PDA's in flight

[Brad[_2_]]

Anyone else running XC flight software on a PDA find them to be
sluggish and almost unuseable during a flight? I am using an iPAQ 3850
running XC-Soar, the unit is hooked to a Garmin Map60CS. Sure
everything works, but while in the air, if I push a button or touch
the screen somtimes it takes several seconds for the function to work.
This often leads to stacked commands that eventually cycle thru, but
inevitably end up not on the command I wanted/needed.

Case in point: Mountain XC flight the other
day.....................middle of the Cascades and I am wanting to
look up my alternate airports/LZ's.............it is almost impossible
to get the PDA/software to do this. Instead I just used the GPS, which
has the same data the PDA has.

Is there some setting on the PDA to speed things up? I know there is a
setting to allocate more memory to the programs....could that be
tweaked?

Thanks,
Brad

[Darryl Ramm]

On Jun 13, 7:30*am, Brad > wrote:
> Anyone else running XC flight software on a PDA find them to be
> sluggish and almost unuseable during a flight? I am using an iPAQ 3850
> running XC-Soar, the unit is hooked to a Garmin Map60CS. Sure
> everything works, but while in the air, if I push a button or touch
> the screen somtimes it takes several seconds for the function to work.
> This often leads to stacked commands that eventually cycle thru, but
> inevitably end up not on the command I wanted/needed.
>
> Case in point: Mountain XC flight the other
> day.....................middle of the Cascades and I am wanting to
> look up my alternate airports/LZ's.............it is almost impossible
> to get the PDA/software to do this. Instead I just used the GPS, which
> has the same data the PDA has.
>
> Is there some setting on the PDA to speed things up? I know there is a
> setting to allocate more memory to the programs....could that be
> tweaked?
>
> Thanks,
> Brad

If this is happening in flight when it is cooler it may not be the
issue but you can see this with some PDAs when they get hot and the
touch screen stops being reliable. I solved this with iPAQ 4700 by
using a platinum canopy cap to kepe them cooler before launch.

Sometimes people have stuff running on the PDA without realizing it
and some software has memory leaks etc. One thing you can do is to do
a soft reset (press the reset button the stylus) before your flight,
that seems to also reduce Windows Mobile OS crash/hang related issues.
Being Windows say a prayer each time you do this. I find overall this
is a good idea as it helps improve stability in flight.

Some older PDAs (including yours) may run applications slower from the
SD card than from the internal memory, but the SD card will have the
benefit of not losing memory if the battery goes flat (also not an
issue with the latest Windows Mobile devices running 5,0 or later).

There are memory settings in Windows Mobile in the Settings menu, you
can play with that but it probably won't make much difference.

Darryl

[Mike[_8_]]

Brad,

I am using an iPAQ 3970 with PPC2003.

I found 5.2.2 to be a bit buggy and went back to 5.1.8, although I do
not recall the problem you mentioned.

Are you using PPC2002 in your iPAQ? If so, switching to PPC2003 may
solve your problem. Not sure where you can find the update now though.

Mike



On Jun 13, 8:30*am, Brad > wrote:
> Anyone else running XC flight software on a PDA find them to be
> sluggish and almost unuseable during a flight? I am using an iPAQ 3850
> running XC-Soar, the unit is hooked to a Garmin Map60CS. Sure
> everything works, but while in the air, if I push a button or touch
> the screen somtimes it takes several seconds for the function to work.
> This often leads to stacked commands that eventually cycle thru, but
> inevitably end up not on the command I wanted/needed.
>
> Case in point: Mountain XC flight the other
> day.....................middle of the Cascades and I am wanting to
> look up my alternate airports/LZ's.............it is almost impossible
> to get the PDA/software to do this. Instead I just used the GPS, which
> has the same data the PDA has.
>
> Is there some setting on the PDA to speed things up? I know there is a
> setting to allocate more memory to the programs....could that be
> tweaked?
>
> Thanks,
> Brad

[Brad[_2_]]

