Data Logging Software for PocketPC? 14
X43B asks: "I don't have a story associated with this but just a question. Does anyone know of any data logging software for the PocketPC? What I'm talking about is something analogous to Hyperterminal for windows. The data logging market for engineering instrumentation, especially with a premium on small size and weight, is relatively sparse. The hardware on PocketPCs seems ideal for this type of application. I'm looking for anything from proprietary software to open source, even perhaps the just a little direction of what to use to do this on my own (all I know is Fortran, C, and Matlab). Thanks!"
Huh? (Score:1, Insightful)
That's a pretty crappy analogy, since I don't know how you class Hyperterminal as a 'data logger'. You mean terminal software? Your stuff outputs from a serial line and you want to just save the serial output?
Re:Huh? (Score:1)
Zaurus? (Score:1, Informative)
For non-rugged devices, both Palm and the Zaurus have RS232 serial cables and are simple to program in C. Psion idiotically left the market, despite having the best devices and OS overall. The zaurus is linux, with a wealth of terminal clients just waiting to be recompiled for ARM. Minicom is already on it and I can personally attest it works fine. Sharp's own serial cable is annoyingly bulky, though, and restricts the keyboard unnecessarily. The zaurus also has a CF slot, and thus, if you have a custom interface, it's easy enough to kludge into it even if you have to write the device driver from scratch in C (easier + usually less legally frought* than writing the equivalent device driver for wince).
* remember, the GPL is copyright-based only matters if you redistribute sources - the MS license is contract law and applies even if you don't.
Re:Zaurus? (Score:2)
And Symbol [symbol.com] still use Palm OS in their PDA's.
You might want to look at Satellite Forms Mobile App Designer [pumatech.com] from Pumatech Inc. We provides a RAD tool for Palm and PocketPC. Several users have built extensions for it to read/write to the serial port.
Disclaimer: I work for Pumatech...
Re:Zaurus? (Score:1)
Still, good background links of what else is out there for people looking for similar things.
Easiest way... (Score:2, Interesting)
Microsoft has a mobile SDK that makes it trivial to write apps. Its basically just a bunch of widgets, like regular VB.
I downloaded the SDK and had an app written and installed in less than a half hour.
Since you know C, you should be able to pickup on VB in about, oh say, 15 minutes.
It is a trivial language, but it is the right tool to use for the job.
I'd bet there are already dlls out there for any low level stuff you want to do.
With the SDK, you can probably just drag and drop them onto your forms, do a little code behind and your done.
Re:Easiest way... (Score:2, Interesting)
PocketPC SDK [microsoft.com]
Re:Easiest way... (Score:2, Insightful)
Also included is embedded Visual C++, which I suggest you look at instead if you have any Win32 experience at all.
Re:Easiest way... (Score:2)
Close... (Score:1)
At $25 with a Win interface, maybe it's the ticket.
TeraTerm (Score:3, Informative)
TeraTerm [vector.co.jp] is a darned fine open source serial/telnet program for Windows. It's supposedly been ported to WinCE [vector.co.jp], though it seems there hasn't been any development in the past couple years. Might still be worth checking out, though.
Re:TeraTerm (Score:2)
I'd personally love to get my pocket PC (iPaq) running terminal software with a serial cable as it would be damned useful for use in our computer rooms where a server doesn't have a terminal already.
Familiar Linux (Score:1)