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Pda's And Gps


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Tony

The X5 has been superceded by the X50 IIRC. X5 may still be available in the US though, it was for ages when it was not in the UK. For my money it would be an X50 as it has the dual slots. I would look around and see what else is available before buying though... If the X5 is an option I would say having the speaker on the front is a distinct advantage - especialy for Tomtom and the like in a Defender!

A bluetooth GPS might seem a good idea but IIRC they are magnetic as a rule so will not work on a Defender roof!

Personaly, I would only get a Windows machine just for software compatability.

Chris

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Dual CF and SD card slots, allowing the use of a CF GPS and an SD card for map data. PDAs do not have a hard disk as such, just a limited amount of internal memory for storage of programs. You need to keep your map data on a removable storage card - just like a digital camera.

You could use your GPSV but you would need a link cable costing nigh-on as much as a CF GPS (like I have) which would allow you to use the PDA as a stand alone GPS unit - take it in Val's car, on your bike (oh, OK, perhaps not!), walking etc. without trailing wires.

Chris

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Tony, why not have a look at both mine and Chris's systems next w/e. Chris has an X5 with a CF GPS card and I have an IPAQ with a standalone GPS unit attached by a cable. Tim/TJ101 (if he's coming) has one of those X2 phone PDA's thingys and a bluetooth GPS. So that's most options covered, there are pro's and con's of each setup, but at least you can see them in the flash and choose for yourself.

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Thank you Mark90 I stand corrected, obviously things have moved on a bit since I last dabbled, might be worth a look then.

I get a bit bent out of shape over Windows Mobile touting everything as practicaly being invented by them. I was doing all this stuff with my old Psion 5 MX and Garmin 3 back in 97 with nothing more than a null modem cable that I cobled together with the correct ends and a copy of excellent Purple Software Route & Street. Purple are now apparently part of Tom Tom (how do they come up with these names).

The Rangie roof is alloy too, I mounted a mag mouse type on the bonnet after threading the cable through the panel gaps, other options are to mount it on the sunroof if you have a steel one (just don't forget about the cable when opening) or make a small braket that sits under the sun roof if you have a glass one.

Has anybody here got or experienced the Karputer kit, they have been around a while and I see they are selling motorised USB touch screens now for less than 280 quid which seems very reasonable, and they are sponsoring a Rangie :D

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Until I bought the Freelander i was using a Ipaq 2210 with a CF card type GPS receiver. I much preferred this to the audio one in the Freelander. However since upgrading my Ipaq to a XDA I have not been able to get the kit working so i have not really bothered as I have the kit ing the car anyway.

I have used a GPS receiver mouse with the laptop, the Ipaq with the CF receiver and the Audio version in the Freelander and of the three types I prefer to Ipaq/PDA type. I do a lot of miles and this gave me the advantage of seeing the road ahead without taking my eyes off the road.

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Niall,

You can get the touchscreens for less than that. I have a 7" touchscreen in the P38 and it was around the £170+vat mark and its pretty good. It happily runs 1024x768.

I suppose I underuse it though as its for PAL video only, but I bought the touchscreen one for the future proof of fitting a carpc to it. I *may* try and install it into the classic and get a laptop driving it . . . but that remains to be seen yet......

I would only really be wanting carPC stuff for navigation. If that were the case, then it'd be interesting to try and setup a complete solid state PC. Instead of running hard drives, i could fit a pair of CF cards into adapters that plug straight into the motherboard IDE slots. 1Gb for OS, 1GB for memory data.

Then have a wireless card on the PC which when in the drive can talk to the home machine and transfer / change maps on the second card...

Massive benefit would be the lack of moving parts on it when battering about.

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I have an ITX size pc built into my cubby box, with a 7" touchscreen, sound through a 4x50w stereo, and the eTrex hooked up for GPS/mapping. Also have an 8 relay output/ 6 input / 2x analogue input interface unit that i desgined and built.

all fits in quite snuggly

screen.jpg

pc3.jpg

pcrelay.JPG

lrscreenshot.JPG

Luke

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I would trust my fan and light switching to a PC :o

I assume you have manual switches for them too?

