DanT, can you give me a little tip? Can I connect a "normal" GPS Mouse (like the ones sold at EBay) with these special adapters to my SJ-33 or do I need a special receiver for the GPS-signal?
I searched for these adapters but they are sold for about 25€/$. Do you know a link or a have an idea to solder this adapter "at home"?

I'm looking for a GPS system for my SJ33 as well, I'm looking for one that would be most compatible with US Standards, and where would I go to get the materials I need for SJ33 + GPS setup

Aufnahmeleiter,

I have seen it done before. Infact one of ClieSource member from Bavaria, Capricorn61, did it.  I have not done it myself, but I exchanged notes with him.  The basic principal is the same. You need to connect at least 3 pins (wires) between the two devices. They are RXD, TXD, and GND (ground):
1. RXD from the GPS receiver goes to TXD of SJ-33.
2. TXD from the GPS receiver goes to RXD of SJ-33.
3. GND from the GPS receiver goes to GND of SJ-33.

Typically the mouse GPS receiver receives power from USB (5 VDC). If that is the one you plan to get, then you can share the power from your Clie charger to it.  So you may end up with 4 conductor wires instead. 

If you use this setup for the car, you can set it up like the following:
SJ-33 plug---mouse GPS plug---SJ-33 cigaret lighter adapter.

That is basically what I did on mine. The only difference is the GeV only take 3.2 VDC so I have to drop the voltage of the power line going to the GeV plug by putting diodes in the GeV plug as I mention earlier.

Make sure you can get the pinout specifications for the mouse GPS receiver. Here are the pinout specification for SJ-33:
1 = GND, ground for signal/power supply
2 = D+, USB data+ signal
3 = D-, USB data- signal
4 = USB GND, ground for USB
5 = VBUS
6 = Reserved
7 = DC+B, External 5.2 VDC power supply pin. The pin supplying power to the main unit.
8 = CHARGE, 5.2 VDC charging pin. Dedicated power terminal for charging.
9 = Reserved
10=UNREG_OUT, brute power supply 3.4-4.2V, 100 mA
11=HOT_SYNC
12=DTR
13=RXD
14=TXD
15=CTS
16=RTS
17=CNT
18=GND, same as 1

So you need to connect the pin 1 (GND), 7&8 (5.2 VDC), 13 (RXD), and 14 (TXD) to the mouse GPS.

You can just get the travel HotSync cable for SJ-33 (the same as T-series and newer Clie models) and make your own. That is how I did it. I bought the 4-in-1 travel adapter for $16 in eBay, disected the middle section of the cable and connected with the cable from the GeV, sort of making a Tee connection. You can see my Tee connection, the blue knot, in the picture that I posted earlier.

If the mouse GPS comes with a standard DB9 serial connector, then:
TXD = pin 3
RXD = pin 2
GND = pin 5

Good luck and let us know how it turns out. It would be a neat little project for you.

I know just enough to get myself into trouble, so use this information at your own risk.

Just educate yourself with GPS first.  Here are some more links to browse:

http://gpsinformation.net/

http://www.gpsinformation.org/dale/Palm/pilotgps.htm

If SJ-33 is not listed in the website, you can use any GPS receiver that compatible with NR, NX, and T series.  Garmin eTrex, like drtamil uses, should be a good start. 

 

I think I'm ready for the 1500 miles journey. Here are my setups.  Clie will track down where I'm going on the map.  GeV will show compass, elevation, trip odometer, moving time, stop time, instantaneous speed, maximum speed, average speed, etc.  Valentine One will sniff for incoming cops (from front, side, or back). :D  

Sorry, DanT, I just rethought the idea of the GPS-mouse and switched over to the Garmin eTrex/eTrax Legend. I found a relatively cheap German dealer on the Internet.

On the picture I saw that you're using a Garmin eTrax too. I fancied the thought of buying these two cables at EBay and putting them together somehow like you did:




(the second cable is just symbolic)


Can you explain how you realized your "blue knot"? Your solution seems to be very professional :)

Good for you.

Here are some more tips:
1. I would leave the eTrex ePlug to DB9 serial cable alone if I were you. That cable is good for connecting to PC or Laptop. Besides you need it for resale later.
2. To connect to your SJ-33, just get a blank ePlug from PC-mobile.com part# GEC01 for only $5.90. Don't forget the strain relief. Just modify the Clie travel hotsync adapter to connect the Clie, eTrex, and USB/cigaret lighter adapter. The cable is long enough to do all that.  What I did was:
A. Strip the cable insulation right in the middle.
B. Find the RXD, TXD, GND, PWR wires.  See my notes below. 
C. Don't cut any of the cable, just strip enough insulation off the 4 wires for soldering to the ePlug pins later.
D. Fold the 4 wires and slide them through the strain relief and solder them to the RXD, TXD, GND of ePlug pins.
E. Install 2 diodes that I mentioned earlier to the PWR wire in series and at the right current direction.
F. Button the eplug and you're done!

Notes:
The pin arrangement for the ePlug is as follows:
pin 1 = GND (cable end)
pin 2 = TXD
pin 3 = RXD
pin 4 = PWR

As far as the blue knot, that is a plastic T connector that I use to secure the stripped & folded ends of the cable. You can get it in any electronic store. I removed the original piercing metal piece out of the T connector and just use the T connector as a clamp.  It is just like a larger version of the strain relief to protect the connector from getting ripped off accidentally.

Tschuess ;)

Here is another look of the Clie-eTrex cable with blue knot (among some of my gadgets):

DanT, I have a Garmin Etrex Legend and a Sony Clie SJ-22. I'm wanting to be able to use them together. I looked at that pc-mobile.com website and I think I found what I need. Would you mind confirming it so I don't end up getting the wrong hardware? I want to be able to power the PDA in the car and make the connection between the two devices, so I believe the cable I need is the GEST6P (GEDC + GST6P). Is that all I need, other than the software loaded on the PDA? I live in North America I went ahead and found the Mapopolis files I needed, so I'm just waiting to order the correct cable. Thanks for any help you can provide :)

Yes, but you'll also need CKUC ($13.95) for charging your Clie with USB-car adapter.

About the software, if you think the map software that you will use is too slow to load up from MS to RAM consider of using PiDirectII and may be FastCPU to overclock it from 33MHz to about 53MHz.  I did that and the load speed drops from 3 minutes down to 15 seconds for 1.5MB maps.  Later on I chopped down my maps to more managable sizes (around 400-700KB).

Too bad that I can't get the voltmeter readout in-time for the trip, so I'll do without it. Just to be sure, I checked the Clie's car-USB adapter. No problemo. It reads 5.77-5.78 VDC with engine off & on, which is within the spec for the N series Clies.

I think it burnt my CUSB after a 2 hour journey...... ;-)

My coordinates gave me away, I think. You id-ed my nationality quite fast. Else you've guessed it from my articles :-)

Gotcha ;)

I'll bring along my voltmeter and check the CUSB volt status after several hours runtime later at pit stops. I wish there is a telltale sign or somekind of low voltage surge protection that I can add to the power line to prevent your problem from recurring on my Clie. Do you know any?

Sampai jumpa lagi.
Dan

Thank you DanT, thank you very much. The eTrex and the cables are on their way :)

Tomorrow I'll drive to Munich and I will look in some stores for the ePlug.

Bitte schoen ;)