new2axim

Originally Posted by Pc-Mobile

The biggest stumbling block in the original idea is the serial port. As opposed to VGA port, you rarely need to connect USB all the time. So you rarely need to use both USB/VGA at the same time all the time. So why not just use 2 separate cables which are available and not that expensive?

I, personally, would LOVE to see a VGA/power/USB connection for one reason only. My touchscreen in-car screen.

I'm using my x50v as a carputer. It really seems to be the perfect low-budget carputer. It's got bluetooth, it's got WiFi, it can output VGA and it's a "real" computer.

For less than half the price of an in-dash navigation setup, I've got in car navigation PLUS internet access PLUS I can take the Axim with me when I leave my car.

The biggest downside is that I have no USB connection to run my touchscreen to. Therefore, I've got to use the Axim touchscreen to make any changes on my in-dash screen. And frankly, that sucks.

Originally Posted by Pc-Mobile

If you do without serial, that will be much simpler/easier.

I've been interested in a serial cable for a while as a way to adapt it to the USB connection coming out of my touch-screen.

If the USB connector being discussed in this thread is only for Activesync use, then I'd want the serial connector to work with. But if the USB connector being proposed here is basically a serial-style communications connection that I could hook my touchscreen to (or a mouse into, or a keyboard) then I would pay $60 in a second for a working VGA/power/USB connector for my axim. :approve:

biohzrd

Hell, I'd pay $100 just for some USB or Serial DRIVERS that would run a generic touchscreen! I've been looking and looking at some cheap LCDs, but I REALLY want the touchscreen on it to be functional. I think I'm holding off until then.

If the design was made to be in a solid unit that connects to the axim, that would be AWESOME. I could modify it a bit (or change your design to have two models) and make it into a docking station of sorts that I could mount somewhere hidden in my car.

new2axim

Originally Posted by biohzrd

Hell, I'd pay $100 just for some USB or Serial DRIVERS that would run a generic touchscreen!

Do the ones at eGalax not work? There are WindowsCE drivers for ARM processors and RS232/USB there.

I haven't tried the WinCE drivers (because I have no serial or USB cable for my Axim) but the WinXP drivers there work great for my generic HongKong touchscreen off eBay.

http://www.egalax.com.tw/support-drivers.htm

bigbop

Originally Posted by taxilian

that is actually what my original idea was, to have a very small board inside the connector in the axim that you solder whichever wires you need to (so you don't have to have serial if you have no use for it), and then just come up with some sort of either breakout box or just have several cables dangle off of it. The other ideas presented have some definite promise, though. It will probably be 2 weeks before I can build a prototype, and it may or may not be the final design, but it'll at least prove that it's possible, and I can get a pic up.

Here's a suggestion: Get yourself a cable that is already partially made, which you can mate with the Axim's 36pin connector. Then, use it with a breakout box that you can mount all of the connectors and switches to.

Look at this DELL 53975 Floppy Cable:http://www.laptopuniverse.com/produc...s_cd_fdd.shtml It has a 25pin molded connector at one end. The other end has a shell that can be opened along with a strain relief that fits well into the 36pin Axim shell. This gives you 17 wires plus shield!.

All you now have to do is to layout a small PCB with the DB25, DB15H, DB9 using a MAX2323, a 5V barrel socket, USB socket and a switch to turn off charging from the USB host port. There are even enough wires for serial control signalling!

The PCB should fit nicely into a small plastic box from RatShack.
I'm in the middle of building this for myself now - no PCB, just point to point. I'm actually using a surplus Motorola Iden serial programming cable as it already has the LVTTL to RS232 cirsuit and has 13 wires in the cable from the dongle to the PDA. Just enough for VGA, serial power and USB.

The DELL floppy cable above is $10 (plus shipping of course) is pretty flexable and is 20" long - perfect for your use.

Cheers!

3dguymwm

Hows this project coming? I'd be interested in purchasing one.

new2axim

Originally Posted by bigbop

Look at this DELL 53975 Floppy Cable:http://www.laptopuniverse.com/produc...s_cd_fdd.shtml It has a 25pin molded connector at one end. The other end has a shell that can be opened along with a strain relief that fits well into the 36pin Axim shell.

Hey now. When you say "The other end has a shell...that fits...into the 36pin Axim shell" are you saying that the end of that cable will plug into the Axim?

Quote:

I'm actually using a surplus Motorola Iden serial programming cable as it already has the LVTTL to RS232 cirsuit and has 13 wires in the cable from the dongle to the PDA. Just enough for VGA, serial power and USB.