On Jun 13, 8:48*am, Mike > wrote:
> Brad,
>
> I am using an iPAQ 3970 with PPC2003.
>
> I found 5.2.2 to be a bit buggy and went back to 5.1.8, although I do
> not recall the problem you mentioned.
>
> Are you using PPC2002 in your iPAQ? If so, switching to PPC2003 may
> solve your problem. Not sure where you can find the update now though.
>
> Mike
>
> On Jun 13, 8:30*am, Brad > wrote:
>
>
>
> > Anyone else running XC flight software on a PDA find them to be
> > sluggish and almost unuseable during a flight? I am using an iPAQ 3850
> > running XC-Soar, the unit is hooked to a Garmin Map60CS. Sure
> > everything works, but while in the air, if I push a button or touch
> > the screen somtimes it takes several seconds for the function to work.
> > This often leads to stacked commands that eventually cycle thru, but
> > inevitably end up not on the command I wanted/needed.
>
> > Case in point: Mountain XC flight the other
> > day.....................middle of the Cascades and I am wanting to
> > look up my alternate airports/LZ's.............it is almost impossible
> > to get the PDA/software to do this. Instead I just used the GPS, which
> > has the same data the PDA has.
>
> > Is there some setting on the PDA to speed things up? I know there is a
> > setting to allocate more memory to the programs....could that be
> > tweaked?
>
> > Thanks,
> > Brad

I am using PPC2002, the PPC 2003 does not show up as an executable
when I load it onto my iPAQ. I've tried a few times but I get an error
message that says it is not a windows program.

I still have 5.1.8 loaded and copied and pasted the prf file I created
for 5.2.3b5 into the folder for 5.1.8, so far on the bench it looks
like it's working ok. I'll see if I can take a flight today and check
it out.

Thanks guys,
Brad

[Darryl Ramm]

On Jun 13, 9:24*am, Brad > wrote:
> On Jun 13, 8:48*am, Mike > wrote:
>
>
>
> > Brad,
>
> > I am using an iPAQ 3970 with PPC2003.
>
> > I found 5.2.2 to be a bit buggy and went back to 5.1.8, although I do
> > not recall the problem you mentioned.
>
> > Are you using PPC2002 in your iPAQ? If so, switching to PPC2003 may
> > solve your problem. Not sure where you can find the update now though.
>
> > Mike
>
> > On Jun 13, 8:30*am, Brad > wrote:
>
> > > Anyone else running XC flight software on a PDA find them to be
> > > sluggish and almost unuseable during a flight? I am using an iPAQ 3850
> > > running XC-Soar, the unit is hooked to a Garmin Map60CS. Sure
> > > everything works, but while in the air, if I push a button or touch
> > > the screen somtimes it takes several seconds for the function to work..
> > > This often leads to stacked commands that eventually cycle thru, but
> > > inevitably end up not on the command I wanted/needed.
>
> > > Case in point: Mountain XC flight the other
> > > day.....................middle of the Cascades and I am wanting to
> > > look up my alternate airports/LZ's.............it is almost impossible
> > > to get the PDA/software to do this. Instead I just used the GPS, which
> > > has the same data the PDA has.
>
> > > Is there some setting on the PDA to speed things up? I know there is a
> > > setting to allocate more memory to the programs....could that be
> > > tweaked?
>
> > > Thanks,
> > > Brad
>
> I am using PPC2002, the PPC 2003 does not show up as an executable
> when I load it onto my iPAQ. I've tried a few times but I get an error
> message that says it is not a windows program.
>
> I still have 5.1.8 loaded and copied and pasted the prf file I created
> for 5.2.3b5 into the folder for 5.1.8, so far on the bench it looks
> like it's working ok. I'll see if I can take a flight today and check
> it out.
>
> Thanks guys,
> Brad

Brad

Mike meant install the Windows Mobile 2003 operating system on your
PDA not a program binary for Windows 2003.
You have to follow exactly the upgrade procedures that should be with
the copy of Windows Mobile 2003.
You will have to Google to find the update software. But I'm not
convinced this is worth the effort/risk.

