802.11 via XDA connector ?

[Anonymous]

They have GPS receivers that work through the bottom cradle connection for IPAQs they also have other devieces like keyboards that work like this.

Would it be possible to develop a 80211 dongle that could click into the
cradle port? is anyone working on this? is there anyone that would have
enough knowledge to beging working on this i could contact. I would love to get 802.11 for this baby.

[Peter Poelman]

Would it be possible to develop a 80211 dongle that could click into the cradle port? is anyone working on this? is there anyone that would have enough knowledge to beging working on this i could contact. I would love to get 802.11 for this baby.

No, sorry. The XDA connector on the bottom supports USB and serial. However, the USB will only do 'Slave Mode', i.e. act as a USB device towards a computer. There are USB 802.11 devices, but they work as devices as well, and thus need a 'Master' to talk to. And there's no serial 802.11b transceivers out that we know of.

You could conceiveably build a USB device that plays the master role and feeds the IP through just like ActiveSync does, but nobody has done that yet. For the manufacturers this shouldn't be that hard, given the amount of spare processing power on these 802.11 tranceivers. (And while we're at it, we might as well incorporate a GPS connected to the serial port...)

[Anonymous]

so this won't be something that a little hacking group such as XDA developers would be capable of?

[Anonymous]

Hi

In a short time a wireless lan card will be available which you can plug into you SD Slot. See http://www.sychip.com/wlan-module.html
See ya
Mick

[LumpiStefan]

Helllo.

I don´t think, that the wireless lan card will work in the XDA. In the technical PDF there is a picture that shows a SDIO-Interface.
XDA still do NOT have a SDIO-Interface. :oops:

Regards

Stefan

[Anonymous]

hold on, why do u need a wireless lan card? I thought the xda was a wireless device, surely it ought to have wireless connectivity built into it? If you had a corporate wireless network, cant it just be configured to connect?

[bamse]

Of course it has wireless support, using GSM and/or GPRS and infrared. But WLAN support is something entirely different, and that is definitely not included.

Shouldn't be too hard to design a WLAN adapter acting as an USB master though. With the pass-through functionality built into the activesync software it has definitely been shown that the USB connection can be used for network access.

[Peter Poelman]

Shouldn't be too hard to design a WLAN adapter acting as an USB master though. With the pass-through functionality built into the activesync software it has definitely been shown that the USB connection can be used for network access.

Yo bamse,

Ever want to be very, very popular ? You would make hero of the month on our charts, that's for sure...

[bamse]

What about these guys:

http://www.datahunter.com

I know it's RS232 and not USB, but apart from that the Liberator should do the trick almost straight away, and they also advertise a module that could be built into a sleaker package:

OEM 802.11 WLAN Mini-Modules
OEM and ODM manufacturers can incorporate FCC ?Modular? pre-certified 802.11b mini-modules into their products. The Data Hunter 802.11 mini-modules have the Operating System Wireless LAN software drivers built-in. Interface options are the ones Engineers need, including high-speed async logic-level or RS232, SPI processor interface, USB and full Ethernet TCP/IP. No additional FCC certification required for the modular 802.11 data radios. Start shipping integrated WLAN immediately. Includes single antenna for bulkhead mount or dual diversity antennas

[Peter Poelman]

What about these guys [...]
I could be wrong, but from their site I get the strong impression none of it is done, and they'll start work on it the minute someone orders a few thousand.

Also: they base everything on the Compact Flash 802.11 cards with some extra hardware, which is unlikely to pretend it's a PC running ActiveSync straight out of the box, so some extra work is in order.

What we need is a CF 802.11 card that comes with an SDK for adding your own code. No need for extra parts and power consumption: the card should have enough spare cycles to pretend it's ActiveSync on Windows plus the USB. (Or serial at 115.200 if that's somehow easier). Then all we need after the two manmonths of coding is a nice plastic stick-one case and we're done...

[bamse]

Ok, how about this then:
http://www.tuanistechnology.com/products/avaya/converter/

Or this:
http://www.autodnc.de/ctwlani.htm

You'll find a whole bunch of them out there, all serial and 115200bps, but none of the companies seem to have identified the PDA-owners a market for their produkts.

