GPS

Mxsmanic wrote:

Big Bill writes:


Do you sit in front of the oven when it's cooking your meal?


Doesn't everyone??

It's better than what's on TV these days...

Mxsmanic wrote:

Big Bill writes:


Do you sit in front of the oven when it's cooking your meal?


Doesn't everyone??

It's better than what's on TV these days...

On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 11:14:10 -0500, Ron Hunter wrote:

Dave Head wrote:

On Sat, 28 Aug 2004 20:10:45 -0500, Ron Hunter wrote:


Mxsmanic wrote:


Ron Hunter writes:



A serial port still? Sigh.
This GPS owner will NOT buy another one until they abandon this artifact
of a previous century!


Why abandon it? It's adequate to the task and it's the most compatible
interface around.


Not at all. 90% of the problems people reported with communications
before USB and Ethernet became common were caused by incorrect serial
port connections, or setup. It's a SLOW and cumbersome method, and
requires power cycling to connect and disconnect. It's fine for
connecting a keyboard, but I wouldn't deal with it again for all the tea
in China.
I certainly won't buy another GPS receiver until they ditch the ancient
interface.


Where does this "power cycling" thing come from? I don't powercycle anything
when connecting and disconnecting RS-232 devices. This is just plain wrong.
I've been using RS-232 since the mid-80's, and none of the equipment needed to
be shut down to connect or disconnect an RS-232 device.

Dave Head

and I have been using them since the mid 1970's (earlier at work) and
the instructions ALWAYS stated that both devices should be powered off.
Bet they still do!

Dunno - we never read the instructions - and our computers and peripherals
worked just fine without powering them down.

On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 11:14:10 -0500, Ron Hunter wrote:

Dave Head wrote:

On Sat, 28 Aug 2004 20:10:45 -0500, Ron Hunter wrote:


Mxsmanic wrote:


Ron Hunter writes:



A serial port still? Sigh.
This GPS owner will NOT buy another one until they abandon this artifact
of a previous century!


Why abandon it? It's adequate to the task and it's the most compatible
interface around.


Not at all. 90% of the problems people reported with communications
before USB and Ethernet became common were caused by incorrect serial
port connections, or setup. It's a SLOW and cumbersome method, and
requires power cycling to connect and disconnect. It's fine for
connecting a keyboard, but I wouldn't deal with it again for all the tea
in China.
I certainly won't buy another GPS receiver until they ditch the ancient
interface.


Where does this "power cycling" thing come from? I don't powercycle anything
when connecting and disconnecting RS-232 devices. This is just plain wrong.
I've been using RS-232 since the mid-80's, and none of the equipment needed to
be shut down to connect or disconnect an RS-232 device.

Dave Head

and I have been using them since the mid 1970's (earlier at work) and
the instructions ALWAYS stated that both devices should be powered off.
Bet they still do!

Dunno - we never read the instructions - and our computers and peripherals
worked just fine without powering them down.

Mxsmanic wrote:

It was entirely pertinent. You appear to favor change for the sake of
change, so discarding AA batteries simply because there's something
newer would make sense according to your reasoning, just as you seem to
wish to discard serial interfaces just because there is something newer.

Don't be absurd. AA batteries aren't obsolete; serial interfaces are.

--
Jeremy |

Prometheus wrote:

I can understand the reluctance to use such a low speed connection for
large amounts of data, but since changing the data would be infrequent I
do not see at as a major disincentive.

If the unit can't hold street-level maps of the lower 48 states in their
entirety, then changing it will be frequent enough, and will happen out
on the road.

AS for switching the computer off to connect a serial device, WHY?

Plugging in a serial connection with the computer powered on is a really
bad idea. I've blown resistors that way, which renders the serial port
useless. If you're relying on it to transfer data to the GPS unit,
blowing your laptop's serial port out on the road would defeat the
purpose of having the GPS unit in the first place.

I regularly connect and disconnect serial devices without switching
anything off to do so, maybe it was important in the old days but modern
systems are for more resilient.

Modern systems don't have serial ports.

--
Jeremy |

Prometheus wrote:

I can understand the reluctance to use such a low speed connection for
large amounts of data, but since changing the data would be infrequent I
do not see at as a major disincentive.

If the unit can't hold street-level maps of the lower 48 states in their
entirety, then changing it will be frequent enough, and will happen out
on the road.

AS for switching the computer off to connect a serial device, WHY?

Plugging in a serial connection with the computer powered on is a really
bad idea. I've blown resistors that way, which renders the serial port
useless. If you're relying on it to transfer data to the GPS unit,
blowing your laptop's serial port out on the road would defeat the
purpose of having the GPS unit in the first place.

I regularly connect and disconnect serial devices without switching
anything off to do so, maybe it was important in the old days but modern
systems are for more resilient.

Modern systems don't have serial ports.

--
Jeremy |

On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 11:21:21 -0500, Ron Hunter
wrote:

Mxsmanic wrote:

Big Bill writes:


Do you sit in front of the oven when it's cooking your meal?


Doesn't everyone??

It's better than what's on TV these days...

Only if you take the cover off the TV dinner first...

Bill Funk
Change "g" to "a"

On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 11:21:21 -0500, Ron Hunter
wrote:

Mxsmanic wrote:

Big Bill writes:


Do you sit in front of the oven when it's cooking your meal?


Doesn't everyone??

It's better than what's on TV these days...

Only if you take the cover off the TV dinner first...

Bill Funk
Change "g" to "a"

On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 11:13:05 -0500, Ron Hunter
wrote:

Prometheus wrote:

In article , Ron Hunter
writes

and requires power cycling to connect and disconnect


No it does not, my PCs at home and work do not; I regularly connect and
disconnect their serial ports.

Sigh.

It is impossible to even REACH my serial port without disconnecting
everything, and moving my computer desk. NOT going to happen.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...7702 413&rd=1
Bill Funk
Change "g" to "a"