Darryl


Darryl

[Brad[_2_]]

On Jun 13, 10:22*am, Darryl Ramm > wrote:
> On Jun 13, 9:24*am, Brad > wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Jun 13, 8:48*am, Mike > wrote:
>
> > > Brad,
>
> > > I am using an iPAQ 3970 with PPC2003.
>
> > > I found 5.2.2 to be a bit buggy and went back to 5.1.8, although I do
> > > not recall the problem you mentioned.
>
> > > Are you using PPC2002 in your iPAQ? If so, switching to PPC2003 may
> > > solve your problem. Not sure where you can find the update now though..
>
> > > Mike
>
> > > On Jun 13, 8:30*am, Brad > wrote:
>
> > > > Anyone else running XC flight software on a PDA find them to be
> > > > sluggish and almost unuseable during a flight? I am using an iPAQ 3850
> > > > running XC-Soar, the unit is hooked to a Garmin Map60CS. Sure
> > > > everything works, but while in the air, if I push a button or touch
> > > > the screen somtimes it takes several seconds for the function to work.
> > > > This often leads to stacked commands that eventually cycle thru, but
> > > > inevitably end up not on the command I wanted/needed.
>
> > > > Case in point: Mountain XC flight the other
> > > > day.....................middle of the Cascades and I am wanting to
> > > > look up my alternate airports/LZ's.............it is almost impossible
> > > > to get the PDA/software to do this. Instead I just used the GPS, which
> > > > has the same data the PDA has.
>
> > > > Is there some setting on the PDA to speed things up? I know there is a
> > > > setting to allocate more memory to the programs....could that be
> > > > tweaked?
>
> > > > Thanks,
> > > > Brad
>
> > I am using PPC2002, the PPC 2003 does not show up as an executable
> > when I load it onto my iPAQ. I've tried a few times but I get an error
> > message that says it is not a windows program.
>
> > I still have 5.1.8 loaded and copied and pasted the prf file I created
> > for 5.2.3b5 into the folder for 5.1.8, so far on the bench it looks
> > like it's working ok. I'll see if I can take a flight today and check
> > it out.
>
> > Thanks guys,
> > Brad
>
> Brad
>
> Mike meant install the Windows Mobile 2003 operating system on your
> PDA not a program binary for Windows 2003.
> You have to follow exactly the upgrade procedures that should be with
> the copy of Windows Mobile 2003.
> You will have to Google to find the update software. But I'm not
> convinced this is worth the effort/risk.
>
> Darryl
>
> Darryl

Darryl,

Ah, ok.............no, I don't know enough about this stuff to attempt
to mess with an upgrade. What I am going to do is try flying with the
older version of XC soar and see how that works. Overall, I am really
happy with the program, but do wish it would work flawlessly.........a
guy can wish right.:)

BTW...I am on the XS soar e-mail list, but apparently it was hacked
last week and some of the members e-mails were being used as spammers.

Brad

[John Scott[_2_]]

I had a PDA mounted on the dash of my car that exhibited extreme slowness.
I finally discovered it was due to the IR port trying to communicate with
the sun. I tried to turn it off in the software, but ultimately covered
over the port on the top of the PDA with a small piece of black electrical
tape. Problem solved. I initially discovered this was the problem when I
threw my hat over the unit in disgust and discovered that the perforance
immediatly recovered.

You can usually see the port flashig if you point it at a webcam and look at
the resulting video on your computer screen. The webcam sensors are usually
sensitive to IR.

John

[Paul Remde]

Hi,

The IR port may very well be the problem. The PDA may think that the sun is
another PDA trying to talk to it through the IR port. I show how to disable
the IR port in training video #6 of my Pocket PC training. You can see it
here:
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/training.htm#TrainingCD-PPC

Best Regards,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.

"John Scott" > wrote in message
.. .
>I had a PDA mounted on the dash of my car that exhibited extreme slowness.
>I finally discovered it was due to the IR port trying to communicate with
>the sun. I tried to turn it off in the software, but ultimately covered
>over the port on the top of the PDA with a small piece of black electrical
>tape. Problem solved. I initially discovered this was the problem when I
>threw my hat over the unit in disgust and discovered that the perforance
>immediatly recovered.
>
> You can usually see the port flashig if you point it at a webcam and look
> at the resulting video on your computer screen. The webcam sensors are
> usually sensitive to IR.
>
> John
>
>

[Brad[_2_]]

