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Palm on a Bicycle
jcwise writes: "Want to use your Palm or Handspring as a bike computer? Here are two different products that use completely different approaches. I'm not sure if either are better than a $30 bike computer. With PDA prices falling, it might be a fun hack."
all that's missing is a little meter that keeps track of how much time you're wasting by building this system.
mp3s by me
I had this back in 1999. There's a shareware program that does all this and simply connects to a el-cheapo bike "puter" and uses it's reed switch as the pulse input on the rs232 port.
it was nice, graphs, averages, etc... it just sucked down batteries like mad. but it was a great addition to my recumbent trike.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
So, you're riding along, and you're like, shoot, where am I going agian? So you whip out that handy stylus for that PDA, and you start writing. Pretty soon, you realize that you've let go of your handle bars, and run into one of those light posts that keep intruding where you bike.
is to get the magellan GPS unit. You get speed, plus you can create a log of your actual route. Absolute altitude is terrible on all GPS units, but you may be able to a pretty good slope reading. THe unit sends normal NMEA strings over a serial connection, so it's relatively trivial to write software for.
Magellan receivers lock on fast, and the handpring/magellan handspring module makes a nice, clean combination (relatively compact as a system, no external cables).
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
I saw the movie Collateral Damage last night -- The Arnold S. movie about a fireman seeking vengeance on a Columbian terrorist that was postponed for obvious reasons.
One scene near the end has the villian using a Palm IIIc (IIRC) with map software to navigate the tunnels beneath some capital building. He had it hooked up to his motorcycle, and presumably with a gps, as it was showing him where he was in real time.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
With PDA prices falling, it might be a fun hack."
It's not much of a hack if someone's done it before you and gave you instructions on how to do it yourself.
I don't know if it's my non-typical slashdot lifestyle, but I use my bike as my primary means of transportation. I live in Brooklyn, but affairs call me into the city nearly every day, so I end up biking about 6 to 12 miles 5 days a week. This would be a great secondary (albeit fringe) application for a handheld.
As for the breakage issue, I've been riding in Manhattan traffic for over 2 years now, and I've only had one accident so far. I've broken a lot more things by just dropping my backpack than I have wrecking my bike.
Finally, I think this could be the tool for messengers. I've done a bit of it and my roomate paid rent for a while pulling tags. The difference between a successful and unsuccessful bike messenger is not speed, its knowing where you're going and knowing how to get around the inside of buildings you make deliveries to. This would make a great on-board asset for professional messengers as it would allow them to share routes, both on the street and in buildings.
Think ahead a few years and a wireless connection would let dispatch download the next pickup or drop directly to the messenger's onboard computer. It would make them work a lot more like UPS or fedex.
Howard Dean for president
Tape the PDA to your spokes for that cool noise effect.
"And like that
Yeah right, like I'm going to put a fragile $300 PalmPilot onmy mountain bike when I go terrorizing up and down trails and downtown urban rides.
There's really no use for this stuff, as there are bike computers that are more versatile than this which are cheaper and better integrated with the bike.
Take for example Shimano's excellent Flight Deck technology, which integrates with their higher-level drivetrain components (XT, XTR, Ultegra, and Dura-Ace).
Don't ride Shimano? No problem! CatEye makes excellent bike computers as well!
Another major consideration would be weight. Most PalmPilots weigh about 1/2 a pound (200g). That's a huge weight penalty, especially considering most people do everything they can to lighten their bikes.
Moral of story: good attempt, but bad idea. I'll stick with my Flight Deck.
A better hack would be to make my $30 bike computer store my address book and calendar...
As a cyclist, allow me to cluebat you in.
A bike computer is a small (or, in this case, not-so-small) device attached to the handlebars of your trusty steed. The cheaper computers only track speed, distance, and trip time; and the more expensive computers (when mated with the appropriate components[1]) can track altitute, position, and even cadence -- the last of these being vital to any moderately serious road cyclist.
So; almost all bikes nowadays are equipped with computers; the Palm just provides a larger display. Since it can't track cadence, however, it would be useless to pretty much any road cyclist. The fact that Palms don't absorb repedative shock all too well rules mountain biking out. However, the large display size makes a Palm almost ideal for recumbent cyclists.
[1] For example, the Flight Deck computers must be mated with Shimano 105 (or better) components.
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I Hit the Karma Cap, and All I Got Was This Lousy