DAP
Member
- Joined
- Aug 29, 2008
- Messages
- 432
A Bluetooth GPS is probably a bad idea if you plan to take it out of the country. Bluetooth is a bidirectional radio, and may not be legal to use in all countries. (GPS might not be legal in all countries either, but if it is, how you connect it to the Pandora is irrelevant).
A USB GPS sounds like a good idea, until you look a bit more closely.
For some reason, the main USB port (the standard A connector) on the Pandora does not support USB full speed or USB low speed, only USB High Speed. A USB GPS is most likely to be a USB Full Speed device, since most of them pretend to be a USB to serial port converter to the PC. So one can't connect it to the main USB port without using a USB hub. That would be rather inconvenient on a hiking trip. I've yet to see a battery powered USB hub.
The USB OTG port (mini AB connector?) can handle all USB speeds, but someone was mentioning "power issues" meaning perhaps it can't be used to power a USB device?
There is a good chance I have some of the above details wrong. For instance, the standard for USB pretty much requires that a USB master first talk to a device in full speed or low speed before switching to high speed, so I don't understand how one can design a USB master that only works in high speed mode.
Anyway, once someone untangles my USB confusion above, could someone suggest a good comparison chart for the available USB GPS receivers? So far, I've only found this site: http://www.maps-gps-info.com/usbgps.html
A USB GPS sounds like a good idea, until you look a bit more closely.
For some reason, the main USB port (the standard A connector) on the Pandora does not support USB full speed or USB low speed, only USB High Speed. A USB GPS is most likely to be a USB Full Speed device, since most of them pretend to be a USB to serial port converter to the PC. So one can't connect it to the main USB port without using a USB hub. That would be rather inconvenient on a hiking trip. I've yet to see a battery powered USB hub.
The USB OTG port (mini AB connector?) can handle all USB speeds, but someone was mentioning "power issues" meaning perhaps it can't be used to power a USB device?
There is a good chance I have some of the above details wrong. For instance, the standard for USB pretty much requires that a USB master first talk to a device in full speed or low speed before switching to high speed, so I don't understand how one can design a USB master that only works in high speed mode.
Anyway, once someone untangles my USB confusion above, could someone suggest a good comparison chart for the available USB GPS receivers? So far, I've only found this site: http://www.maps-gps-info.com/usbgps.html