Cuecat On Sl-5500, uneducated ramblings of a 5500 addict Options

[Connor Angel]

There is another thread on this subject that seemed to go pretty much nowhere here http://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showt...15546&hl=cuecat

There are instructions on creating an "almost" standard serial device out of a ps/2 cuecat with the title "Make your CueCat RS232 pod" inside the cuecat driver tar.gz, but unfortunatly it is not on the web outside that archive. http://freshmeat.net/redir/cuecat-driver/4...at-0.8.2.tar.gz

First off, I know very little about hardware, so don't take any of this seriously unless you do know the subject.

According to those instructions, you use a 74HCT04 Hex inverter, RS catalog #276-2804 to do the crude ps/2 to serial conversion, and then 3 AA batteries for the 4.5V the cuecat needs.

Now I have had problems with my main power socket on my Z, and one way I was able to test it was to plug a usb hub or car adaptor with an LED into the usb-client port on the zaurus and then plug a power source into the main power plug.

What I noticed is that the power flowed right into the car adaptor or usb hub and lit up the LED. My question is this. Is it possible that (assuming the Z's serial stuff handles the nonstandard cuecat modified for serial), would it be possible to use only that 74HCT04 Hex inverter, skip the batteries, and only use the cuecat while there is a battery pack plugged in to the main power port, letting the power from that flow through the usb/serial port into the cuecat?

Also, it would probably work great with this little adaptor - http://www.fivestarassoc.com/Z/