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[degman]

Background: SDIO devices are generally built for PDA's/Smartphones to add things like wireless or GPS capabilities. They fit in an SD card slot, but they will only work if it's compatible with SDIO hardware. Examples - Spectec sdg810, Pharos psd80.

I saw a post on the OLPCNews blog regarding GPS, and someone mentioned a SDIO GPS device that would never fit the form factor. This got me wondering if the XO supports that hardware, but the wiki pages didn't say (nor did the hardware .pdf). I took a peek in Marvell's data sheet for the 88ALP01 chipset. It turns it does, but again, the SDIO card slot won't fit much else other than the typical flash storage.

I'm considering a case mod, where I would solder the connections between the SDIO device and the socket. There's only 8-10 wires so that's not prohibitive. As for mounting, it needs to not interfere with normal operations (tablet, ears, closing, ..). I figure a good method would be dremeling out some of the green bumper on the right side of the screen, below the antenna/USB. Another location would be above the screen.


In any case, has anybody else used an SDIO card? If I purchase one and it's incompatible, that would kind of suck. I'm not so worried about the software side of things, as typically they output NMEA standards.

[Gabey8]

How about using a USB SD card reader like this: http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.com/I/meritline_1986_93058390

If these cards will work under those circumstances, will that be enough to render a case mod unnecessary?

[degman]

I've decided to play it safe with a USB GPS receiver, either a Garmin or GlobalSat device. The latter uses a SiRFstar III chipset for sure, which is pretty powerful.
This way I get to keep my SD card slot, and use just one of the USB ports. I do plan on performing a case mod though -- perhaps I'll remodel the handle If I do it'll certainly end up on this forum.

Still, it would be useful information to know what (if any) SDIO devices work with the XO. Perhaps there are some PDA/smartphone users out there with these accessories and an XO?!

[LesleyT]

I'm a smartphone geek but not enough to know for sure what would work.

Try www.pdaphonehome.com

[pgf]

I've decided to play it safe with a USB GPS receiver, either a Garmin or GlobalSat device. The latter uses a SiRFstar III chipset for sure, which is pretty powerful.
This way I get to keep my SD card slot, and use just one of the USB ports. I do plan on performing a case mod though -- perhaps I'll remodel the handle If I do it'll certainly end up on this forum.

i got a globalsat device and it works fine with the XO.  but see my other post, here: http://olpcnews.com/forum/index.php?topic=32.msg21088#msg21088 about why doing a casemod might not be the right solution.  (i've decided against it, unless i decide to go bluetooth, in which case the BT adapter might go inboard.)

paul

[thegeek]

I've decided to play it safe with a USB GPS receiver, either a Garmin or GlobalSat device. The latter uses a SiRFstar III chipset for sure, which is pretty powerful.
This way I get to keep my SD card slot, and use just one of the USB ports. I do plan on performing a case mod though -- perhaps I'll remodel the handle If I do it'll certainly end up on this forum.

Still, it would be useful information to know what (if any) SDIO devices work with the XO. Perhaps there are some PDA/smartphone users out there with these accessories and an XO?!

This sounds like a great solution. The only thing that concerns me about this, is that a USB GPS receiver is easily removable. In other words, if your child doesn't want you to know where they are, all they have to do is unplug the receiver. In this case something hard wired into the board might be a better option.
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