TEST POINTS -- USA-special edition, September,2000 -- Europe-edition, Oct./Nov.2000
PUT AN INSTRUMENT IN YOUR PALM,
By Jon Titus, Editorial Director, Test&Measurement World
When IBM introduced its first PC in 1981, it did a smart thing. It provided information about the computer's bus and its software, so almost anyone with some software or electronics experience could produce add-in cards or software for the computer. If IBM had offered a proprietary bus and had hidden the workings of its software, its PC would have been a footnote in history. Instead, the IBM PC became the starting point for many innovative designs.
Another type of small computer lurks, ready to tackle instrumentation tasks. It comes with a built-in display, a touch screen, I/O connection, easy connection to a PC, and an IrDA port. Surprise, it's the computer in all those portable digital assistants, or PDAs, that many of us rely on to store information. Most users wouldn't think of a PDA as an instrument controller, but most IBM PC users didn't think of their word processors as instrument controllers, either.
Recently I bought a Handspring Visor PDA. The Visor runs the Palm operating system (Palm OS), and it comes with an open slot for Springboard modules. I'm intrigued by the possibilities of that open connector. Various companies already offer memory-expansion, modem, game, and camera Springboard modules. Data-acquisition and I/O modules won't be far behind. If you prefer the original Palm PDAs, now you can buy data-acquisition add-ons from Datastick (
http://www.datastick.com)The specs for the Pam OS and for the I/O connections on these PDAs are open, and you can download them from the Palm OS Web site (www.palm.com). No, you won't have to code in assembly language. You can use freeware tools such as GNU, or buy the Code Warrior C/C++ compiler package from Metrowerks for a few hundred dollars. (
http://www.metrowerks.com) And you can even find a version of Forth for Palm OS (http://www.quartus.net)Granted, a Palm Pilot won't control high-speed ATE, but it might suit many portable instrumentation needs. How about a basic DMM module, or a simple logic-analyzer module? Yes, screen sizes are small, and you may dislike using graffiti lettering for data entry, but improvements are coming and accessories such as full-size keyboards are here now, Just remember, IBM PC came with only with a monochrome monitor that displayed simple character-based graphics. Not much potential there, right? ----
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