Registered: Apr 2000
Location:
Posts: 7

I have been trying to get numerous modem redirection programs to work with my Visor. None support USB so i bought a serial cradle and still cannot get them to work. I have tried Palmredirector, PilotNet, LinkDirect, DirectLink, and a few other programs that are supposed to allow you to connect to the internet via a serial cradle without needing a handspring modem, but cannot get any of them to work. Any ideas?? I suspect that the OS on the visor isn't truly 100% palm compatible because you should be able to enter 00 in for the phone number to connect to internet and the visor should bypass checking for a modem and connect via serial port to my desktop. it works on real palms, but i have yet to get it to work on the Visor. Please help!

Registered: Dec 1999
Location: Connecticut USA
Posts: 2682

While it is true that the Visor has a "serial port", it only provides RXD and TXD signals at the connector, and they are TTL level requiring a converter to RS232. The serial cradle does this when it is connected to the PC. It is also the PC serial port that supplies the power for the converter circuit.

When using a serial peripheral, like a modem, the power required for the circuit is not present so the converter doesn't work.

Also, the Visor does not provide any handshaking lines. The following comes directly from the Developer's Kit manual:

"Note that the Cradle Connector does not include hardware signaling for buffer overflow conditions within the handheld device. Therefore the maximum recommended serial transfer speed to the handheld device is limited to 9600 kbps."

I have used the serial cradle and even built a couple of serial cables for my Visor but have not been able to get an external modem working at all. I think Handspring's design was to use serial for syncing only on older non-USB systems. They probably intended for serial peripherals to be implemented as Springboards.


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MarkEagle - Ice is nice!