From: Chris Muth <rockbox_at_muth.cc>
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2003 19:05:03 -0500

Yes, the S in USB is serial, but you yourself made the distinction between "serial" and "USB".
Quote: "hook to USB or serial ports". I was simply continuing the USB vs "serial" distinction.

Thank you for pointing out a link to a page that supports my comment that the cradle is mostly
just a fancy connector for the PDA.

-Chris Muth

On 9/26/03 at 4:41 PM Chris Holt wrote:

>On Fri, 26 Sep 2003 14:12:36 -0500, Chris Muth wrote:
>> On 9/26/03 at 12:05 PM Chris Holt wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Roger that. I have a cable I can hook up to my Handspring Visor with
>>> some level conversion circuitry built into the plug. This cable
>>> allows me to hook the PDA directly to a standard external modem and
>>> connect to the internet.
>>>
>>> AFAIK, the serial port on most PDAs is pretty generic, the cradle
>>> determines whether you hook to USB or serial ports on the computer.
>>>
>>> Chris
>>>
>>
>> Not quite. The PDA must itself have a USB port in order to sync via
>> USB. To sync via standard RS-232 (serial), again it must itself have a
>> serial port.
>>
>> The cradle is usually just a fancy plug for the bottom of the PDA. In
>> some cases the cradle will have level shifting hardware for the RS-232
>> interface.
>>
>> While there might be exceptions, this is generally the rule.
>>
>>
>> -Chris Muth
>
>Remember the "S" in USB stands for Serial. :)
>
>This page might be enlightening.
>
>http://www.gpskabel.de/info/cradlemode.htm
>
>Chris
Received on 2003-09-27