Hi guys, wanted to note that someone has used this method in a GPS hack, see details and video here:

http://partfoundry.com/iphonegps.html

Hi TheRain
Could you confirm your method (strobing the serial ground) is used is this GPS hack ?

Thanks

PS: I will receive my GPS (BR-355 GPS) in 3 days... Don't like to wait... Gggrrrr

Ok, thank you for the precisions :-)

TheRain:

Of course - my small test-source is here:
http://www.termestrup.dk/HelloApplication.m

It's not very pretty - but at least you can see that everything is standard serial io.

Sincerely,
/morten

Thanks Morten,

Yah I upgraded to 1.1.1 today and confirmed that you are correct. Also, Curt has now verified that the trick is not needed for v1.1.2. I have to appologize a little for not testing this to begin with, I've been sticking to 1.0.2. Thanks for bringing this up Morten

To everyone: This trick is not needed for iphones using firmwares 1.1.1 and 1.1.12. Thanks Morten for letting us know.

Originally Posted by TheRain

Hi guys, wanted to note that someone has used this method in a GPS hack, see details and video here:

http://partfoundry.com/iphonegps.html

This looks great to me. Is this works in every country?

Thanks mortenbek and TheRain for clearing up that the "serial ground" toggleing is not needed except for 1.0.x firmware.

Originally Posted by TheRain

Thanks Morten,

Yah I upgraded to 1.1.1 today and confirmed that you are correct. Also, Curt has now verified that the trick is not needed for v1.1.2. I have to appologize a little for not testing this to begin with, I've been sticking to 1.0.2. Thanks for bringing this up Morten

To everyone: This trick is not needed for iphones using firmwares 1.1.1 and 1.1.12. Thanks Morten for letting us know.

Wow...I was seriously considering pre-ordering the PartFoundry module as it's priced less than $20 more than the GPS receiver/antenna component alone. But if I don't have to add a microcontroller to perform that toggling nonsense, buying the GPS receiver from SparkFun for $72 and rigging it to an iPod dock cable I have lying around sounds better than waiting until "February".

As a caution to everyone else, my experience with pre-order products like this in the past has been poor at best. He's produced a proof-of-concept prototype, not a finished product and is now taking people's money in advance to pay for tooling and final development/debug. Take a look at the company's portfolio. I don't see any proof of any consumer electronics experience at all; everything else on there is very mechanical, ie no molded plastic, no circuit boards. I'm not saying I have any proof that they're not up to the task and I'd be happy to be proven wrong, but if you're thinking about ordering, be prepared for the February ship date turning into June and lots of bugs, returns, frustration, etc. I've seen this kind of thing many times before, and that's what happens every time.

It is nice that they're open-sourcing the software, however.

My advice to those who are wary of pre-ordering and don't want to make their own, wait until February or March. Chances are, a *real* iPod/iPhone accessories company will come out with a better & cheaper product that has a warranty, customer support line, FCC testing, etc.

TheRain:

Here is my serial device - a sirfIII gps. Not very polished, but it works :-)

@mortenbek: Do you think its hard to make a serial gamepad? will you share youre sources?