On Jun 13, 5:55*pm, "Paul Remde" > wrote:
> Hi,
>
> The IR port may very well be the problem. *The PDA may think that the sun is
> another PDA trying to talk to it through the IR port. *I show how to disable
> the IR port in training video #6 of my Pocket PC training. *You can see it
> here:http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/training.htm#TrainingCD-PPC
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Paul Remde
> Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
>
> "John Scott" > wrote in message
>
> .. .
>
>
>
> >I had a PDA mounted on the dash of my car that exhibited extreme slowness.
> >I finally discovered it was due to the IR port trying to communicate with
> >the sun. *I tried to turn it off in the software, but ultimately covered
> >over the port on the top of the PDA with a small piece of *black electrical
> >tape. Problem solved. I initially discovered this was the problem when I
> >threw my hat over the unit in disgust and discovered that the perforance
> >immediatly recovered.
>
> > You can usually see the port flashig if you point it at a webcam and look
> > at the resulting video on your computer screen. The webcam sensors are
> > usually sensitive to IR.
>
> > John

Hi Paul,

thanks for the video tip, I've turned off the beam function and will
let you all know what I discover next time I fly.

Cheers,
Brad

[Brian[_1_]]

On Jun 13, 9:48*am, Mike > wrote:
> Brad,
>
> I am using an iPAQ 3970 with PPC2003.
>
> I found 5.2.2 to be a bit buggy and went back to 5.1.8, although I do
> not recall the problem you mentioned.
>
> Are you using PPC2002 in your iPAQ? If so, switching to PPC2003 may
> solve your problem. Not sure where you can find the update now though.
>
> Mike
>
> On Jun 13, 8:30*am, Brad > wrote:
>
> > Anyone else running XC flight software on a PDA find them to be
> > sluggish and almost unuseable during a flight? I am using an iPAQ 3850
> > running XC-Soar, the unit is hooked to a Garmin Map60CS. Sure
> > everything works, but while in the air, if I push a button or touch
> > the screen somtimes it takes several seconds for the function to work.
> > This often leads to stacked commands that eventually cycle thru, but
> > inevitably end up not on the command I wanted/needed.
>
> > Case in point: Mountain XC flight the other
> > day.....................middle of the Cascades and I am wanting to
> > look up my alternate airports/LZ's.............it is almost impossible
> > to get the PDA/software to do this. Instead I just used the GPS, which
> > has the same data the PDA has.
>
> > Is there some setting on the PDA to speed things up? I know there is a
> > setting to allocate more memory to the programs....could that be
> > tweaked?
>
> > Thanks,
> > Brad

After have 5.2.2 just shut down, but still locks the Serial port
requiring me to do a hard reset on the PDA. I went back to 5.1.8 as
well.

Brian
HP16T N16VP

[Andy[_9_]]

On Jun 13, 7:17*pm, Brad > wrote:
> On Jun 13, 5:55*pm, "Paul Remde" > wrote:
>
>
>
> > Hi,
>
> > The IR port may very well be the problem. *The PDA may think that the sun is
> > another PDA trying to talk to it through the IR port. *I show how to disable
> > the IR port in training video #6 of my Pocket PC training. *You can see it
> > here:http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/training.htm#TrainingCD-PPC
>
> > Best Regards,
>
> > Paul Remde
> > Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
>
> > "John Scott" > wrote in message
>
> .. .
>
> > >I had a PDA mounted on the dash of my car that exhibited extreme slowness.
> > >I finally discovered it was due to the IR port trying to communicate with
> > >the sun. *I tried to turn it off in the software, but ultimately covered
> > >over the port on the top of the PDA with a small piece of *black electrical
> > >tape. Problem solved. I initially discovered this was the problem when I
> > >threw my hat over the unit in disgust and discovered that the perforance
> > >immediatly recovered.
>
> > > You can usually see the port flashig if you point it at a webcam and look
> > > at the resulting video on your computer screen. The webcam sensors are
> > > usually sensitive to IR.
>
> > > John
>
> Hi Paul,
>
> thanks for the video tip, I've turned off the beam function and will
> let you all know what I discover next time I fly.
>
> Cheers,
> Brad

Please don't issue any stop commands while it's communicating with the
sun.

