Re: [Thinkpad] OT: Converting my PDA or Laptop to GPS??

not to walk on anyones toes who answered before my comment, but ANY thinkpad
should do just fine with ANY GPS that will output in NMEA thru a serial
port..

the GPS data is mostly only LAT and LON in comma delimited format (NMEA [i
forget the number but i THINK its 0183]) and most all thinkpads 760XL
included have serial ports..

the glitch is what will you use to display the GPS data..??

street atlas works just fine but an older thinkpad might not have the
graphics capability to display street atlas fast enough..

i have used the SA setup on several thinkpads (with the SA GPS and other
GPS's) for years and at one time in 1992 fed the serial GPS data (NMEA 0183)
from my boats GPS nav system directly to a mitac notebook thru the serial
port but only to log the LAT and LON's..

there is a CF card GPS i got several years ago with software, that i used on
my iPAQ PDA and it worked well but the display is too small, IMO..

i currently use a garmin GPS in my car(s) and prefer it over the built in
ones as i can position it in front of my eyes and refer to it without taking
my eyes off the roadway..

and take it from car to car to truck should i need to do so..

you will find that if you use a notebook in your car it will be too big and
will take some mounting wizardry to get it into a good position for use
while driving, if that is your intent..

if i were you and you wanted to use a cheap GPS in your car, get a used
garmin..
$200 to $300 and it is near perfect once you mount it on a suction cup mount
for windshield use..

i keep a remote readout for my valentine 1 radar detector mounted on my
garmin so my eyes do not drift off the road and i think this setup is near
perfect.. :-)

not to push the old CF GPS thing for sale but if i can find all the parts
you can have it for a reasonable offer of about $50 or whatever the going
value is on ebay..

*******************************
this email would probably be better if i edited it before sending it, but
hey! thats the internet/email age.. :-)
Happy Trails,
Bill Morrow
www.thinkpads.com
www.billmorrow.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Courtney Hook" <courtneyhook@shaw.ca>
To: "thinkpad group" <thinkpad@stderr.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 21, 2006 11:57 AM
Subject: [Thinkpad] OT: Converting my PDA or Laptop to GPS??

> Having done some minor googling, I'm now confused as to what I need to
> convert my Palm Pilot or my old Laptop 760XL for use as an auto GPS
> system.
> I'm sure someone here has done this, any advice or websites come to mind?
> Is
> it cost effective? Geeks.com seems to offer GPS receivers for 46 dollars?
> Courtney
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Lee Stewart" <lee.stewart@attglobal.net>
> To: "thinkpad" <thinkpad@stderr.org>
> Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 3:08 PM
> Subject: Re: [Thinkpad] OT: Which PDA should I consider?
>
>
>> It's been a few months now, but I looked at doing it when I first got
>> it. I seem to recall that there were a number of cards that went into
>> the SD slot... But I quickly found using the mail/web on via the phone
>> was more than sufficient and never pursued it (and never got so far as
>> looking at others comments on the options...
>> Lee
>>
>> nAt wrote:
>>> I am not 100% certain but I thought the only way to add wifi to any treo
>>> 650 Palm OS is through an unpopular wifi slate...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----
>>> From: Lee Stewart <lee.stewart@attglobal.net>
>>> To: thinkpad <thinkpad@stderr.org>
>>> Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2006 5:44:43 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [Thinkpad] OT: Which PDA should I consider?
>>>
>>>
>>> Or get the best of a couple worlds -- get a Palm Treo cell phone/PDA.
>>> BE SURE TO GET THE PALM VERSION -- NOT THE WINDOWS ONE! I was in the
>>> store a couple weeks ago to pick up a holster for my Treo 650 (which I'm
>>> very pleased with!) and the guy next to me was demoing a new Windows one
>>> for a customer and up came the (in)famous Blue Screen of Death.
>>>
>>> I had a Sony Clie TJ-37(?) and I was pretty happy with it... It was
>>> Palm and had the WLAN.. But I had to carry a cell phone and the
>>> PDA... I finally gave up and got the Treo and now only have to carry
>>> one gadget with it all...
>>>
>>> I know my model (650) of the Treo needs an add-on card for WLAN, not
>>> sure about others like the 700P... But with the web and email via the
>>> phone, I haven't needed the WLAN...
>>>
>>> Lee
>>>
>>> dr.r.becker@gmx.net wrote:
>>>
>>>> I intend to get a PDA for situations where using the Thinkpad is
>>>> inconvenient. Got to have 640x480 and WLAN.
>>>>
>>>> If any of the Thinkpad users here is using PDAs, which makes/models do
>>>> they use?
>>>>
>>>> ipacs from HP are omnipresent, but are they good? Well, I don't really
>>>> fancy their notebooks, that is for sure ...
>>>>
>>>> Any alternatives? What should I look for?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks in advance!
>>>>
>>>> Richard Becker
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> *Lee Stewart*
>>
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>> http://stderr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/thinkpad
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Received on Mon Oct 23 12:44:43 2006