delorme earthmate - Serial to USB generic?

04-08-2002

Good evening -

So, I got a Earthmate for X-Mas and have had it plugged into my Palm Pilot actually...but recently I have started playing with wireless...(time starts disappearing somewhere around here). Came upon this site, decided to start playing around with some of this.

Problem is new laptop does not have serial whereas earthmate is only serial. Delorme wants $50 for a Serial to USB adapter on their site which send's/receives data but also powers the earthmate.

Question is: I have seen quite a few generic rs-232/serial to USB connectors on eBay for example in the 10-15$ range. Should these work the same and is Delorme just jacking the prices up? Is there somewhere I can find a chart with the pin-outs so I can see if they are the same? I just can't seem to find any resources on this anywhere.

Any help would be appreciated!

kill_aol_now@(NO SPAM)yahoo.(OKAY?!)com

04-09-2002

i would imagine that any of the usb adapters would work just fine--as long as it just needs usb. if the adapter that delorme is selling has something non-standard, which i doubt it does, then you'd need it instead. it's not uncommon for usb to power devices and it sounds to me like it's just simple, basic usb with no extra bells, they just want to make some money. however, 10-15$ sounds like it might be a little <i>too</i> cheap... but who knows? i'd recommend looking for reviews on the cheap stuff before you buy it.

04-09-2002

Thats kinda what my thoughts were as well. Perhaps I will find a cable like that locally so as I can return it if it does not work.

04-09-2002

Picked up a generic Serial to USB adapter. Was detected as a "Prolific" Serial to USB adapter....on com 4. GPS is happy with it.

Thanks for the help.

04-11-2002

I'm looking on pricegrabber.com and found a few for $20-$60.

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_gen.php?form_keyword=usb%20to%20serial&topc at_id=1&found=2&ut=4245255fb466c0a5

I don't see why the $20 one won't work. Please let us know of your results. Thanks.

04-12-2002

I got a USB-to-serial and a Garmin etrex data cable from www.pfranc.com for $39. It shows up as COM2. Works fine with netstumbler and some free Garmin GPS upload/download
software. Don't have any mapping software to play with (yet) but I think it will work.

Davo

04-12-2002

i bought the belkin PDA Adapter from someone on ebay and it works great:

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id= 1999&pcount=&Product_Id=91042&Section.Section_Path =%2F%2FRoot%2FUSB%2FPCProducts%2FAdapters%2F

even though they call it a PDA adapter it is just a generic USB->Serial converter

~lincomatic

04-08-2002	#1 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	delorme earthmate - Serial to USB generic? Good evening - So, I got a Earthmate for X-Mas and have had it plugged into my Palm Pilot actually...but recently I have started playing with wireless...(time starts disappearing somewhere around here). Came upon this site, decided to start playing around with some of this. Problem is new laptop does not have serial whereas earthmate is only serial. Delorme wants $50 for a Serial to USB adapter on their site which send's/receives data but also powers the earthmate. Question is: I have seen quite a few generic rs-232/serial to USB connectors on eBay for example in the 10-15$ range. Should these work the same and is Delorme just jacking the prices up? Is there somewhere I can find a chart with the pin-outs so I can see if they are the same? I just can't seem to find any resources on this anywhere. Any help would be appreciated! kill_aol_now@(NO SPAM)yahoo.(OKAY?!)com

04-09-2002	#2 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	my professional opinion... i would imagine that any of the usb adapters would work just fine--as long as it just needs usb. if the adapter that delorme is selling has something non-standard, which i doubt it does, then you'd need it instead. it's not uncommon for usb to power devices and it sounds to me like it's just simple, basic usb with no extra bells, they just want to make some money. however, 10-15$ sounds like it might be a little <i>too</i> cheap... but who knows? i'd recommend looking for reviews on the cheap stuff before you buy it.

04-09-2002	#3 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	delorme earthmate - Hrm Thats kinda what my thoughts were as well. Perhaps I will find a cable like that locally so as I can return it if it does not work.

04-11-2002	#5 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Same situation here I'm looking on pricegrabber.com and found a few for $20-$60. http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_gen.php?form_keyword=usb%20to%20serial&topc at_id=1&found=2&ut=4245255fb466c0a5 I don't see why the $20 one won't work. Please let us know of your results. Thanks.

04-12-2002	#6 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	mine works fine I got a USB-to-serial and a Garmin etrex data cable from www.pfranc.com for $39. It shows up as COM2. Works fine with netstumbler and some free Garmin GPS upload/download software. Don't have any mapping software to play with (yet) but I think it will work. Davo

04-09-2002	#4 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	Picked up a generic Serial to USB adapter. Was detected as a "Prolific" Serial to USB adapter....on com 4. GPS is happy with it. Thanks for the help.

04-12-2002	#7 (permalink)
Posts: n/a	i bought the belkin PDA Adapter from someone on ebay and it works great: http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Merchant_Id=1&Section_Id= 1999&pcount=&Product_Id=91042&Section.Section_Path =%2F%2FRoot%2FUSB%2FPCProducts%2FAdapters%2F even though they call it a PDA adapter it is just a generic USB->Serial converter ~lincomatic

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