Rune Christensen wrote:
> Richard Owlett wrote:
> 
>> Rune Christensen wrote:
>>
>>> Richard Owlett wrote:
>>>
>>>> Minimalist description:
>>>>   RS-232 byte serial input {4800 baud needed, higher speeds desirable}
>>>>   10 MByte non-volatile memory
>>>>   Byte serial output {USB preferred, RS232 acceptable}
>>>>   LOW cost
>>>>
>>>> Minimalist operational description:
>>>>   Operator choses record/playback before applying power/start
>>>>   If in:
>>>>      record   mode data appended to existing data
>>>>      playback mode all recorded data dumped
>>>>   Operator may chose reset which erases _ALL_ data and resets any
>>>>   internal pointers to "zero"
>>>>
>>>> -- These erasures should occur no more frequently than once or twice 
>>>> per day and presumed unit useful life not presumed to be more than 3 
>>>> yrs.
>>>>
>>>> What I envisage:
>>>>
>>>> A system with UART and NOR Flash with FPGA for "glue logic"
>>>> Erasure times of "few" minutes would be acceptable
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> My personal application:
>>>> Input would be from a GPS mouse receiver.
>>>> Once a day I would dump data to my PC, followed by erase cycle.
>>>> I'm assuming a receiver giving updates once/second.
>>>>
>>>> I've found products that come near (if not close) but they insist on 
>>>> Bluetooth which is *UNACCEPTABLE* to me. Others are too volatile.
>>>>
>>>> Suggestions?
>>>> Thank you.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Hello
>>>
>>> I need some more information before I can help you.
>>>
>>> Do you want it to be a portable unit or fixed in a car?
>>
>>
>>
>> Portable, but need not be battery powered. Used in car would be 
>> powered thru cigarette lighter adapter. Otherwise powered by a wall wart.
>>
>>>
>>> What is the name of the GPS reciever that you want to use?
>>
>>
>>
>> I was thinking any of any of the GPS mouse receivers.
>>
>>>
>>> What kind of power supply is available?
>>
>>
>>
>> nominal 12 VDC
>>
>>
>> As I'm looking for only a couple of units, I was looking for something 
>> on the retail market.
>>
>> As someone else has pointed out it would be simple enough to build.
>> I haven't done any component level hardware in `30 years. I would even 
>> have to go out and buy a soldering iron ;)
>>
>> thank you
>>
>>>
>>> Rune Christensen
>>> Engineer
> 
> 
> I think the best solution will be a microcontroller connected to a MMC 
> card.
> 
> For example you could use the microcontroller board
> http://www.embeddedartists.com/products/boards/lpc213x.php
> 
> The microcontroller board has a serial connection and a USB connection. 
> The prototype board has a MMC/SD socket. The cost of this two boards 
> together with a LPC2138 is 53 EUR.
> 
> You will be able to produce a prototype on this system but I don't think 
> it will be the best system for the final product.
> 
> Another solution could be a PDA with a serial port and a compact flash 
> card.
> 
> Yet another solution could be
> http://www.prllc.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=5&idproduct=9#details 
> 
> 
> There is just one problem with all this solutions there is no ready to 
> use firmware. You need to develop the firmware.
> 
> Rune Christensen
> Engineer

I have found another microcontroller board
http://www.compsys1.com/html/avr_sd_dev_board.html
It's a kit that need to be assembled :-( but it's cheap.

Another possible solution could be this board
http://www.sparkfun.com/shop/index.php?shop=1&cart=463717&cat=94&

Rune Christensen
Engineer

Kevin Bagust wrote:
> Richard Owlett wrote:
> 
>> Minimalist description:
>>   RS-232 byte serial input {4800 baud needed, higher speeds desirable}
>>   10 MByte non-volatile memory
>>   Byte serial output {USB preferred, RS232 acceptable}
>>   LOW cost
>>
> 
>> My personal application:
>> Input would be from a GPS mouse receiver.
>> Once a day I would dump data to my PC, followed by erase cycle.
>> I'm assuming a receiver giving updates once/second.
>>
>> I've found products that come near (if not close) but they insist on 
>> Bluetooth which is *UNACCEPTABLE* to me. Others are too volatile.
>>
>> Suggestions?
>> Thank you.
> 
> 
> 
> You may want to at a hand held GPS rather than building something 
> yourself. I know the Garmin hand held GPSs have a track faculty which 
> with the correct software you can then download to a PC.

