Serial ports should be able to handle at least +/-12 volts, and since the palm pilots I've used run off 2 AAA batteries, the best it should be able to do directly is 3 volts. There may be circuitry in the cradle to increase this, but the serial ports should be protected from any serious voltages if they are designed properly.
RS232 was originally designed to run using signals operating at -12 and +12 volts, and must handle noise occurring at hiher voltages. Most current serial ports will work reliably using signal going from 0 to 3 volts, but they still must handle the +/-12 volt transitions. It also needs to be able to handle static because serial ports can be plugged in/out without powering down the system.
The only thing that I can think of that should be able to damage the processor board would be a very badly designed serial port (which would make the problem the fault of the serial port designer), or a massive ground loop (would require the palm pilot to be plugged into a power plug on a seperate circuit from the PC using a badly designed wall wort, and would likely destroy the palm pilot too).
The only times I've ever seen damage to serial ports has been due to lightning (which is impressive), or some serious voltages shorted onto the cable (direct short to power line).
He was the earliest door to door salesman, carrying his sample pack. Interrupted someones dinner, and thwack, problem solved for several thousand years.
Now, if arrows would work through a phone line...
I usually prefer to have the printed version of the technical books like this, but find it is impossible to carry around all of my favorite volumns.
Being able to carry around a couple of CD's (stuffed into a pocket on my laptop case) with many books stored on them lets me carry around a large portion of my technical library wherever I go.
That way, I can look up details on something I remember reading without having to make a trip back to the office.
And the added ability to search for specific text strings lets me find things again when I don't remember exactly where they were.
Hopefully, more publishers will be supplying machine readable versions of their books (even if they are only pasted into the back of that book).
256 words (not bytes) of 12-bit memory wouldn't work well on a PDP-11, which didn't exist in the 60's, and was a 16 bit machine.
You are probably thinking of the PDP-8 which did exist, and was a 12 bit machine.
I don't know if they ever shipped it with only 256 words of memory though, so it may belong to an even earlier machine.
I'd like to see what gets developed when these kits get out there. Putting the technology available in Linux in a small box, especially if it includes a network port, is going to generate some interesting applications.
You will see dedicated slashdot viewers shortly after the release.
You will be able to watch DVD's on your PC while scanning the internet on your TV.
Slashdot Mirror
Serial ports should be able to handle at least +/-12 volts, and since the palm pilots I've used run off 2 AAA batteries, the best it should be able to do directly is 3 volts. There may be circuitry in the cradle to increase this, but the serial ports should be protected from any serious voltages if they are designed properly. RS232 was originally designed to run using signals operating at -12 and +12 volts, and must handle noise occurring at hiher voltages. Most current serial ports will work reliably using signal going from 0 to 3 volts, but they still must handle the +/-12 volt transitions. It also needs to be able to handle static because serial ports can be plugged in/out without powering down the system. The only thing that I can think of that should be able to damage the processor board would be a very badly designed serial port (which would make the problem the fault of the serial port designer), or a massive ground loop (would require the palm pilot to be plugged into a power plug on a seperate circuit from the PC using a badly designed wall wort, and would likely destroy the palm pilot too). The only times I've ever seen damage to serial ports has been due to lightning (which is impressive), or some serious voltages shorted onto the cable (direct short to power line).
He was the earliest door to door salesman, carrying his sample pack. Interrupted someones dinner, and thwack, problem solved for several thousand years. Now, if arrows would work through a phone line...
I usually prefer to have the printed version of the technical books like this, but find it is impossible to carry around all of my favorite volumns. Being able to carry around a couple of CD's (stuffed into a pocket on my laptop case) with many books stored on them lets me carry around a large portion of my technical library wherever I go. That way, I can look up details on something I remember reading without having to make a trip back to the office. And the added ability to search for specific text strings lets me find things again when I don't remember exactly where they were. Hopefully, more publishers will be supplying machine readable versions of their books (even if they are only pasted into the back of that book).
256 words (not bytes) of 12-bit memory wouldn't work well on a PDP-11, which didn't exist in the 60's, and was a 16 bit machine. You are probably thinking of the PDP-8 which did exist, and was a 12 bit machine. I don't know if they ever shipped it with only 256 words of memory though, so it may belong to an even earlier machine.
I'd like to see what gets developed when these kits get out there. Putting the technology available in Linux in a small box, especially if it includes a network port, is going to generate some interesting applications. You will see dedicated slashdot viewers shortly after the release. You will be able to watch DVD's on your PC while scanning the internet on your TV.