Pocket PC drivers now available for UE9

[LabJack Support]

We now have Pocket PC PDA drivers/examples available for either USB or Ethernet on the LabJack UE9. These have been tested on Pocket PC 2002 and 2003. Go to the UE9 downloads page:

http://www.labjack.com/labjack_ue9_downloads.php

[-LL-]

Hi,

Will Pocket PC PDA drivers be available for U3?
If yes then:
When will it be available?
Will it be compatible with Pocket PC 2002?
What hardware will it support (I saw a Toshiba PDA on a picture)?

/Lars L

[LabJack Support]

Yes, we are adapting the UE9 PPC drivers over to the U3. Should be available any time. Perhaps a week. Following is the information from the current PPC download readme file, which will be basically the same when we add the U3.

Key points:

-PPC 2002 and 2003 supported.

-PDA must have a USB host. Most PDAs do not have a USB host built-in, but there are CF cards available that might work with most PDAs.

-Driver provides access and examples to low-level device functions, not the UD driver functions.

-The included applications are pretty simple. The PPC download is not meant to provide complete applications, is more like an API or SDK that can be used to develop applications.

Low-level UE9 USB driver and C# Examples for Pocket PC 2002 and 2003
September 26, 2005
support@labjack.com


This package contains USB driver for the UE9 and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET
example projects (written in C#) for calling low-level UE9 functions over a USB
connection using the USB driver.  Your Pocket PC device will need a USB host for
the driver and examples to work.  Many Pocket PC devices come with a USB device
port that is used only for connecting your Pocket PC to your computer, and do
not have a built-in USB host.  If your device does not have a USB host, you can
use a Compact Flash USB host.  Two known Compact Flash USB hosts are the RATOC
CFU1U (http://www.ratocsystems.com) and the SolarExpress PDA CF Card
(http://www.twin-paradox.com).  The SolarExpress PDA CF Card is not available
yet, but should be released by the end of 2005.  Neither of the mentioned
Compact Flash USB hosts have been tested with the driver.

Here is a list of Pocket PCs known to us that have a built in USB host:
-Acer N30, N50
-Asus MyPal A730, A730W
-Casio Cassiopeia E-200
-Fujitsu-Siemens Pocket Loox 710, 718, 720
-NEC MobilePro P300 (tested)
-Toshiba e330, e335, e350, e355, e400, e405, e740, e750 (tested), e755, e800,
e805, e830

Note that some USB ports (particularly PDA USB ports), might be limited to
100 mA of output current, and that the LabJack UE9 generally draws a little
more than 100 mA.  We have tested without problems on the e750 and P300
drawing all power from the USB, but technically you should connect the
wall-wart power supply to the UE9 so that it supplies power rather than
the USB cable.

Contents of this package:

The drivers folder contains the following:
-The USB driver (labjackusb.dll) and library file.  These files are in the
folder name of the processor they were compiled for, such as ARM.
-Header file for the driver.
-The Install.txt file, which gives instructions on installing the driver.
   
The examples folder contains the following:
-Six example projects, which are ue9CommConfigUSB, ue9ControlConfigUSB,
ue9FeedbackUSB, ue9SingleIOUSB, ue9StreamUSB and ue9TimerCounterUSB.  The file
ue9.cs in each project contains a class for opening and closing a USB
connection, calculating checksums, getting analog calibration information, and
more.  The file error.cs in each project contains a class that converts error
code numbers to error code strings.
For all the example applications, which are compiled from the example projects,
the low-level functions are called when the "Run" button is tapped in the
application.  The ue9FeedbackUSB application is the only application that does
not use a "Run" button.  It calls the Feedback function continually in one
second intervals until the application is closed.  The first UE9 device found
is used.
-The executable ue9PocketPCUSBExamples.exe, which installs the example project
applications to a Pocket PC.  The default installation directory on your Pocket
PC is \Program Files\LabJack\UE9\USB. This does not install the driver.

Note that ARM driver and applications were tested on a NEC MobilePro P300 with
Pocket PC 2002 and a Toshiba Pocket PC e750 with Pocket PC 2003.


Installation order:

-First, make sure that Microsoft ActiveSync is installed on both your computer
and Pocket PC.  This is needed to install both the driver and example project
applications.
-Second, install Microsoft .NET Compact Framework onto your Pocket PC.  The
example project applications require this to be installed.  This should
already be installed if you have a Pocket PC 2003.  The .Net Compact Framework
can be downloaded from Microsoft at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads.  You
can either search for "compact framework", or look in the mobile devices
category for the download.  As of this writing, the .NET Compact Framework
1.0 SP3 Redistributable is the download you want.   
-Third, install the driver.  Instructions for installing the driver
(Install.txt) are in the drivers folder.
-Fourth, install the example project applications by running the
ue9PocketPCUSBExamples.exe executable in the examples folder.  The executable
should be ran on the computer that is connected to your Pocket PC.
-Fifth, test the driver by running the ue9FeedbackUSB application, or any of
the other example project applications.

