and received a steady stream of statements. I was able to view all satelite positions also.

After a little experimentation, I found that after running GPSViewer and then closing the program, and then loading Pocket Streets and turning on the "Track Position" function, it does work.

Now I'm going out on the road to see if it tracks me on the map.

I'll let you know tomorrow.

Thanks for that help.

[JakeRich]

I am beginning to suspect that something in the Axim is not starting the COM port properly, which is in turn not triggering the little chip in the block on the serial cable to start functioning. Some folks have had some success with a little jumpered null modem cable where they tied DTR to DSR, but from your experience and mine, I think it's more a software issue in the Ax that the COM port is inactive. Mapopolis and GPSViewer both fire it up, and both communicate with the serial devices well. So, if after you use GPSViewer the port stays active, and your Garmin works, the trick will be to find a way to trigger the COM port active without the hassle of starting and stopping GPSViewer. Maybe some kind programmer will throw together a hack to launch the COM1 port for you.

[csims]

I have a Garmin GPS 12 and I'm not having any problems with Mapoplis. I'm using the Garmin PC Serial cable, Radio Shack null modem adapter(9pin Male - 9pin Female with 9/9 M/M gender changer.).

Have you tried setting the Garmin to NMEA/NMEA? That and 9600 baud works for me. 4800 won't work. You will get communication timeout's.

[JakeRich]

JohnD don't leave us hanging! Did it work when you drove around?

[JohnD]

Yes, it worked fine while driving around.

I've tried it repeatedly and can always get it to work by first running GPSViewer, then closing that program (so it's no longer locking up the com port), then running MS Pocket Streets. But, as mentioned by JakeRich, it really is a hassle to go through all this. It's interesting that everyone reports that it works straight up with Mapopolis, but not with Pocket Streets. I suspect Pocket Streets is not properly turning on the port. I would love to see a fix for it. GPSViewer is a fix of sorts, but it takes about 15 steps (key strokes) to go through before ever running Pocket Streets.

I haven't contacted Microsoft about it yet, but the cleanest fix would be for them to patch their program.

[JakeRich]

Thanks for the report. It's closure! :D

As we discussed, I think programs like PStreets don't actually wake up COM1. Mapopolis does, as does some hardware work (jumpering pins 1 and 4 on the RS232 side, sometimes). You might try what this guy did: PocketPCPassion thread