[Peter Poelman]

I'd say most of these products use way to much power for PDA use.

Really, let's not build stuff that's already on the PC or CF card to begin with.

[fenderfrank]

Anyone found a way to access 802.11b yet? I see that Linksys has the WCF12 (The Wireless CompactFlash Card installs directly into your Pocket PC using a CompactFlash Type I or Type II slot). I think that fits the IPaq. I need one for the SX56.

I saw some creative ideas above. Anybody try matching the pin-outs yet??

[Carlos]

:roll: Sigh. Read my lips. It won't work. It's not a matter of "pin-outs." It's far, far deeper than that on both hardware and software.

And really, would you want to access an ethernet network at 115k??? What for?

[jsteele]

Helllo.

I don´t think, that the wireless lan card will work in the XDA. In the technical PDF there is a picture that shows a SDIO-Interface.
XDA still do NOT have a SDIO-Interface. :oops:

Regards

Stefan

While I doubt that anyone will, it ought to be a small task to design a Bluetooth interface that will work with SDIO or SD either as a polled device or memory mapped I/O. For Bluetooth this should produce acceptable results --- for 802.11b clearly it would not.

[fenderfrank]

It won't work. It's not a matter of "pin-outs." It's far, far deeper than that on both hardware and software.

And really, would you want to access an ethernet network at 115k??? What for?

It certainly seems doable. What is the limitation on the SX56 that does not exist on iPaq? And since I struggled through years and years of 36K dialup before DSL, for the limited data access needed for a PDA, 115K seems like heaven. Noone is going to treat it like a workstation. But access to remote data has a wide range of applications.

[Carlos]

The iPaq has an expansion port, the XDA does not.

[bamse]

Carlos:

If you have a quick look at one of the links I have provided above you should find that there are a couple of solutions available for anyone who would like to connect a 802.11 device to a serial port. They may be a little bulky and power hungry, but that can surely be taken care of.

There will be 256MB SDIO card with built-in 801.11, right? What about a 256MB SDRW card with built-in SDIO and USB-host? With the USB/serial/power/peripheral connector of the Qtek sitting next to the SD-slot you could easily build a device that connects to both "ports". Wouldn't it be nice?

[aao588]

Hi Bamse,

Could you tell me what exactly that I would need to purchased
to have my Qtek works with wi-fi? Thank you.

[Carlos]

None of it exists today. Everything posted so far is theoretical. It will never exist. There's no market for it.

[bamse]

Ok, so please tell me why something like the liberator:

http://www.datahunter.com/

or the products from these companies:

http://www.autodnc.de/ctwlani.htm
http://www.tuanistechnology.com/products/avaya/converter/

wouldn't work. As I said, they may be a bit bulky, but they should sure do the job!

[Carlos]

Go for it. Make it work. I'll buy one from you.

[aao588]

Wont be long now...XDAII from O2 will be released end of year
with GSM/GPRS/BLUETOOTH as well as windows mobile ...all latest
feature that you will have. Also E-Ten P700 will be released at about
the same time but with pocket PC 2003 and also have bluettooth.
All with sdio slot. So be patient and we can sell the present xda and
get a new one then. Until then I am currently using the usb extension
cable long enough that I wanted as it is the only alternative at present.
:D

[Carlos]

How long is your USB cable? Any repeaters or special cables involved?

[aao588]

well, you could have any lenght you want.
they come in 5ft/10ft/15ft. call usb extension A to A.
I used the 10ft one and I have bought 5 of that so
that I can always extend to however long that is
needed. :D

[Carlos]

There is a limit to how far they will work. The spec says something short, like 10 feet, but I don't know how long they can be in actual practice.

[TheGremlin]

http://www.newswireless.net/articles/020713-sd-wlan.html

This page says it will work on the XDA.... i just want to know if its true or not before i go saving up for one.

[Carlos]

"Almost certainly, the mmo2-branded Pocket PC phone, the XDA, will also accept the SD card and get network access, too."
The writer is quite the moron, isn't he?

No, it won't work.