Packet Radio w/ PICS

[YNos]

anyone have any ideas on how to make a pic<or basic stamp> based terminal w/ a small lcd type screen, a KB and something like this all intigrated into a package?.....
i laid awake last night thinking about how i dont want to take my laptop w/ me unless i have too.... some small terminal that can do basic vt100 terminal emulation intigrated along with that cool little tnc into a KB, or as a box that the KB and radio plug into would be cool, and i wouldent have to be so paranoid about losing, breaking teh lappy. anyone w/ some knowlege of the working of PICs or BASIC stamps would be appriciated. i am learning slowly. am a first year student and trying to get a little lead on the other students by doing some hardware work.
TIA,
Craig

 

[AbsolutDealage]

I think this project may be a little ambitious for a first year project. If you wanted to get started, I would look into building a part of this system. Choosing the easier path, I would probably build a box with a small LCD and set it up to just accept keyboard input and directly display it on the LCD. From there you could move up to a small menu system, etc.

If you are still going after that fiasco, you could probably try a wired vt100 emulation across serial. That would be the meat of the project. Anyways, you also need background in amatuer radio (or at least research it for a good while). Anyway, if you have all those pieces together, you could try and get radio working with this.

BTW, this may not be as portable as you might think, you are going to need substantial power to have good enough radio transmission to sustain this connection over any sort of distance.

I would be more specific here, but part of a project like this is doing the research / development on your own. Just try to look at it incrementally. If you have specific questions you can post them here and we will try to help you out.

Edit: U have a cute baby

 

[YNos]

i have been a ham since 97. i am kc8ijq. looking to do a little packet on the road.......... i am in the process of building the tnc now.
the terminal is where i will be running into problems.
edit:
i run packet from my desk at work during lunch.....power isnt nessisary, i am running w/ my crappy little icom HT.

 

[YNos]

well, i guess vt100 wouldent be nessisary, not many of the bbs's out there use it. however having the text scroll down from the top would be a nice thing....would that be something hard to accomplish?<i am looking at google as i type.>hmmmm....a matrix orbital like this would fit the bill? wonder if this would do it...


edited for spelling

 

[YNos]

well, i've got the tnc almost build, just have to write the PIC.....now i just need a small term....
sorry if i came off as an @$$ before....it wasnt intentional....
73
Y Nos

 

[ScottMac]

As an alternative, maybe find an old Toshiba 50, a pda, or palmtop that'll do basic TermEm / VT100/52/ANSI.

They're likely to be as small as whatever you could build (at least first gen), and would be a good proof-of-concept.

Next Step gonna be a DSP? I have a first gen PK2232: it's a great concept, and probably saved a little money on not having to buy a new TNC when new modems were introduced.

I renewed my license in '02, but I haven't been on (moved to a townhome, still working on the antennas).

Good Luck / 73

Scott
WV9A

 

[YNos]

ehhh, good idea, but am looking for a project and a challenge, one of those little pc's would make it too easy..
<not to mention boot time....i am liking the fact that i can fire it up and it is good to go as soon as the screen wakes up>
this would also be a nice little setup to play w/ aprs......maybe.....if i had a gps anyway...