It is really a standard RS-232 serial port, but it is difficult to find any connectors that will mate to this non-standard form. The only one that I could find was the The Bridge (scroll down to find it) from Pilot Gear. The price has dropped considerably since I purchased mine -- too bad for me.
The pinouts I snarfed from Ron Nicholson's Palm Pilot Information Page. I am reproducing his table here, with the modifications necessary to build the Minstrel cable:
Pinout (left to right, facing the front of the cradle) seems to be: cradle cable Notes ------ ----- ----- pin 1 DE9.4, DB25.20 PC DTR -> Minstrel DSR pin 2 N/C Short to Pin 1 pin 3 DE9.2, DB25.3 Minstrel TxD <- PC RxD pin 4 DE9.7, DB25.4 Minstrel CTS -> PC RTS pin 5 DE9.3, DB25.2 Minstrel Rxd -> PC TxD pin 6 DE9.8, DB25.5 Minstrel RTS <- PC CTS pin 7 N/C GPIO input pin for detecting hotsync, contacts with pin 2 when the hotsync button is pressed. pin 8 N/C GPIO (input only, not connected in cable) pin 9 N/C N/C (spare?) pin 10 DE9.5, DB25.7 Signal Ground N/C DE9.4, DB25.20 (PC DSR not connected to PalmPilot) N/C DE9.1, DB25.8 (PC DCD unconnected to PalmPilot) (Cradle uses single sided gold PCB edge connector with 2mm contact spacing.)
#!/bin/sh # /etc/ppp/minstrel exec pppd \ /dev/ttyS0 19200 \ debug \ crtscts \ defaultroute \ modem \ -vj \ connect /etc/ppp/minstrel-onand
#!/bin/sh # /etc/ppp/minstrel-on exec chat -v \ '' '\r\r' \ '0' 'ATE1V1\r' \ 'OK' 'ATS57?\r' \ 'OK' 'ATS202?\r' \ 'OK' 'AT\APPP\r' \ 'CONNECT'
Try to access my web server to see if my machine is online. Not likely, but hey, it is sort of fun anyway!
You may be interested in my comparison of the Palm VII, Ricochet and the Minstrel. This topic has been widely discussed on DejaNews.