USB GPS Mouse to CASSIOPEIA

matb_uk · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 19, 2004 Posts: 4

Does anyone have any ideas on how to connect a USB GPS Mouse (Like the GlobalSat advertised on this site) to a Cassiopeia BE-300. I have seen similar devices which have a sort of PS/2 DIN style connector which you can connect an adapter cable for your choice of PDA/Computer, so i assumed that building an adapter cable or lopping the end off and replacing it with a spare CASIO data cable coudl do the trick. Anyone got any info/ideas ?

Cheers.

lbendlin · Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2004 9:12 pm Post subject:

AFAIK USB mice cannot be connected to serial ports - you would need a USB host interface on your Pocket PC, and only the Eten P700 offeres one. USB uses a very different signaling from RS232 serial connections, so cutting your cable and rewiring would not work either. You need to get yourself another receiver, one that's compatible with the Casio
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matb_uk · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 19, 2004 Posts: 4

Sorry what i didn't mention was that the Cassiopeia connects to my PC via a USB cable. Is it still not possible to cut a USB data cable and put a female USB connecter on the end which the GPS whould plug into ?

lbendlin · Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2004 11:00 pm Post subject:

The Cassiopeia has a USB Client interface, and so has the GPS receiver. Two clients cannot talk to each other, they need a host.

So, in other words, no.
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Pc-Mobile · Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 3:14 am Post subject:

Even if it is possible, it is not a good idea to connect a USB GPS mouse to any PDA.

If you are into GPS connecting to a PPC/PDA, you are better off starting from scratch - both your PDA and GPS are not suitable. You will encounter a lot of headache if you try one or both.
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matb_uk · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 19, 2004 Posts: 4

Ok, i understand now. Thanks for all your help. I don't feel ready to give up just yet, so i have another question.

When i looked in the device manager, i found that the GPS unit was being recognized as a Prolific USB-Serial adapter. I then opened the unit up and was presented with two banks. The first bank had the USB wires in a small connector which is soldered to the board, but the other bank was left empty. This bank had 6 pins plus one either side which could be used just to solder the connector to the board. Is it possible that this empty bank could be RS232 ?. The connections from bank 2 do seem to sort of route back to the USB bank.

I have seen a couple of websites which explain how to connect an rs232 device to a cassiopeia. Could this work ? Does anyone have a clue which pins on the GPS whould do what ? Looking at the pinouts for a Garmin device, it only required four pins to be connected.

Pc-Mobile · Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 3:22 pm Post subject:

Stop wasting your time.

IT WILL NOT WORK.
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matb_uk · Occasional Visitor Joined: Apr 19, 2004 Posts: 4

Why is it then, that an identical board (See below) made by the same people, shows the device being used via RS232 ?

http://axiselectronics.trustpass.alibaba.com/10451689/10595480/Navigation___GPS/GPS_Module_With_Active_Antenna.html

Pc-Mobile · Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2004 2:57 am Post subject:

Montchalin · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 15, 2004 Posts: 2

Connecting a mouse style USB GPS to BE300 Cassiopeia by Casio deserves more consideration.

Is it possible that the "USB signal" is in fact a serial signal, and that the USB port on the notebook accepts serial signal via a driver that came with the mouse USB GPS?

The BU303 purports to be a mouse style USB GPS. I bought one. It connected into the USB port of my notebook and eventually started working. It runs on COM 5. In Window 98 (2nd Ed.) Start-Settings-ControlPanel-System-DeviceManager, under "Ports (COM & LPT1)" is listed USB to Serial Port (COM 5). "USB to Serial Port (COM 5)" is necessary for the operation of the USB GPS mouse.

Is it possible that the "USB signal" is in fact a serial signal, and that the USB port on the notebook accepts serial signal via a driver that came with the mouse USB?

To get the USB working on the notebook, the BAUD rate had to be adjusted down to 4800 and the COM port had to be changed to 5.

The BE-300 allegedly docks with either a USB or serial cable. It seems the BE3000 has serial capabilities.
****
Now back to the BE300 & "USB" GPS. I connected the USB GPS to my USB (version) BE300 via a gender/changer. Problem #1: The BE300 does not supply power to its USB connector. It ?may? accept power from its USB connector, but it doesn't supply it.

What's more, BE-300's world includes COM 1 & 7, not 5.
***
On a related note, tchart1 has connected a serial modem to a BE300 re:
http://www.be-central.be/modules.php?op=modload&name=phpBB_14&file=index&action=viewtopic&topic=3097&forum=1&9

lbendlin · Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 3:16 am Post subject:

Folks, let's stay with the facts. USB means Universal Serial Bus. Of course it's "serial" - but it's not RS232!

The Pocket PCs (most of them) are USB clients. connecting a USB client to a USB client (the GPS mouse) simply is not in the USB specs. You need a USB host to connect a USB client.

As was said before - don't waste your time.
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Montchalin · Occasional Visitor Joined: Aug 15, 2004 Posts: 2

Thoughtlessly connecting USB cables via adapters can damage a power supply, Or Worse.

http://www.usb.org/faq/ans5/

Q5 & Q6 of the above link explains the potential damage. It also allows the use of a USB to USB bridge aka USB to USB adapter. I like to think of it it as a nul modem for the usb standard.

But what good is it to connect "two clients", as in 'a printer #1' to 'a scanner #2' (The BE300 #1 & the mouse USB GPS #2)? The BE300 would need to be host. The BE 300 has the brainpower. How about the software?

My previous post was meant to suggest that the BU303 driver forced the notebooks USB port to emulate the rs232 standard. The clue was in the Windows' Device Manager's COM ports & LPT1 section. "USB to Serial Port (COM 5)"

lbendlin · Posted: Sun Aug 15, 2004 5:09 am Post subject:

As I understand it the USB bridge connects two hosts, not two clients.
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