Tony, the X5 plus TT plas CF GPS look alright, not sure how good the price is, I'm not up to speed on current values. You'd also need a mount ~£30 for RAM, cheaper available, SD Memory card, say about 1GB to store TT and give good coverage with MM around £50 I guess these days, and a ciggy lighter power cable which I'd guess about £10-20.

I'd not use that particular TT kit as the PDA plus into the mount and as mentioned previously i don't think that's a good idea off road.

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White90:

Re your voicemail, here are some pics.

The flexable arm and mounting. It is rather wobbly over bumps but the Velcro is more than up to the job.

52583.jpg

The PDA and GPS in position. The case is a little flappy but is well worth it for the protection it offers when the PDA is not in use.

52584.jpg

The case is closed. See the speaker?

52587.jpg

The GPS unit. It comes with a small "Mouse" aeriel wich sticks to the roof and gives much better coverage under trees and the like.

52586.jpg

Chris

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I would trust my fan and light switching to a PC  :o

I assume you have manual switches for them too?

yes there are on/off/PC control switches on all of the relays, only the auxilary lights are controlled by the PC, standard side/dipped/main beam is still controlled using the stork.

the fan control isn't wired up yet, as the fan isn't fitted, but it will be backed up with external switches and LEDs so i know whats going on. the overide will be to turn the fan off for wading. i can see no need to be able to overide it to on - the thermostat should do that by itself.

remote.jpg

2000+ tracks of music, saves changing CDs :P

Luke

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LML

That is a really tidy setup. Did you do the software menu yourself? Do you mind sharing some details or are you intending to go commercial with it?

GBM

That Velcro you have shown looks like the "Stickle Brick" (for those old enough to remember) stuff I use, it is seriously strong, but costs 90 quid for a 30M roll from 3M.

Fisha

Sounds good, I was looking at using other features like small USB cameras for reversing etc. I can get them in Singapore for less than 10 quid. Psion used to do a Digital Radio for PC's but I think that went out the window when they stopped doing PDA's. I like the motorised one for the security aspect.

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Thanks Chris

I can find the X5 for £180ish

I think Mark(M005) has the X5 in a bundle deal that looks a good offer

I'm going to look at the X50 to see how they compare.

does the battery lead provide power or just recharge the intnl battery

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Tony,

Depending on the post, :angry: I'll bring mine down tonight and you can have a nosey at that.

HP2210 with Tomtom car kit and wired GPS. 500Mb CF & 500Mb SD cards.

Bluetooth GPS is a waste of time IMHO as the batteries only last half a day apparently so you'd need a power supply anyway.

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Replied to PM

I'll post the link for the place I got my cable from and another supplier of a potentially better cable when I get home from work, they are in the favs on my home PC. They where both posted on the old site in the past.

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Just had a quick look at those issues, and it seems the X50 is power hungry and if the battery is low then the low current car chargers can not supply enough umph to both power the PDA and charge it at the same time. It appears if the PDA battery is well charged to start with the car charger should be able to power the PDA and keep the batter topped up. Alternatively a higher current (2.0amp) car charger would not encounter these issues. Well that's how it reads to me anyway.

Also note that the pc-mobile.net cables do not supply power to the GPS and as teh power/dat socket on the GPS is occupied the GPS needs battery power.

The lynks cables supply power to both PDA and GPS, but I can't see one on the site for X50's.

I guess you are thinking about using your existing GPS rather than a CF GPS card like Chris?

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I was looking to make use of the GPS v as it is a very good unit.

a combined power data out from the gps cable is available

I could just get a CF gps or bluetooth but the power issue is keeping my money in my pocket.

Chris is going to ask some mates who are running x50's.

and sort tom tom 5 which I would want to use along with MM when laning etc.

so a large storage card would be added to the list if the gps issue is sorted current one or new being used.

the pc-mobile site goes on at length about this powering issue or is it just a charging issue.

there are plenty of new X5's available on eblag which don't have the power ??

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