No to handhold GPS.
Yes to not building hardware myself.
My interest has very little to do with the navigation ;}

My original interest in GPS was to to "prove" to my supervisor that I 
was expeditiously completing my route of 4-12 stops, 400-550 miles, over 
10-14 hours. That 14 hour + travel time to my desktop did in most of the 
hand helds. I also could not determine that timestamps were saved with 
the so called "bread crumbs".

As I learned more I became fascinated with error terms and their 
periodicity. There were scatter plots of horizontal errors. There were 
plots of error magnitude versus time. I wanted x, y, z versus time and 
for multiple days.

If I use a non-WAAS receiver I bet I'll "discover" a primary variation 
with a 24 hr period ;}

Rune Christensen referred me to "AntiLog RS232 data logger" 
http://www.zen30649.zen.co.uk/product_antilog.html . That with a GPS 
mouse seems functionally ideal. Costs more than I was hoping for.

> 
> For software have a look at:
> http://www.gps-practice-and-fun.com/gps-software.html
> 
> And try searching on the web for GPS Track.
> 
> Kevin.

Richard Owlett wrote:
> Minimalist description:
>   RS-232 byte serial input {4800 baud needed, higher speeds desirable}
>   10 MByte non-volatile memory
>   Byte serial output {USB preferred, RS232 acceptable}
>   LOW cost
> 

> My personal application:
> Input would be from a GPS mouse receiver.
> Once a day I would dump data to my PC, followed by erase cycle.
> I'm assuming a receiver giving updates once/second.
> 
> I've found products that come near (if not close) but they insist on 
> Bluetooth which is *UNACCEPTABLE* to me. Others are too volatile.
> 
> Suggestions?
> Thank you.


You may want to at a hand held GPS rather than building something 
yourself. I know the Garmin hand held GPSs have a track faculty which 
with the correct software you can then download to a PC.

For software have a look at:
http://www.gps-practice-and-fun.com/gps-software.html

And try searching on the web for GPS Track.

Kevin.

Rune Christensen wrote:
> Richard Owlett wrote:
> 
>> Minimalist description:
>>   RS-232 byte serial input {4800 baud needed, higher speeds desirable}
>>   10 MByte non-volatile memory
>>   Byte serial output {USB preferred, RS232 acceptable}
>>   LOW cost
>>
>> Minimalist operational description:
>>   Operator choses record/playback before applying power/start
>>   If in:
>>      record   mode data appended to existing data
>>      playback mode all recorded data dumped
>>   Operator may chose reset which erases _ALL_ data and resets any
>>   internal pointers to "zero"
>>
>> -- These erasures should occur no more frequently than once or twice 
>> per day and presumed unit useful life not presumed to be more than 3 yrs.
>>
>> What I envisage:
>>
>> A system with UART and NOR Flash with FPGA for "glue logic"
>> Erasure times of "few" minutes would be acceptable
>>
>>
>> My personal application:
>> Input would be from a GPS mouse receiver.
>> Once a day I would dump data to my PC, followed by erase cycle.
>> I'm assuming a receiver giving updates once/second.
>>
>> I've found products that come near (if not close) but they insist on 
>> Bluetooth which is *UNACCEPTABLE* to me. Others are too volatile.
>>
>> Suggestions?
>> Thank you.
>>
> 
> I found a commercial product
> http://www.zen30649.zen.co.uk/
> 
> Rune Christensen
> Engineer

That's almost exactly what I was envisioning. But faster and more 
storage capacity ;) Least expensive unit listed on their oder page is 
for a 128MB unit which is 10X what I need. The descriptive portion of 
page lists 32MB as smallest - price differential probably would not be 
worthwhile.

I'll also take a closer look at the boards mentioned in your previous 
post. Software creation not a problem as I'm doing this as a personal 
project so I can legitimately cost out my time as "no cost". Might 
actually list it as "negative cost" due to value of the learning experience.

Thank you

Richard Owlett wrote:
> Minimalist description:
>   RS-232 byte serial input {4800 baud needed, higher speeds desirable}
>   10 MByte non-volatile memory
>   Byte serial output {USB preferred, RS232 acceptable}
>   LOW cost
> 
> Minimalist operational description:
>   Operator choses record/playback before applying power/start
>   If in:
>      record   mode data appended to existing data
>      playback mode all recorded data dumped
>   Operator may chose reset which erases _ALL_ data and resets any
>   internal pointers to "zero"
> 
> -- These erasures should occur no more frequently than once or twice per 
> day and presumed unit useful life not presumed to be more than 3 yrs.
> 
> What I envisage:
> 
> A system with UART and NOR Flash with FPGA for "glue logic"
> Erasure times of "few" minutes would be acceptable
> 
> 
> My personal application:
> Input would be from a GPS mouse receiver.
> Once a day I would dump data to my PC, followed by erase cycle.
> I'm assuming a receiver giving updates once/second.
> 
> I've found products that come near (if not close) but they insist on 
> Bluetooth which is *UNACCEPTABLE* to me. Others are too volatile.
> 
> Suggestions?
> Thank you.
> 

