Yes, it's a USB serial class device, I think FTTI compatible. Works fine with Linux on my DD-WRT mini wifi router, shows up at a ACM port.
Get a Raspberri Pi, run it on rechargeable batteries or USB power, get a supported Wifi dongle and make it into an access point.
Raspberri Pi is an open platform so you can do anything to that USB port, or to the USB/serial dongle, or to the Thuraya that you want. And once it's an access point you can essentially use any device you want for web access. Regular laptops, iDevices, android, you name it.
Total cost for the Pi, a case and a supported Wifi dongle will be in the 70-euro range including P&P. I have no experience running it on batteries, so I don't know the cost of a battery pack with a USB connector (and possibly a voltage regulator). A quick web search suggests that even a 2 euro, 2 AA battery pack from eBay should be able to supply 5V at 500mA for a while. As the Pi uses about 400 mA, that leaves some capacity to power the USB devices too.
Get a Raspberri Pi, run it on rechargeable batteries or USB power, get a supported Wifi dongle and make it into an access point.
Nah, too much work and hassle and too expensive. Much better to get a DD-WRT system which has everything included in one box, including rechargeable battery. TP-LINK MR3040 is great for that purpose.
Is the MR3040 supported by dd-wrt? It isn't listed in its router database. Do you have v1 or v2?
I currently have a Netgear WNR3500Lv2, it works well but is a bit big and has no battery. OTOH there's enough space to add a USB hub and an RS232 converter, which could then connect to the panel GPS - my version of the connected cockpit 8-)
The XT USB RS232 chip is definitely no FTDI, and I couldn't connect it to a modern Haswell board, neither directly nor through hubs. So I wouldn't trust its USB implementation much farther than I can throw it...
FTDI (FT232) and Prolific (PL2303 etc) are the two main players in USB-slave to Serial chips. I use both at work. There is a 3rd one whose name I don't recall.
Prolific drivers are normally fairly buggy. FTDI stuff is the best, but the chip is £1.80 (2k qty) which is at least 2x more than the 2303. So most cheap stuff uses the 2303.
BTW if I could get keypad flight plan entry (legal or not) with a GNSx30W, I would go straight for that. The problem with the Connected Panel, IIRC, is that you are forced to use an Ipad for the loading, so you have to somehow get the waypoints into that first, which could be a bit of fun if sitting on the apron somewhere... I am sure there would be a market for an unapproved keypad for the GNS boxes, which just connects to the crossfill port.
Is the MR3040 supported by dd-wrt? It isn't listed in its router database. Do you have v1 or v2?
Yes, the V2 is supported. Works great, just a little bit short on storage. I've written some software for it which I run on the device. I absolutely love it for the low cost and the small form factor. One of them I've soldered a serial connector to so I can reprogram it when I brick it. It does have a few unused IO ports on the PCB, great piece of hardware to play with.
The XT USB RS232 chip is definitely no FTDI, and I couldn't connect it to a modern Haswell board, neither directly nor through hubs. So I wouldn't trust its USB implementation much farther than I can throw it...
Hmm, both Mac OS X and Linux were able to use it without anything special. That's how I operate my XT. If it's FTDI or Prolific doesn't matter because there is a USB class specification.
The problem with the Connected Panel, IIRC, is that you are forced to use an Ipad for the loading, so you have to somehow get the waypoints into that first, which could be a bit of fun if sitting on the apron somewhere...
The iPad is the best thing about it, if I have the flightplan somewhere it will be on an iPad. However, the Aspen Connected Panel requires an Aspen MFD, even an Aspen PFD (which I have) is not enough because they are not allowed to show messages related to the Connected Panel on a PDF.
I am sure there would be a market for an unapproved keypad for the GNS boxes, which just connects to the crossfill port.
Next time I'm at my shop, I will have another RS232 port of my GNS430 wired up for experiments. I would connect it to something like the TP-Link wifi router mentioned here and connect that to an iPad for the cross fill.
But GNS are outdated last generation products, not so interesting to spend time on them nowadays.
One OS that would certainly do TCP/IP via DUN is the old Windows CE / Windows Mobile. You can take any WinMo-based mobile phone - for example, the venerable HTC HD2, which, despite its age, is still a formidable piece of engineering, especially for tinkering purposes (for example, it has been made to run virtually every mobile phone OS available for ARM processors). I use one as my day-to-day phone.
