My Trimble SVee6-CM3s showed up today, I need to build the RS232 circuit yet.

On and off I've been toying with the idea of navigation. I just found BBBike http://bbbike.sourceforge.net which appears to do autorouting with ESRI Shapefiles.

Further, with GDAL and Tiger/Line 2000 data one can construct Shapefiles for the U.S., at least, which should make this doable as long as you're willing to deal with problems in the data.

Sadly I don't think I'll have time for it this month but it looks like it might be hackable to be a spoken direction finder with the addition of Festival and some mechanism for selecting endpoints. Of course it may be that I hate myself for wanting to do anything with perl.

From BGMicro? Did they send you a shipping confirmation or anything apart from the initial order confirmation?

I ordered both a Trimble and Motorola on separate orders and haven't received any notification yet of either. How long ago did you order? I ordered as soon as rexp told us they had more.

They confirmed the Trimbles and I got a UPS ship email right before I ordered the Oncores. I have heard nothing, zero, about the Oncores. I posted about the Oncores minutes after I ordered. I ordered the Trimbles right after rexkp posted.

Incidentally, Jameco has MAX233 for like $5.75; Digi-key for $10.something. If you order MAX233, don't order from Digi-Key.

I ordered both a Trimble and Motorola on separate orders and haven't received any notification yet of either. How long ago did you order? I ordered as soon as rexp told us they had more.

I ordered 3 Trimbles on Sunday the 8th and received only that initial e-mail. My curiousity overcame me today so I called. They said they shipped on the 11th. Doesn't look like they have a very sophisticated order tracking system (and that they got hammered that weekend!)

I ordered right after they were posted here, and I got mine on friday. I never got a shipping confirmation, just the orginal automated one.

I went to fry's on sunday to try and pick up a max233 but couldn't find anything similar for the life of me. I guess I've got to order one online, unless anyone knows where to buy one around san francisco. The cheapest i've found them online is with futurlec.com ($5.70+3s/h) but i've never heard of them before.

Is there anything wrong with using a electrolytic capacitor instead of a tantalum? rat-shack only had electrolytic...

Matthew

When I ordered I asked for email confirmation of shipping and they did email me to confirm it had left the building.
[I do this routinely whenever I order as often a lot of places won't send you any confirmation of shipping - which is ok for overnight delivery but not if you're not in the US].

So far the CC bill has shown up, but not the goods - so I hope they shipped them when they said they did!

I think I'm registered with UPS for something, hence the notice.

Reading in my new Art of Electronics (Pg 22)... electrolytic capacitors have terrible accuracy, ghastly temperature stability, and aweful leakage. They're good for power-supply filters. They have a short life-span.

Tantalum on the other hand has only poor accuracy and temperature stability. Leakage is non-applicable. They're high capacitance, small, and have low inductance.

Not that I know much of what that means, but hey, I just got the book today, alright?

What farad range and voltage do you need? I'd love a 1 farad 20 volt, but they only come in electrolytic and cost a little over a hundred bucks. ;-) Though I'm now reading about 7-farad ultracapacitors the size of a AA
battery ... whoah momma.

Greg

And I just got an email from UPS confirming the Oncores shipped.

I assume you're talking about C2 in the datasheet circuit? There shouldn't be any problems using an electrolytic there - just make sure you match the capacitance value/voltage rating and polarity to the circuit and you should be good to go.

My goods arrived/were delivered this morning at 7am.
I had to sign for it (recorded delivery).

So, 1 week from shipping to arrival is not too bad for postal..

So, 1 week from shipping to arrival is not too bad for postal..

Indeed. It looks like my Oncores are supposed to show up Friday. Sadly I don't think I'll have time to hack the Trimble into my minivan before Cincinnati, but I think more or less I know what I'll be doing with it... I guess I also need to think about the ethernet sled mod in the van running into either a crossover cable or one which runs to a socket which can be switched between straight and crossover.

Crap, and that reminds me, my car "laptop power" adapter bit for my laptop broke, and I'm so very sure that I can't buy a tip, only the whole adapter locally... or I can pay rush shipping and get one in time, I bet.

Blah.

Reading in my new Art of Electronics (Pg 22)...

What a week. Carried away by this stuff. My Trimbles arrived, I went back and ordered 1 Oncore, then I drove to Bellevue and bought a Weller soldering station (on sale) and a bunch of capacitors and such...then ordered MAX233s from Jameco....

...then, inspired by your example, I went and sniped a copy of TAoE on eBay for $46+$3 shipping (no workbook, though).

Well, I'm not sure any of this will make me any better at this stuff, but I'm going to try...and perhaps I can impress my friends with the new coffee table book!

Yeah, my wife is certainly "impressed" by that book. She was sure I couldn't get any geekier. ;-)

Greg

Got my Trimble modules today. So it took about 11 days to Australia which is pretty good I guess. Not as good as Darkstorm though. I also ordered a couple of the Oncores when they became available and I'm still waiting for them.

Damn another project to do now, and I'm still building harnesses...I'll get there eventually.

She was sure I couldn't get any geekier. ;-)

Boy, did she back the wrong horse in that race!

Odd TAoE story:.... The eBay auction closes at 2PM pacific on Tuesday the 17th. $46+$3. I send money immediately through eBay payments... Everything goes quiet.

I pick up my mail/stuff this afternoon, and there's a heavy box from Barnes and Noble. I open it, and it is an anonymous, gift-wrapped copy of (you guessed!) The Art of Electronics! I get home a few hours later, and there's a UPS shipping confirmation from the seller (who has sold more than 1 copy of this, it looks like -- or maybe the same copy relisted??). Anyhow, I look on the bn.com page and TAoE is still listed -- discounted -- at $62.

Koyaanisqatsi!!

That's bizarre ... so either he gets a better discount than is listed, or he took a beating on that auction?

Greg