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Believe me, I've got the info replicated, duplicated, print-icated, saved----icated and collected----icated...!!!
And as has been stated before, making the serial cable isn't going to be as simple as a wire for wire connector to connector type deal. Somewhere in the middle, there's going to have to be an RS-232 driver, logic level translation, either a MAX232 type chip or a few of transistors. And the other kicker will be whether or not 'stealing' power from other pins (i.e. RI, DTS, etc) will keep the cable compatible with all serial devices. Might have to have some sort of on-board power source (i.e. a couple of watch batteries???). That's why I plan on starting with a 'breakout PCB'.
(the following is guessing since I don't have the part on hand)
From the picture of the connector, it looks like there's 2 rows of pins that stick out a bit, not sure how far they stick out, not sure how far apart the 2 rows are, not sure what the pin spacing is. After I get my hands on them, I'll measure it all out and design a PCB to go with it.
The breakout PCB will be just that, only a breakout PCB, bring the tiny pins out to easy to work with holes/pads to solder something else into. Since there is 38 pins, I was thinking about putting these holes in the same pattern as a 40 pin .6" DIP socket so a person could hook up an IDC ribbon cable socket to it. That way a person could play with the connector and not have to keep the Axim in the same plane as the pieces/parts you were working on. Or maybe just 38 holes in a couple of rows, or both.
I've got a pretty good source to get some quality PCB's made at a reasonable cost, so when I get that all sorted out, I'll get a bunch of them made.
As I've stated in other threads, I'm not out to make money on this, just recoup my costs. The main point of why I do this stuff is development---ya know, progress.
And besides, if I get a good serial/VGA/power cable going for $10 in parts, does that or does that not beat the heck out of 3 different cables for $50 each (give or take)?
On another note, does anybody have a good working version of a Hyperterminal type program for WM2003SE (or WM2002, whatever) that seems to work with all the options (i.e. com speeds, handshaking, change COM ports? I'd write my own, but I don't feel like reinventing the wheel.
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