[LabJack Support]

Pocket PC support for the U3 is now available. See the U3 downloads page.

[-LL-]

Hi,

I downloaded the drivers but I am not sure if any of these is
compatible with Intel PXA 270?

Is there any possibility that these drivers will also run on
Windows Mobile 5.0?

/Lars L

[LabJack Support]

We have done testing with the Intel PXA 255, but not with the PXA 270. Both are ARM processors, so the driver in the ARM folder should work for it.

As for the driver working for Windows Mobile 5.0, I can't give a definite answer since we do not have a Pocket PC with Windows Mobile 5.0 to test with. You could try installing the ARM driver on your Pocket PC if it uses the PXA 270, and then install some of the examples to test if the driver works properly. The Feedback example will be a good test since it is regularly making calls to a LabJack.

[mdtest]

Any changes since April?
Is the U9 compatible with MS Win Mobile 5.0?

What other Pocket PC with USB Hosting have you tested U9 with?

I'm willing to buy the best Pocket PC available that you have tested the U9 with. I want to put the U9 with a Pocket PC to create a compact unmanned logging unit.

Thanks
Mike Duffy
Alpha Oilfield Services

[LabJack Support]

The driver has not been updated or tested with additional Pocket PCs since the latest release in March. As mentioned in an earlier reply, we cannot say whether the current USB driver will work with a Windows Mobile 5.0 device since it has not been tested. So to answer your question about UE9 compatibility on a Windows Mobile 5.0 device, USB compatibility is a maybe, but TCP compatibility is a yes.

We tested the drivers on the following devices: Toshiba e750 and NEC MobilePro P300. Out of the two, I would recommend the Toshiba e750.

[cebrat]

Hello,

I have now bought the acer N50 and want to go productive ASAP with my U12. Unfortunately I realised that drivers for Windows Mobile are only avaliable for the UE9.
May I hope or make a work around? May be I have to buy the U3 additionally?
many thanks

gerfried

[LabJack Support]

I do not know of any reasonable ways to get the U12 working under Pocket PC. I would definitely suggest the U3 or UE9.

[cebrat]

I just checked the U3 spec.- the very problem is that most of my sensors produce a signal 2.5 +/-0.625V. This is beyond the limits of the U3. So I need for it and measuring 12V some circuitry...

I do not know of any reasonable ways to get the U12 working under Pocket PC. I would definitely suggest the U3 or UE9.

[LabJack Support]

The 0-3.6 volt special input range of the U3 should handle that, or you can use the LJTick-Divider.

[cebrat]

Yes I saw this but there is the warning in the manual that the reference voltage is not as stable. I wonder if this configuration is superior to other products like the NI USB 6008 which have a wider input range/flexibility.
http://sine.ni.com/nips/cds/view/p/lang/de/nid/14604

The 0-3.6 volt special input range of the U3 should handle that, or you can use the LJTick-Divider.

[LabJack Support]

You are confusing two different things:

1) With the good 2.44V reference, there is a range available called "Special 0-3.6", which is effectively a single-ended 0-3.6 volt range.

2) With the second analog output (DAC1) enabled, the ADC reference becomes Vreg (3.3 volt regulator), which causes the normal single-ended range to become 0-3.3 volts, but Vreg is not as stable as Vref.

So case #1 should be good for you.



The USB-6008 you referenced is simply a more expensive U12 knock-off. We designed and starting shipping the U12 in 2001, while the NI device came out in 2005. In fact, the USB-6008 looks like a copy of a copy (from MCC), rather than a copy of our original U12:

http://www.labjack.com/minilab1008.php

The analog input section on the USB-6008 is copied almost (if not) exactly from the U12, and thus has the same drawbacks that we have moved away from. Here are a few:

1) Medium input impedance, with bias currents that are not zero at zero volts.

2) Gains only available on differential channels.

3) Error is different on every channel, as every channel has its own signal conditioning resistors.

4) The size of the signal conditioning resistors is limited by what can be put in front of the ADC (leading to #1 above). In fact, the resistors they are using with the USB-6009 (14-bit version) are too big, and according to Texas Instruments the converter does not settle properly with these resistors. Calibration could attempt to compensate for this, but would likely lead to very board performance with temperature changes.


The U3 does not use these level shifting resistors, and thus provides much higher input impedance. Every channel reads identical on the U3. Some other general observations:

-Device is $159, compared to $99 for the U3.

-Device appears to be slower than the U3, although their datasheet has pretty limited information.

-U3 has 2 counters.

-U3 has 2 flexible timers.

-Analog outputs look better on device.

-We support lots of languages and operating systems. We have had feedback from customers that the NI knock-offs are difficult to use in anything besides LabVIEW.

-We include DAQFactory Express (www.azeotech.com) with every LabJack.