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Post by Andrea on May 3, 2007 9:37:21 GMT 7
I am trying to connect my Garmin GPS to my Laptop using the provided cable that ends in a female 9-pin connector for a serial port. My laptop only has a female 15-pin port, but I think that is not a serial port.
Could I try to use any USB to Serial DB9 Adapter, or are there additional specifications I need to check out before buying the adapter?
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Post by Admin on May 5, 2007 19:46:20 GMT 7
Hi Andrea, You are correct, if you see a 15pin female on your laptop thats where you plug in your monitor cable to project your laptop screen. However I am puzzled that your laptop does not have a 9 pin male serial port.  Anyways no worries, they do sell serial to USB connectors but I would check with Garmin on compatibility issues with regards to using one with their product because I am not sure whether you can configure the Serial to USB connection the same way you can configure a direct serial connection. I am sorry that this isnt much help for you. If you do have a desktop that might work better as most desktop motherboards still have one serial port on them. Good luck and do keep me posted on whether this turns out ok for you. A serial to USB connector is pretty cheap less than $30 if I am not mistaken and you can get them at Sim Lim Square here in Singapore, I dont know if they sell them at Funan though. Cheers Faizul |
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Post by Andrea on May 14, 2007 10:43:39 GMT 7
OK, I got my USB<->9 pin Serial Port adapter, actually from Palm Venture in Causeway, $25 - really not bad. I can download to the desktop, of course, but like that I can use the laptop which I can take along. Faizul, you know how you say "install your peripheral software first, then plug in when asked to do so". Well, in this case that was more difficult, and the other way around actually worked better. The little CD had just too many folders, too many variations, and none for the Garmin GPS, and a few generic sounding ones, but I didn't know which one to pick. So I did plug the GPS into the converter, and the USB part into the laptop, and the Hardware "Wizard" then detected a new piece of hardware, asked for the installation disk and picked the correct driver from the CD. I downloaded the tracks recorded past Mandai Track 7 just fine, no software or hardware problems. The only problem left  is the "greenware" problem, the treetop density is so high that the GPS has a hard time "seeing" enough satellites for good accuracy, and there were a fair number of stray points recorded in Alaska, Siberia and even southern Afrika that I had to delete first. Still, we can start mapping some stuff now that school will be out. |
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Post by Andrea on May 14, 2007 10:45:01 GMT 7
Oh, by the way, the sales person at Palm Venture was also puzzled why I had no serial port on my laptop  beats me! |
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Post by Admin on May 14, 2007 19:05:17 GMT 7
Thanks for the follow up Andrea, obviously the software developer did not think about using Windows Installer program to launch the application software. Or using Windows Install Shield program to launch an Istallation Wizard for end users, lazy developing I say.. Anyways I'm glad that it works fine now and good on you for not giving up. Cheers Faizul |
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is the "greenware" problem, the treetop density is so high that the GPS has a hard time "seeing" enough satellites for good accuracy, and there were a fair number of stray points recorded in Alaska, Siberia and even southern Afrika that I had to delete first. Still, we can start mapping some stuff now that school will be out.
beats me!