Keep us updated! :approve:

bigbop

[QUOTE=new2axim]Hey now. When you say "The other end has a shell...that fits...into the 36pin Axim shell" are you saying that the end of that cable will plug into the Axim?QUOTE]
No, the cable is from an external Dell floppy disk drive that connects to a laptop. One end of the cable is an injection molded DB25 that you cannot open.

The other end of the cable (look at the picture in the link above) is a proprietary connector that plugs into the floppy drive. This proprietary connector is a plastic shell that can be popped apart exposing the wires and a nice strain relief. You then de-solder the 17 wires from the existing plug and solder them to the Axim' 36pin plug that you can get from Gomadic or Dell's charging dongle.

One thing you need to keep in mind here is high frequency crosstalk and impedance matching for the video output lines. I have no idea if this cable will work (always build a prototype) as there are no twisted pairs in it that I can see. For 1280x1024 video, you are talking about 75MHz video signals on a 20" parallel cable. This might cause alot of fringing or ghosting in the image. Ideally, the length of wire from the Axim's 36pin plug to the DB15H VGA connector should be as short as possible.

Geil

Yeah I was curious too as to this project but since this is a 3 month old thread must assume it is dead for now

bigbop

Here is a very short thread I put up almost a year ago, when I built something similar for my Audiovox Thera: http://www.pdaphonehome.com/forums/s...threadid=35657
This is the cable I'm using now for my Axim breakout box. The cable from the dongle to the phone connector has 13 wires in it. I plan to replce the iDen connector with the Axim connector, remove the case from the dongle and place it as well as a DB9, DB15H, USB cable and power connector into a Hammond #1551GGY plastic minibox. The dongle needs 3.3V supplied from the Axim.
Piece of cake!

BTW, I tore out the CDMA module from the Thera and replaced it with a SRiF GPS module and an external antenna. I call it a poor man's iQUE. I like to reuse old technology. :approve:

mmbika

I did all DIY, checked all connections n times and yet no sucess with X50V VGA cable. Do I / we miss something in pin connections? As the pin layout has some misses, can anyone help?

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[COLOR=Red]MMBIKA[/CO :) LOR]

biohzrd

Have you looked for shorts in your cables? Do you get ANY output? Have you set the axim to mirror mode?

More than likely with the INCREDIBLY small area to solder in, one or more of your connections are shorted together. Hold an Ohmmeter on one cable and touch the rest of them one at a time, do this for all the other cables. If you get a reading lower than infinity, then you have yourself a bad solder job.

Geil

I assume that noone has produced the PCB afterall? :P
Would have been nice but oh well I guess just gonna have to solder it. On many occasions I was tempted to order the premade cable but everytime when I am about to do it it's like.......DIY ..... D I Y and then I go back to this thread and pray someone has produced the PCB for cheap. oh well now I am going to just cut up a VGA and USB cable and solder it to the gomadic connector and pray cause those pins sure are close to each other

Geil

I got someone to do the soldering for me and even with their skills it took them a long time to get it done right. One thing to confirm is that the RGB grounds can be shorted as that tuned out to be the biggest evil. Someone please make the PCB :P I actually got them made from the USB sync/charge adapter from Boxware..
I think they wil think twice to help me make another :P I'll have some pics up later oh and it all works!

new2axim

Originally Posted by Geil

I got someone to do the soldering for me and even with their skills it took them a long time to get it done right. One thing to confirm is that the RGB grounds can be shorted as that tuned out to be the biggest evil. Someone please make the PCB :P I actually got them made from the USB sync/charge adapter from Boxware.. I think they wil think twice to help me make another :P I'll have some pics up later oh and it all works!

Lets see them pics! :)

Geil

totally forgot. I am researching the PCB option right now since nobody here seems to be following through. Soldering the cable was way too much effort even for the skilled ladies at my work. In the end it worked out and I used glue gun and heatshrink to finish off the adapter. I also made a micro USb to USB TypeA receptacle so I can provide power through my Motorola V3 carcharger (which provides 5.4V. BTW thats a 7" LCD with VGA in I got and will mount in the car when needed. I am using Nyditot Virtual Display to drive the external LCD to 800x600 and using the X50v screen as a touchpad

new2axim

Hey Geil. I'm glad to see that somebody's actually pulled this off. :approve:

Question 1: Where did you get your serial cable from? Is it from pc-mobile.net or www.gomadic.com or ???

Question 2: What would it take for me to get a combo VGA/Serial cable? I'd really like to see if I can get my Axim working with my touchscreen LCD and I need both simultaneously before I can even TRY to see if it'll work.

