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- Accessories (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=3)
-- External Modem (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=3815)

I was wandering if anyone new of any devices that exist or are currently in development that will allow a Visor to be connected to an external modem to give direct Internet Access?

B-Boy,
I was able to connect an external modem with a Palm V, but no success with Visor. All you need is a null-modem cable attached to the cradle, which is attached to any external modem. You can then dialup and get email and/or internet access via 3rd party solutions. Has anyone gotten the Visor to work yet?

I have been able to use regular terminal programs to comunicate to Hyperterminal, so using a nul modem cable with a modem should work.

You should jst be aware that the serial cradle (and the hotsync port for that matter) does not have any hardware handshaking, so adjust your settings to: no handshaking and 9600bps (or less)

-mark

This is frustrating.....I'm trying to use my external modem with a null modem adapter, and each time I try to connect, the error message on my visor says "Error: serial port in use (0x0307)"

What @%$^&$#@ thing is hogging my serial port?

Try exiting the hotsync manager first. Just a thought, please inform if it works.

That happened with me. I had to reset the Visor to get it to "try" to dial. I haven't tried to "No Handshaking" option. Is this with the Modem settings, or just using a Terminal program from PC? Has anyone successfully gotten a Visor to dial out? When I try, it says "Modem not Found". Even with the Modem set to "Other" as has been suggested with V's.

I DID IT!!!! OK, after hours of fiddle-f**king with this thing, I've actually got an external modem working with MultiMail on my Visor Deluxe. I don't have any idea if this will help anyone else with any other configuration, but here goes.
I'm using the serial cradle with a 9 pin gender changer, into a 9 pin null modem (both avail. at Radio Shack) then a 9 to 25 pin adaptor to a USR Sportster 56k external fax/modem. In the modem preferences, the settings are as follows;
Modem: Custom
Speed: 57,600
Speaker: Off
Flow Ctl: Off
Country: Other
String: AT&F&DO&A1&B1&H1&M4X4

The Country setting needs to be "Other" for some reason, I don't know why. When recieving the "port occupied warning," a soft reset will free it up, I've had to do that once or twice. Using this setup, I dial into Earthlink with no problem getting auth. Then use Multimail ProIII to get mail, I haven't tried any other mail/Web software with it yet, but I don't see why it wouldn't work...?

OK, now I'm intrigued.

So all you need is a basic external modem and serial cable with a serial cradle, with the appropriate software? If so, I'll try to find a cheap used external modem somewhere just to test it out.

VDman, I followed your setting, but it still says "modem not found".
one thing I noticed that, whenever I turn the visor off, the RD and SD signals on the modem turn on, (USR Sprotster 288 ext), and when the visor is on, those 2 signals keep off.

the cable and adapters I'm using are:
1, Visor's serial cradle (9 pin, F)
2, 9 pin M -> 25 pin F adapter
3, 25 pin M -> 25 pin F gender changer
4, 25 pin null modem adapter
5, USR Sportster 28800 external modem

TIA for the help!

I got my visor working with an old Intel 9600EX external modem.

Here's the pinout for the connector i used:
DB9 Male to Cradle DB25 Male to Modem

1 --> NC
2 --> 2
3 --> 3
4 --> NC
5 --> 7
6 --> NC
7 --> 5
8 --> 4
9 --> NC

I got this from http://www.massena.com/darrin/pilot/luiz/item10.htm

But just thought it would be nice if there was confirmation of it working.

Also, like someone else said, i turned flow control, and speaker off, and set the country to other.

VDman: Thanks for sharing your success with your setup. I'm trying to connect to Earthlink through my VDX as well, but I'm having no luck with a Compaq/Microcom 415 external modem.

I've tried all sorts of flow control and line speed settings, from 300bps to 57600bps. I tried different combinations of Country and init string settings as well. I used to use USR external modems, so I translated your init string to an equivalent for the 415. I even used a special modem command to limit line speeds between 300bps and 9600bps, and stored it in the modem defaults. Still no luck.

I keep getting a "PPP timeout error". Are you using ELN/username or simply username? What DNS and IP settings are you using?

I can communicate with the modem using AT commands in HandTerm, but it always hangs up at the PPP login. Actually, it does the same thing with my Juno account as well. I'll keep trying...

Thanks,

-WaC
Wayne

This is how it worked for me

I have successfully hooked an external 28.8k baud modem to my Visor Deluxe using a serial cradle. I ran into each of the problems presented on this thread and solved them. Here is what works for me:

Contrary to what was stated earlier, I have done this with my Visor set to 57.6k baud. It works fine. You don't have to suffer at 9,600 baud.

Hookup:

I used the serial cradle and a custom null adapter cable that I made myself. (I have a Mac and the modem has a Mac style Mini DIN-8 connector on it, not a PC type DE-9. So I made my own null adapter instead of using a null modem connector.) A null modem connector should work here fine.