I found a commercial product
http://www.zen30649.zen.co.uk/

Rune Christensen
Engineer

Rune Christensen wrote:

>>>> Minimalist description:
>>>>   RS-232 byte serial input {4800 baud needed, higher speeds desirable}
>>>>   10 MByte non-volatile memory
>>>>   Byte serial output {USB preferred, RS232 acceptable}
>>>>   LOW cost
>>>>
>>>> Minimalist operational description:
>>>>   Operator choses record/playback before applying power/start
>>>>   If in:
>>>>      record   mode data appended to existing data
>>>>      playback mode all recorded data dumped
>>>>   Operator may chose reset which erases _ALL_ data and resets any
>>>>   internal pointers to "zero"
> 
> 
> I think the best solution will be a microcontroller connected to a MMC 
> card.
> 
> For example you could use the microcontroller board
> http://www.embeddedartists.com/products/boards/lpc213x.php
> 
> The microcontroller board has a serial connection and a USB connection. 
> The prototype board has a MMC/SD socket. The cost of this two boards 
> together with a LPC2138 is 53 EUR.
> 
> You will be able to produce a prototype on this system but I don't think 
> it will be the best system for the final product.
> 
> Another solution could be a PDA with a serial port and a compact flash 
> card.
> 
> Yet another solution could be
> http://www.prllc.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=5&idproduct=9#details 
> 
> 
> There is just one problem with all this solutions there is no ready to 
> use firmware. You need to develop the firmware.
> 
> Rune Christensen
> Engineer

Rune,

	Does your solution meet the OPs "low cost" requirement ??

	If the OP would please let us know if he is looking for a
	complete and running Off-The-Shelf system that logs RS-232 data
	( from any source ) or is looking for a Do-It-Yourself solution.

	$95 for the 128MMC hardware,
	$139 for FAT file system,
	OPs time to learn the systems involved and code this up himself.

	It would seem if the OP would like to code something up himself,
	(I assume the OP has some idea how to do that)

	To keep the cost and time down ( time is money ).
	It would be quicker to build a smaller version that has just a
	micro ( AVR, PIC,etc) latches for address and data lines, then
	just use a big flash chip. Capture serial data into the flash.
	Simple command parser would allow to retrieve the data at a
	later date.

	Just my simple idea.

Donald

Richard Owlett wrote:
> Rune Christensen wrote:
> 
>> Richard Owlett wrote:
>>
>>> Minimalist description:
>>>   RS-232 byte serial input {4800 baud needed, higher speeds desirable}
>>>   10 MByte non-volatile memory
>>>   Byte serial output {USB preferred, RS232 acceptable}
>>>   LOW cost
>>>
>>> Minimalist operational description:
>>>   Operator choses record/playback before applying power/start
>>>   If in:
>>>      record   mode data appended to existing data
>>>      playback mode all recorded data dumped
>>>   Operator may chose reset which erases _ALL_ data and resets any
>>>   internal pointers to "zero"
>>>
>>> -- These erasures should occur no more frequently than once or twice 
>>> per day and presumed unit useful life not presumed to be more than 3 
>>> yrs.
>>>
>>> What I envisage:
>>>
>>> A system with UART and NOR Flash with FPGA for "glue logic"
>>> Erasure times of "few" minutes would be acceptable
>>>
>>>
>>> My personal application:
>>> Input would be from a GPS mouse receiver.
>>> Once a day I would dump data to my PC, followed by erase cycle.
>>> I'm assuming a receiver giving updates once/second.
>>>
>>> I've found products that come near (if not close) but they insist on 
>>> Bluetooth which is *UNACCEPTABLE* to me. Others are too volatile.
>>>
>>> Suggestions?
>>> Thank you.
>>>
>>
>> Hello
>>
>> I need some more information before I can help you.
>>
>> Do you want it to be a portable unit or fixed in a car?
> 
> 
> Portable, but need not be battery powered. Used in car would be powered 
> thru cigarette lighter adapter. Otherwise powered by a wall wart.
> 
>>
>> What is the name of the GPS reciever that you want to use?
> 
> 
> I was thinking any of any of the GPS mouse receivers.
> 
>>
>> What kind of power supply is available?
> 
> 
> nominal 12 VDC
> 
> 
> As I'm looking for only a couple of units, I was looking for something 
> on the retail market.
> 
> As someone else has pointed out it would be simple enough to build.
> I haven't done any component level hardware in `30 years. I would even 
> have to go out and buy a soldering iron ;)
> 
> thank you
> 
>>
>> Rune Christensen
>> Engineer

I think the best solution will be a microcontroller connected to a MMC 
card.

