Re: [NTLK] GPS and maps on the Newton

From: bmcewen_at_comcast.net
Date: Thu Jul 01 2004 - 11:41:12 PDT


>From: "Dan" <dan_at_dbdigitalweb.com>
>Subject: Re: [NTLK] GPS and maps on the Newton
>Date: Thu, 1 Jul 2004 11:54:11 -0400
>>
>>DO NEVER INSERT ANY 3V PCMCIA CARD INTO THE NEWT!
>
>That is the simple answer.
>Agreed. The long answer is it depends on the driver. If a driver is not
>set up to handle 3v properly, you can fry the newt, card or both. So to be
>safe don't put a 3v card into your Newt. Paul had a discusson on this a
>month or two ago regarding this (check the archives, I think it was called
>3v cards or something like that), and mentioned that ATA Support driver
>works fine with 3v, but it all depends on the driver. The wireless driver
>(Heroshi's...and excuse the spelling I don't have time to double check it)
>is only set for 5v, and to insert a 3v one will cause damage.

All very true except I think it is not a concern for the CF GPS cards. Here's why:
There is NO DRIVER needed for serial port comm cards like this. You plug it in, it's seen as a comm card just like a modem, you are good to go. You're not depending on a shareware author to check the voltages before comunicating w/ the device. You're using Apple own stuff which takes this into account. It's just a serial card.
I personally would not get this one if the price goes up much (actually that auction is dead already, with no bids), for $109 or so you can get the earlier-mentioned Haicom card (yes, 3.3V) which is a bit more versatile (comes with USB/serial/firewire cables). Although the external cable is a $20 item.
HTH.
Brian

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