Visor Setup:

Under "Modem" in the Preferences screen:

Modem: Custom
Speed: 57,600 bps
Speaker: Low (does not matter if set to Off)
Flow Ctr: Off (This is the Visor config. The modem must have its flow control turned off via the init string.)
Country: Other (important)
String: AT&F1&C1&K0%C3

For my modem, "&F1" resets the modem to the factory defaults. "&C1" sets the carrier detect line to always be "on". This line helps to provide power to the serial cradle circuitry that translates the logic levels (on the Visor side) to RS-232 levels (on the modem side). The "&K0" disables the modem's flow control - very important! see below. "%C3" turns data compression on.


PPP Timeout problem:

The solution is in the init string for your modem: You must set your modem to disable flow control! "&K0" works for my modem and will likely work on others.


Serial Port In Use problem:

Here is a solution: First make sure that your serial port is not 'occupied' by doing a soft reset. Then, with the Visor OUT of the serial cradle, go into the "HotSync" app and try and start a hotsync manually by tapping on the "LocalSync" icon. If it still gives you the "Serial port in use" error, then do another soft-reset.

Now, make sure that your Visor is OFF before placing it into the serial cradle. Trun the Visor on only after it is in the serial cradle. This has worked consistantly for me. I also turn the Visor off before I take it out of the cradle.

If the Visor is on when you drop it in the cradle it will lock up the serial port. (I think this has something to do with the KYB pin (pin 2) on the Hotsync connector being grounded in the serial cradle. It seems to open up a 'keyboard driver' of some sort on the Visor. I'm not sure here though.)


One last note: I have even used this setup with Afterburner 3.0q overclocking the Visor to 24MHz. I have found that it will not work with either 26MHz or 28MHz - the serial port rate cannot be set correctly at these clock speeds. 24MHz also works for IR beaming.

Hope this helps.

Ok... I give up!!!

I've tried everything I could think of to get a MultiTech 14.4 external modem working. For starters, I have both a serial cradle and one of the new serial cables from ATL. I made my own 9-25 null modem adapter (two actually; one "no handshake" and one "full handshake). Then, I followed all the instructions here for setting the Visor modem prefs and configured my network prefs for my ISP (CompuServe).

Excitedly, I connect everything (both configurations of cradle/cable and null modem adapters), go into Network and tap connect... "Dialing CompuServe" appears... dies... "Retry" appears... dies... "Error: Modem Not Found..."

Why won't it dial??? Anyone know the answer?

__________________

God bless America, my home sweet home...

MPM: you're a godsend.

I got it working only by using your init string verbatim. No other combination I've tried seems to work. I'd always had flow control disabled throughout my trials, so I think the %F1 command was the crucial one, even though the modem documentation doesn't list it as a valid AT command.

I now connect at 57,600 on my K56 modem, on an Earthlink dialup line that supports K56. I'll try to upgrade the Flash to V.90 soon. I'm using my custom serial HotSync cable, so it should be very similar to the ATL setup.

I finally have a viable alternative to hauling a 7 lb laptop with me on my travels. Imagine that, I can now use a Visor for both GPS navigation and Net surfing.

My setup consists of the following:
Visor Deluxe
Compaq/Microcom 415 56K External Modem (9-pin DB-9 female)
Custom HotSync serial cable (HotSync to DB-9 male)
9-pin to 9-pin serial extension cable (DB-9 male to DB-9 female, not null modem)
EudoraWeb (browser)

PalmOS Preferences settings are:
Network:
Service: Earthlink
User Name: ELN/username
Password: -Assigned-
Phone: 123-4567
Details:
Connection Type: PPP
Idle timeout: Power Off
Query DNS: -Not Checked-
Primary DNS: 207.217.126.81
Secondary DNS: 207.217.77.82
IP Address: Automatic

Modem settings as per MPM's post above.

Thanks again,

-WaC
Wayne

Edit: additional setup info.

[Edited by wac on 09-06-2000 at 08:26 PM]

quote:

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Originally posted by MarkEagle
Why won't it dial??? Anyone know the answer?

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__________________

God bless America, my home sweet home...

quote:

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I finally got it to work... only to realize one cannot surf the web at 14.4!!!

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Wayne,
Just a quick question about your Visor to modem connection:
You noted that you are NOT using a null modem adaptor, but you are using your "Custom HotSync serial cable (HotSync to DB-9 male)," so on this cable do you have it wired such that transmit goes to recieve and vice-versa (effectively making it a simple null modem)? Just checking, I imagine that is they way you have it wired.

Thanks,
Ryan

quote:

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Originally posted by rdanell
so on this cable do you have it wired such that transmit goes to recieve and vice-versa (effectively making it a simple null modem)?

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__________________

God bless America, my home sweet home...

Ryan: yes, the RX-TX crossover is done in my custom HotSync serial cable. I imagine the new ATL HotSync Serial Cable will be pinned out the same way.

-WaC
Wayne

quote:

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Originally posted by wac
MPM: you're a godsend...

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