Ideal PDA Setup

Discussion about software such as GSAK, OziExplorer etc, as well as all things hardware, GPSrs, laptops, PDAs, paperless caching, cables etc
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TEAM LANDCRUISER
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Post by TEAM LANDCRUISER » 19 December 04 9:53 pm

<font color="blue"><font face="verdana"><b>Here's another option depending on which way you want to go Andrew<p>Magellan's / Thales Mobile Mapper

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EcoTeam
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Post by EcoTeam » 19 December 04 10:23 pm

Aushiker wrote:
Bear_Left wrote:Luckily, it's not much of an issue with the smaller, monochrome Palms. They'll go for weeks between recharges, so you have only yourself to blame if you let it go flat while caching! There's car adaptors as well, of course.
<p>
Would the same apply to the Zire 31, the model up from the 21 but with a colour screen?
<p>
Andrew
They claim 1 week of "normal use" from one charge for the 31
The 21 claims "weeks" of normal use.
No claim made for the 72 that I could find, guess that tells you something!

EcoDave :)

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Post by Aushiker » 21 December 04 9:21 pm

Okay. looking seriously at some Zire 21s on Ebay. Any reason not to jump this way? One question, how critical is backlighting? The Zire 21 does not have backlighting.
<p>
Thanks
<br>Andrew

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Webguy
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Post by Webguy » 21 December 04 9:26 pm

Ok, it also depends on what software you are going to use to go paperless, I have not tried, with any great depth, anything but cachemate, and I love it. However, up until the last version, it was very slow to import the new records.

The newer version is much quicker to be sure, and screams through now on my TE, but on the old IIIC it was rather slow.

My normal workflow is to get a full NSW or ACT or whatever pocket query, do the import into GSAK to update that, then, use the converter that comes with cachemate to do the conversion of the GPX files.

Once converted, sync, then start cachemate, cachemate finds the import file and imports/updates etc.

In that case, I know I would prefer a 30-40 second import over a 5 minute + import or so.

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EcoTeam
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Post by EcoTeam » 21 December 04 9:35 pm

Aushiker wrote:Okay. looking seriously at some Zire 21s on Ebay. Any reason not to jump this way? One question, how critical is backlighting? The Zire 21 does not have backlighting.
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Thanks
<br>Andrew
The Zire 21 is perfectly suitable. 8MB RAM is plenty. Only possible downside in my book is the internal LiIon battery, make sure you charge it before going out.
No need for backlighting with the monochrome screen. My Palm IIIxe does not have backlighting and I have been able use it in all lighting conditions.

EcoDave :)

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Post by Papa Bear_Left » 22 December 04 7:13 am

EcoTeam wrote:My Palm IIIxe does not have backlighting and I have been able use it in all lighting conditions.
So, how come you have the only IIIxe without backlighting, Dave? Did you steal the CCFL for another project? :D

Try holding down the power button for a couple of seconds. The screen should invert and the backlight come on. The slurping sound you hear is the juice getting sucked out of the batteries...

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Post by EcoTeam » 22 December 04 8:21 am

Bear_Left wrote:
EcoTeam wrote:My Palm IIIxe does not have backlighting and I have been able use it in all lighting conditions.
So, how come you have the only IIIxe without backlighting, Dave? Did you steal the CCFL for another project? :D

Try holding down the power button for a couple of seconds. The screen should invert and the backlight come on. The slurping sound you hear is the juice getting sucked out of the batteries...
It has a backlight? :shock: :oops:

Maybe I should have RTFM?

Goes to show how much the backlight is needed huh? :lol:

EcoDave :)

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Post by The Explorer » 22 December 04 3:50 pm

I use HP Ipaq 2210 + CF GPS + 512mb SD card (for maps) + Ozi CE. On the home PC I use OziExplorer + GSAK. I get sent all caches within 200km of my house every week by geocache.com - Convert waypoint data to Ozi format using GSAK and then load them and cache descriptions to PDA and ready for action. Probabaly cost about ~$800 for complete set up. A bit cheaper than the new Magellan Mobile Mapper CE device ($3500!!!!) but not as robust...but no probelms so far. Ipaq can also play MP3's, has Pocket Excel, Word, Outlook, PDF reader, Picture viewer, sound recorder so it has additional uses.
Cheers

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Post by binns1012 » 22 December 04 4:08 pm

I have the same setup as Explorer with the addition of a program called Repligo which replicates any page that appears on your PC
regards Tony

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Post by Team Red Roo » 22 December 04 7:26 pm

We're still very new to the paperless caching game, but are running a Palm Vx (8mb ram) and use GSAK on the pc to create html files, then process them with iSilox. We have iSilo running on the Vx. This gives us all that we need - at present anyway. :shock:

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Post by caughtatwork » 22 December 04 7:58 pm

$50 Palm Vx (from ebay), GSAK to create the HTML files and Plucker to read them on the Palm.

Nothing else to ask for really and keeps it all pretty inexpensive if I happen to go in the drink at any particular cache.

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Post by ving » 23 December 04 4:43 pm

I've got a palm m500 connected to a magellan companion GPSr using the nav companion software it came with. seems to work ok... I've been told not to drop it tho :P

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Post by Aushiker » 23 December 04 5:15 pm

Thanks everyone for the feedback. Just waiting now on an ebay bargin :D.
<p>
That said, I do have one more newbie question. I note that the older models, e.g., m105 have serial connections. I assume that they will still work okay with USB - serial converter setup such as what I currently use with my Geko 301. If someone would like to confirm that it would be nice :D
<p>
Thanks
<br>
Andrew

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Post by Skit n majik » 23 December 04 11:31 pm

Sorry to highjack the thread somewhat.

I'm interested in getting my PDA setup for suitable paperless caching.
I can purchase a cable to link my Garmin to my Viewsonic v37.
http://www.pc-mobile.net/gps.htm

Then the go would be to use GSAK to convert a gpx to OziExplorer? As then I could use OziExplorer to view a live map of nearby caches?

The only thing missing would be cache descriptions and logs. There either html files or GPXSonar I guess would be the go. GPXSonar being the better of the two due to the feature of field notes.

But one thing I can't figure out is how to get the field notes back to the PC? Or maybe even from the PDA straight to GeoCaching.com? :P

If this is more suitable in another thread just let me know and I'll create one. ;)

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Post by Lt. Sniper » 24 December 04 2:11 am

Having once owned a Palm pilot (back in grade 11) you might find it anoying to constantly turn off HotSync to allow communications to your GPS because it will 'pwn' ("do j00 uNDEr5+And? I 4m +@lK1NG 1n 1337 5P34k") that com port (the com port being the USB adaptor).

Its easy to turn off but it gets anoying after a while so you might want to consider another USB==>Serial adaptor dedicated to your Palm to save the hassle.

I could be wrong thought because its been a while since I have used HotSync and maybe Palm has made it so that Hotsync isnt a com port stealing hoe

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