9B

[Adrian Jansen]

Andy wrote:
> On Jun 13, 7:17 pm, Brad > wrote:
>> On Jun 13, 5:55 pm, "Paul Remde" > wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> Hi,
>>> The IR port may very well be the problem. The PDA may think that the sun is
>>> another PDA trying to talk to it through the IR port. I show how to disable
>>> the IR port in training video #6 of my Pocket PC training. You can see it
>>> here:http://www.cumulus-soaring.com/training.htm#TrainingCD-PPC
>>> Best Regards,
>>> Paul Remde
>>> Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
>>> "John Scott" > wrote in message
>>> .. .
>>>> I had a PDA mounted on the dash of my car that exhibited extreme slowness.
>>>> I finally discovered it was due to the IR port trying to communicate with
>>>> the sun. I tried to turn it off in the software, but ultimately covered
>>>> over the port on the top of the PDA with a small piece of black electrical
>>>> tape. Problem solved. I initially discovered this was the problem when I
>>>> threw my hat over the unit in disgust and discovered that the perforance
>>>> immediatly recovered.
>>>> You can usually see the port flashig if you point it at a webcam and look
>>>> at the resulting video on your computer screen. The webcam sensors are
>>>> usually sensitive to IR.
>>>> John
>> Hi Paul,
>>
>> thanks for the video tip, I've turned off the beam function and will
>> let you all know what I discover next time I fly.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Brad
>
> Please don't issue any stop commands while it's communicating with the
> sun.
>
> 9B
On the other hand, maybe a "Slow down" command would fix the global
warming problem. :-)


--
Regards,

Adrian Jansen adrianjansen at internode dot on dot net
Design Engineer J & K Micro Systems
Microcomputer solutions for industrial control
Note reply address is invalid, convert address above to machine form.

[Sarah[_2_]]

Funny! On the other hand, if it does succeed in communicating with
the sun please post the resulting conversation. It would be ...
fascinating.

;|


>
> Please don't issue any stop commands while it's communicating with the
> sun.
>
> 9B

[Brad[_2_]]

On Jun 13, 9:39*pm, Brian > wrote:
> On Jun 13, 9:48*am, Mike > wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > Brad,
>
> > I am using an iPAQ 3970 with PPC2003.
>
> > I found 5.2.2 to be a bit buggy and went back to 5.1.8, although I do
> > not recall the problem you mentioned.
>
> > Are you using PPC2002 in your iPAQ? If so, switching to PPC2003 may
> > solve your problem. Not sure where you can find the update now though.
>
> > Mike
>
> > On Jun 13, 8:30*am, Brad > wrote:
>
> > > Anyone else running XC flight software on a PDA find them to be
> > > sluggish and almost unuseable during a flight? I am using an iPAQ 3850
> > > running XC-Soar, the unit is hooked to a Garmin Map60CS. Sure
> > > everything works, but while in the air, if I push a button or touch
> > > the screen somtimes it takes several seconds for the function to work..
> > > This often leads to stacked commands that eventually cycle thru, but
> > > inevitably end up not on the command I wanted/needed.
>
> > > Case in point: Mountain XC flight the other
> > > day.....................middle of the Cascades and I am wanting to
> > > look up my alternate airports/LZ's.............it is almost impossible
> > > to get the PDA/software to do this. Instead I just used the GPS, which
> > > has the same data the PDA has.
>
> > > Is there some setting on the PDA to speed things up? I know there is a
> > > setting to allocate more memory to the programs....could that be
> > > tweaked?
>
> > > Thanks,
> > > Brad
>
> After have 5.2.2 just shut down, but still locks the Serial port
> requiring me to do a hard reset on the PDA. I went back to 5.1.8 as
> well.
>
> Brian
> HP16T N16VP

Got a chance to fly yesterday after turning off the receive beams
function on my PDA. I think that solved the problem!

Thanks,
Brad

[D-0681]

Sarah schrieb:
> Funny! On the other hand, if it does succeed in communicating with
> the sun please post the resulting conversation. It would be ...
> fascinating.
>
> ;|
>
>
>> Please don't issue any stop commands while it's communicating with the
>> sun.
>>
>> 9B
>
use some tape to cover the IR-Port