They've been having this exact discussion on the sony picturebook list,
so I'll forward the info along since osmeone asked about BT, which I
know nothing about.
FYI, most of these ppl are Wind0ws users...
-- Alex McKenzie alex@boxchain.com http://www.boxchain.com -------- Original Message -------- Subject: RE: [c1-forum] WiFi / Bluetooth Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 17:25:38 -0600 (CST) From: Dustin Boontheekul <dboonthe@math.okstate.edu> Reply-To: c1-forum@frijoles.hungry.com To: c1-forum@frijoles.hungry.com References: <PKELKNFPBDKHBCBHKILDGEAOEEAA.williamson@ntlworld.com> I use it in only one room, but I haven't tried any further than that. It makes a big difference what your walls are made of and the class of the bluetooth transceivers. I've got 2 class 2 transceivers (Sony and Microsoft) and 1 class 1 (TDK). As Mr. Howard stated, it can be quite difficult to configure Bluetooth and it is not a Wifi replacement. I'll stress again that the connection speed is only ~700Kbps (max). However, the advantage is much lower power consumption. It's plenty fast for surfing webpages and checking e-mail without feeling slow or cutting your battery life in half. Where to get the PCGA-BA1/A? Well, there are a number of online retailers that offer it. Here's a link to Best Buy's page: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?j=1&id=1063670218698&type=product&ref=03&loc=01 It's rather expensive for a Bluetooth dongle, but as Sony users, we should probably expect it. I see 2 advantages to this dongle: size, style. It is elegantly designed and probably as small as you could make a USB bluetooth dongle. Here is a page with some nice pictures: http://www.siliconpopculture.com/reviews_comments/19_0_2_0_C/ One thing you really ought to do with ANY adapter you buy is look for some online reviews about it. My recommendation is make sure it's USB, as recently manufactured as possible (for newer firmware revisions), and based off of the CSR bluetooth chip. Using this combination seems to ensure the highest amount of compatibility. Widcomm produces a bluetooth stack that supports most of the bluetooth profiles on CSR hardware. It's a pretty mature implementation and most manufacturers license this stack for use with their dongles. The greatest advantage with using a Widcomm stack is that it has been quite easy to make your own updates. As newer versions are released, sometimes the manufacturers don't follow suit and the only way to get these newer versions (usually with important bugfixes) is to use one from another manufacturer. This process is well explained here: http://www.jonscaife.com/ As an example, my Microsoft bluetooth transceiver was basically worthless with the software Microsoft provided. It only supported conecting to my keyboard and mouse (and not very well at that). Using Jon's instructions I now have many more capabilities like using the Bluetooth networking stuff. Sony's software was a bit more complete, but the Widcomm stack is still better (IMHO). Regarding networking over bluetooth. There are 3 profiles that do this, and depending on your software, is what you'll have to use. My preference is the Bluetooth Network Encapsulation Protocol (BNEP). The Widcomm stack supports this and will allow you to treat your connections as an out and out network connection. I've got it working with Windows XP (SP1a) boxes just fine and I'm trying to figure it out in Linux (documentation on BNEP in Linux is minimal right now). From what I've read, many PDA type devices don't support this profile. The second profile is bluetooth serial port connection. Here, you get a virtual serial port, so it works like you had a serial cable connecting your devices. This is the most common bluetooth profile I've noticed for PDA devices. It's probably because 'normal' syncing software communicates over a serial connection (or a USB-based serial connection) and connection to a bluetooth serial port makes for less development time/cost. There is also a 'cable replacement' profile. I don't know anything about it, but it doesn't make a lot of sense to me as there is already the serial connection profile, that is unless it allows for a 'software defined cable' (which could be really useful). If you use BNEP, you can use Microsoft's Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) to give your bluetooth devices internet access. I don't know about the serial profile in Windows. In Linux and FreeBSD, it's done using modem software and requires the remote device to access the bluetooth access point like a dialup server over PPP. Boy, this got long real quick. Hope this helps, Dustin On Thu, 4 Mar 2004, Robert Williamson wrote: > Wow! So you can access the web through your PC? Does it access between > rooms or do you have to be very close? I'd be really interested in where to > buy the dongle and how to set up for the 'pass-through'. > > Robert > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Dustin Boontheekul [mailto:dboonthe@math.okstate.edu] > > Sent: 04 March 2004 00:42 > > To: c1-forum@frijoles.hungry.com > > Subject: Re: [c1-forum] WiFi > > > > > > I have one of the Sony PCGA-BA1/A bluetooth dongles. Let me tell you, > > it's _really_ small. I use it to connect with my cellphone and headset > > while on the road. Interestingly enough, it's power requirements > > are much > > much less than a wifi card. I also have played with using it as a 'wifi' > > device to a PC I've setup as an access point. It really works well as > > long as you aren't moving large amounts of data (it's only > > 700Kbps). This > > may be a real plus for lounging on the couch without wires and > > maintaining > > a good battery life. > > > > On Tue, 2 Mar 2004, Robert Williamson wrote: > > > > > Hi- first post, > > > > > > I've just bough a C1VE. Has anyone tried it with a WiFi card to a cable > > > modem? Also, are there any specifically recommended CD drives > > and how much > > > would I pay for them? Also, is anyone using a bluetooth PCMCIA > > card or a > > > 'dongle'? FInally, are there any good enthusiasts sites for > > C1s that aren't > > > too technical! > > > > > > > > > Cheers, > > > > > > Robert > > > > > > > > > I've stopped 25,774 spam messages. You can too! > > > One month FREE spam protection at http://www.cloudmark.com/spamnetsig/ > > > > > > > > > --- > > > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. > > > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > > > Version: 6.0.572 / Virus Database: 362 - Release Date: 27/01/2004 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ======================================================================== > > > To unsubscribe, > > > send email to <mailto:c1-forum-unsubscribe@frijoles.hungry.com> > > > For help, send email to <mailto:c1-forum-help@frijoles.hungry.com> > > > > > > The web archive of this list is at: > > > http://frijoles.hungry.com/cgi-bin/listarchive?iis:0:200001#b > > > ======================================================================== > > > > > > ___________________ Nolug mailing list nolug@nolug.orgReceived on 03/07/04
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