LCD Displays

[Edward Glowacki]

Quoted from Edward Glowacki on Mon, Jul 16, 2001 at 11:13:07AM -0400:
> Quoted from Edward Glowacki on Mon, Jul 16, 2001 at 11:07:36AM -0400:
> > Could be fun I guess, could release it open-source like... =)  I'll
> > have to see what kind of libraries and functions are available to
> > talk to the palm already.  Programming the display side might not
> > be too bad if the tools are decent.
> 
> Hmm... just found a PalmOS version of VNC, might not even *have*
> to program the client end... ;)

OK, in order for PalmVNC to work, it appears you need to be running
some sort of TCP/IP on the palm.  Not a problem, PalmOS supports
it (otherwise, why would they create PalmVNC in the first place?).
Since USB support for this kind of stuff is spotty (I managed to
get FreeBSD to see the Visor through USB though), and since I might
be trying to use the Visor with an older machine, I went out and
bought a serial cradle last night.  Actually talking to the Visor
wasn't too difficult, and I was able to copy across PalmVNC without
any trouble.  So the cradle works, FreeBSD can talk to the visor,
all is well.  Now to set up PPP over the serial line.  Sounds easy,
from what I read online, just set it up as if you had purchased a
modem expansion module, but set the phone number to "00" (which is
a mostly-undocumented "magic number") that tells it you're connecting
directly instead of a modem.  Ding, click on "connect"... and
nothing happens... Try again.... no luck.  Hmm, let's check the
server side.... "cat /dev/cuaa0" (cuaa0 is a serial line in FreeBSD)
then try the Visor end again.... hmmm... nothing shows up in my
little xterm... odd, you would think if it's supposed to be talking
over the serial line, it would actually say something and try to
connect...  So I unplugged the serial cradle and plugged in a serial
mouse.  *move mouse* Whoa! Lots of characters on my screen... guess
I am actually looking at the correct serial port and it does actually
work... plug the cradle in again and try the "hotsync" button...
"Hey, there's line noise on my screen, now we're getting somewhere!!!"
(How's that for a backwards sounding quote! ;) )  I think at some
point I tried one of the preset dialup services, and actually saw
some AT commands show up.  But never when I try to connect directly
and setup a PPP connection.

At this point, it was after 11pm and I needed to get to bed, so I
put my work on hold.  Here's the score:

Ed          1 point for getting hotsync to work with the serial
                cradle in FreeBSD
Computer    1 point for preventing Ed from setting up PPP
            1 point for preventing Ed from setting up VNC
	        1 point for preventing Ed from using the Palm to control
	            an MP3 player

Total score: Ed 1, Computer 3, Ed loses.

-- 
Edward Glowacki				glowack2@msu.edu
GLLUG Peon  				http://www.gllug.org
Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.
                -- Jules de Gaultier