For example you could use the microcontroller board
http://www.embeddedartists.com/products/boards/lpc213x.php

The microcontroller board has a serial connection and a USB connection. 
The prototype board has a MMC/SD socket. The cost of this two boards 
together with a LPC2138 is 53 EUR.

You will be able to produce a prototype on this system but I don't think 
it will be the best system for the final product.

Another solution could be a PDA with a serial port and a compact flash 
card.

Yet another solution could be
http://www.prllc.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=5&idproduct=9#details

There is just one problem with all this solutions there is no ready to 
use firmware. You need to develop the firmware.

Rune Christensen
Engineer

Rune Christensen wrote:
> Richard Owlett wrote:
> 
>> Minimalist description:
>>   RS-232 byte serial input {4800 baud needed, higher speeds desirable}
>>   10 MByte non-volatile memory
>>   Byte serial output {USB preferred, RS232 acceptable}
>>   LOW cost
>>
>> Minimalist operational description:
>>   Operator choses record/playback before applying power/start
>>   If in:
>>      record   mode data appended to existing data
>>      playback mode all recorded data dumped
>>   Operator may chose reset which erases _ALL_ data and resets any
>>   internal pointers to "zero"
>>
>> -- These erasures should occur no more frequently than once or twice 
>> per day and presumed unit useful life not presumed to be more than 3 yrs.
>>
>> What I envisage:
>>
>> A system with UART and NOR Flash with FPGA for "glue logic"
>> Erasure times of "few" minutes would be acceptable
>>
>>
>> My personal application:
>> Input would be from a GPS mouse receiver.
>> Once a day I would dump data to my PC, followed by erase cycle.
>> I'm assuming a receiver giving updates once/second.
>>
>> I've found products that come near (if not close) but they insist on 
>> Bluetooth which is *UNACCEPTABLE* to me. Others are too volatile.
>>
>> Suggestions?
>> Thank you.
>>
> 
> Hello
> 
> I need some more information before I can help you.
> 
> Do you want it to be a portable unit or fixed in a car?

Portable, but need not be battery powered. Used in car would be powered 
thru cigarette lighter adapter. Otherwise powered by a wall wart.

> 
> What is the name of the GPS reciever that you want to use?

I was thinking any of any of the GPS mouse receivers.

> 
> What kind of power supply is available?

nominal 12 VDC


As I'm looking for only a couple of units, I was looking for something 
on the retail market.

As someone else has pointed out it would be simple enough to build.
I haven't done any component level hardware in `30 years. I would even 
have to go out and buy a soldering iron ;)

thank you
> 
> Rune Christensen
> Engineer

Richard Owlett wrote:
> Minimalist description:
>   RS-232 byte serial input {4800 baud needed, higher speeds desirable}
>   10 MByte non-volatile memory
>   Byte serial output {USB preferred, RS232 acceptable}
>   LOW cost
> 
> Minimalist operational description:
>   Operator choses record/playback before applying power/start
>   If in:
>      record   mode data appended to existing data
>      playback mode all recorded data dumped
>   Operator may chose reset which erases _ALL_ data and resets any
>   internal pointers to "zero"
> 
> -- These erasures should occur no more frequently than once or twice per 
> day and presumed unit useful life not presumed to be more than 3 yrs.
> 
> What I envisage:
> 
> A system with UART and NOR Flash with FPGA for "glue logic"
> Erasure times of "few" minutes would be acceptable
> 
> 
> My personal application:
> Input would be from a GPS mouse receiver.
> Once a day I would dump data to my PC, followed by erase cycle.
> I'm assuming a receiver giving updates once/second.
> 
> I've found products that come near (if not close) but they insist on 
> Bluetooth which is *UNACCEPTABLE* to me. Others are too volatile.
> 
> Suggestions?
> Thank you.
> 

Hello

I need some more information before I can help you.

Do you want it to be a portable unit or fixed in a car?

What is the name of the GPS reciever that you want to use?

What kind of power supply is available?

Rune Christensen
Engineer