GPS and OS for PDA

[Miserlou]

Hi technophiles,

I'm trying to justify buying a Qtek 9100 or similar pda.

Can one chenge the operating system like you can with a normal computer+

Can you purchase GPS software which just lpain works or does the pda have to have a gps receiver of some description?

Thanks in advance.

[Background Noise]

Thats a mobile phone too i think isn't it. There are plenty of just PDAs and quite a few PDA/mobiles too. I think they are pretty much stuck with the std operating system but you can get different makes with different OSs. Most of the major satnav software is available for most of the major OSs. You will need a GPS aerial of some sort (unless you get a pda/phone with GPS antenna built-in) which can be wired or bluetooth. If its a phone you're after you should be able to get it free (on an appropriate contract) and then get the aerial and the software. If its just a PDA there are many second hand but you will want to have a memory card slot to store maps etc.

[Joe le Taxi]

I got the HP Ipaq 5935 direct from HP for £268 inc postage.

It has an excellent GPS rx, and works great with Seeyou gliding software, and Fugawi UK OS maps, (once youve worked out which ports to use) Tom Tom europe is included. Battery is fine for an all day walk with the GPS on all the time. Also has Wifi, plus the usual gubbins. Currently my fave gadget.

Unusually for computer hardware, I think since I bought it, the price has gone up.

I tried a couple of non Windows programs, (eg the PDA Firefox) but frankly the windows work better. A downer with this device is that Skype doesn't work on it.

[FlyerFoto]

I got a Fujitsu / Siemens PDA (can't remember tyhe model - Loox 100 or similar) and that has a built-in GPS receiver and has worked fine in every car I've used it in, but haven't tried it airborne yet!

[Joe le Taxi]

I've discovered that the 'fring' PDA interface for Skype bypasses the no doubt intentional bug in the Samsung 32bit processor which was preventing me from getting audio Skype on the HP 5935.