A friend of a friend just came across a bunch of GPS accessories for the Handspring Visor. Anyone remember the Geode from GeoDiscovery? I saw the GPS module inside the translucent plastic case and immediately wondered if it could be removed and used with the Arduino? He is willing to sell these at much less than a new GPS module costs from Sparkfun, so it might be worth the effort.
I've had a look at the module, it has very minimal info on it. All it says is this:
ASSY.VLR03B REV.
FAB SHA05A REV B
The full unit includes 2 MMC card slots, spot for 2-AA batteries, GPS module, and what looks like a full size embedded PC card along with a circuit board or two connecting it all.
From what I remember the Handspring expansion slot uses the PC card format, but is different signaling. It would be nice if it were possible to plug in to this and get access to everything, but seems like a long shot.
I have a handspring with a GPS unit; not sure if it is the same one or not, but it sounds similar.
I've never disassembled the device, but I would bet that there is a GPS module in there that communicates via serial (likely TTL) to a microcontroller that interfaces with the Visor.
You likely won't find any other information about this device; I've tried for the one I have (I wanted to program my own mapping software, as you can't find that anymore for the Visor), but I got nowhere fast.
How much is he going to sell them for? It might be worth it to get one to probe and hack on (maybe the GPS module inside has more information/numbers to look up)...
Unfortunately, those two number strings are all that are on the GPS assembly. I have one that is already extracted from the case. It is a very plain metal enclosure with the patch antenna on one side. It connects to the boards via a small ribbon cable, so it isn't going to be super easy to work with.
Hmm - maybe if I get some time this weekend, I'll take a look at mine. I've never used it for much anyway, and with having a Garmin E-Trex and my G1 (plus a couple of other serial modules I picked up off of Ebay) - I doubt I'll ever use it as intended...
I'll try to get some pictures up this weekend showing all the parts inside the case.
Price is undecided. I was thinking of offering him around $30 a unit if we could determine that the GPS module was going to be usable. I'm sure I could get more of them if this all works out and others are interested in buying them.
The product specs say it has WAAS and was supposed to be a nice GPS. Too bad the firmware never made it past a few revs before the company went belly up.
The rhombus shaped board is the one that connects directly to the GPS module. The ribbon cables are 20 conductor.
The connector pad marked U11 on the rhombus shaped board looks like it could be something interesting to tie in to.
I can't power these up until I get my hands on a Handspring Visor. It would be nice to know what power and ground are so I could try powering up the GPS board and look at U11 for possible serial signals.
I didn't get a chance to look at mine over the weekend; I do agree that u11 looks interesting (it caught my eye, too). I am also curious what is under that metal shield to the module; is the shield soldered in place? Maybe if it could be removed, more options might open up. As far as where power comes from, I don't know (beyond the batteries on the device itself; I know that other power comes from the PDA, though, because using the device on a Handspring would work its battery something major - your charge time was cut pretty badly, from what I recall).
I used to have one of these, but lost it. >:( I was pretty mad, because if I remember right these used to cost about $300.
Yes, I believe that it was based on the SiRFStarII GPS chip 12 channels, with WAAS support it also had a magnetometer so you could get direction even if you couldn't lock onto satellites.
Sirf is still around; but it looks like you have to be licensed and signed an NDA to get any access to docs.
[edit]Interestingly, it also seems to be referenced as the "GSP2e"...I've been doing some googling, but haven't found a datasheet for the device (I doubt you can if they are tight with NDAs).[/edit]
cr0sh, thanks for the links. I found some of those too. Looks like GPS modules like this often have a 20 pin connector. I think we would just have to identify pins for power, ground, and the data stream. If you could power one of these up (looks like 3.3v) and let it see the sky, it should start spitting out NMEA sentences, probably at 4800 baud.
I wish I could power up one of the complete units and check the pins for power and ground, but they do nothing unless plugged in to a Handspring Visor.
If we do figure out the pinout, how can I connect to the tiny ribbon cable? I suppose someone out there could produce a shield that the bare gps module could plug in to. That would be cool. I wonder if there would be enough demand to warrant it?
@Martin, I think you are confusing the the docking connector with they springport connector. There are two connectors on the Handspring. One for syncing, the other, the springport, for connecting modules (springboard).
If I remember the springport connector was the same as the PCMCIA connector, but used different pins outs.