Geil

Hey N2A
I didnt breakout a serial port as did not have a need for one. If I had my colleagues do anymore wires I think they just smack it back in my face :P I am however researching in my sparetime the possibility of a PCB but .. layout... money....min quantities.... possible reasons why it never took off in the first place

bigbop

Originally Posted by new2axim

Question 2: What would it take for me to get a combo VGA/Serial cable? I'd really like to see if I can get my Axim working with my touchscreen LCD and I need both simultaneously before I can even TRY to see if it'll work.

Look at my note above (entry #57) regarding the adapter I built for my Thera. I'm using the same idea for a USB/VGA/Serial/Charger adapter. Since I'm only using the Rx & Tx serial lines, there are enough wires going from the dongle in the cable to the PDA connector to handle VGA and USB.

Essentially, all you need to do is crack open the dongle shell and place it into a small plastic project box. Either pull the VGA and serial cables from the box or mount the connectors in the box. No new PCBs necessary.

adamdemuth

Originally Posted by taxilian

Hi all, I'm currently working with one or two others on porting linux to the axim x50(v), and so I had a need to figure out the serial cable. Since in looking for that, I ended up finding out what most of the pinouts were, and that includes a VGA connector, I have been wanting to make myself a cable that could do all of it. I have decided that it can be done, but it would be best to do it with a very small circuitboard inside the connector. Here is my concept: I could make a kit that I could sell for about $30 to $35 that would be have VGA, USB (connection to computer), Charger, and Serial on it. Ideally the serial would be able to connect to either other TTL serial devices or to a computer (might take some finagling, going to a computer might be extra), and the VGA would probably use a small connector and an adapter to the full 15-pin, so as to keep the cable from becoming unwieldly. I am also thinking of throwing in an extra (probably abt $5) add-on kit that would act as a car charger, accepting anywhere from 5-15volts. If I could put this together, and sell it in a kit for $35 or as a pre-built cable for $60 (yes, they really are that annoying to put together, if you want it to last), I would need to sell 30 or 40 of them to make it worth my time and money to put together. Again, this would be a VGA, USB, Charger, and Serial cable all in one, all usable at the same time. My prices are not yet firm, just testing the waters to see if I should take the time to do it. Dell sells the VGA-only cable for $80 or so, and a car charger is normally $10-$15. Serial cables almost can't be bought. You can use it to connect your PDA to a GPS, cell phone, modem, etc. If I have enough people that want the cable, I'll build it. Richard

edit : sorry, I'm a tremendous idiot.

morris_the_Cat

I would love to use one of these breakout boxes where I could plug in my x50v, have the vga go to a dashboard tv, provide power to keep it charged, have a serial to a gps antenna, & would have some sort of external mouse? I would snap one up in a second if one of you guys were to make one of these gizmos in a preasembled kit or something. That way I could use my axim as a car pc with the whole interface on the dash screen while keeping the axim tucked in a safe little drawer under my car seat.

cmatkin

Hi all.
After I have been soldering various cables onto the pins of the axim connector plugs, I am taking the plunge to manufacture a pcb to fit inside the connector.

Currently I have been able to get all of the VGA, USB, RS232 and POWER onto the PCB. My question is, what pins do you guys want for the RS232. Currently I only have Tx / Rx and Gnd.

Before any one asks when will it be available, I hope to have it ready within 6 weeks.

morris_the_Cat

Wow cmatkin, that is great! I am quite sure that you will be able to make some money off that board. I will be one of the 1st to buy one, and I am sure that there are many others here as well. Excellent! Sorry, but I don't know what pins for the rs323 - beyond me. I'll leave that to the experts here.

bigbop

Originally Posted by cmatkin

Hi all. After I have been soldering various cables onto the pins of the axim connector plugs, I am taking the plunge to manufacture a pcb to fit inside the connector. Currently I have been able to get all of the VGA, USB, RS232 and POWER onto the PCB. My question is, what pins do you guys want for the RS232. Currently I only have Tx / Rx and Gnd. Before any one asks when will it be available, I hope to have it ready within 6 weeks.

Do you plan on placing a MAX3232 or equiv surfacemount chip on the PCB? Users really only need Rx & Tx as most serial communication uses just Xon/Xoff. The other control lines were used with modems.
You can save yourself the agony of layout a PCB (I've been doing that on and off for many years) by using items that already exist as I indicated in my earlier posts. The cellphone programming dongle already has the rs232 interface chip. Just bury it in a small plastic project box and connect to the X50 connector. Have a look at my posts here and on the pdaphonehome forum.
By doing that, the small project box can be used to mount the serial and vga connectors and you end up with a short dongle cable.

ndepuy

Hey Guys, all this sounds great! I'd love to use my AX for a carputer but using the Ax for the touch screen sucks (as already said). Can we use a external touch screen to control the AX? Sorry if this is a dumb/obvious question but I'm still kinda new at this.