[aprssig] Sharp Zaurus ZR-5000 for APRS messaging

[Jason Rausch]

Ronny,

Are you reading my mind?  I JUST recently broke out my
Zaurus units and an older Wizard OZ-880.

http://www.ke4nyv.com/portablepacket/zaurus001.jpg

Left to Right:  OZ-880, Zaurus ZR-5000 and ZR-5800

I bought the 880 from a ham when I was about 14
because it had a "serial port" and a built-in terminal
program.  At the time, I was really into portable
packet and this was just the ticket.  It came with the
TTL to RS-232 sync cable and it took a lot of messing
around, but I managed to get it talking to any serial
device, including piping in raw NMEA data from a GPS.

The 5000 and 5800 are basically the same when it comes
to built-in terminal function, but they have the
bigger display and the 5800 has the bonus of a
backlight.

I have three different sync cables:

http://www.ke4nyv.com/portablepacket/zaurus002.jpg
http://www.ke4nyv.com/portablepacket/zaurus003.jpg
http://www.ke4nyv.com/portablepacket/zaurus004.jpg

One one is the actual Sharp cable and was the only one
I had for some time.  When they actually show up on
eBay, they usually go for a mint.  The second is a
version I had never seen until it came with a brand
new ZR-3500X I bought off of eBay.  The third is a
"Rupp" sync cable that is/was shipped with the popular
third party RuppLinx sync software for the legacy
Wizards and Zaurus line.

So far, all I have been able to do is run regualr
packet on these units with the built in VT100 terminal
program.  I would love to have the old Sharp dev kit
to attempt a simple APRS program.  I have searched,
but no luck finding it.  I was hoping at this point,
it would have been freely available since Sharp long
dropped the line and went to the CE/PPC platform from
the current Zaurus line.

Jason KE4NYV
RPC Electronics
www.rpc-electronics.com

--- k4rjj at bellsouth.net wrote:

> Anyone ever used one of these for packet/APRS?  I
> wanted to use it for APRS messaging only.  I know it
> will never be good for mapping.  Mainly what I'm
> trying to find is how the serial port was wired.  I
> did not get a serial cable with it but I'm sure
> there are a few still in the world.
> 
> Ronny K4RJJ
> 
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