BT dongle

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I was wondering if the Dlink DBT-120 USB adapter mentioned in the kickstart wizard (btw, in the wizard is listed as the Dlink Dlink DT-120 USB and is should be DBT) is the only one youve tried and know will work as a dongle, or should any generic BT USB dongle work?  

On the PC I plan on installing this on, it already has a BT interface on the mobo, its a MSI mobo with a header that plugs into a bracket to get it working.  Would this be usable on my dedicated Core as a BT device, or must we use a USB dongle?

[archived]

Hi,

Our BluetoothDongle application uses BlueZ libraries to connect to bluetooth device. Theoretically, you should be able to use any bluetooth device supported by BlueZ, including your MSI device. Please let us know how the installation works and if you have any problems.

Regards,

Chris M.

[archived]

Hi,

Our BluetoothDongle application uses BlueZ libraries to connect to bluetooth device. Theoretically, you should be able to use any bluetooth device supported by BlueZ, including your MSI device. Please let us know how the installation works and if you have any problems.

Regards,

Chris M.

Hi,

I didn't have to specify anything, just bluetooth dongle on Pluto site. Everything bluetooth related worked out of the box - I have cheap Conceptronic USB bluetooth adapter ...

HTH,

regards,

Rob.

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I've actually used a bunch of bluetooth dongles, and everyone of them seems to work just fine.  I think they're mostly compatible--it can't hurt to try it.

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Ill be trying it this weekend.  I dont currently have a BT phone, but I do have a iPaq 5450 PDA that has BT and was wondering if it would work in similar function to the way BT phones do.

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Not really.  When the IPAQ comes in range, you will still see a message on the TV saying something to the efffect of "I found a new bluetooth device.  Is this a phone?  Should I install the software?  If so, pick the user to whom it belongs."

Choosing to install the software won't hurt anything.  The system will do an "OBEX PUSH", which is how it tries to install the software.  My guess is your IPAQ will ignore it.  Even if it does accept the message, the software won't run since the software is Symbian, and your IPAQ is Windows CE.  All that would happen is it would add the IPAQ to the database as a phone, and then the media director will continually try to connect to it via Bluetooth--and fail.

If you want to use your IPAQ, the real solution is just to run the Windows CE version of the Orbiter -- that's meant for that purpose.  It specifically supports PDA's.  You will need to turn on wifi so the IPAQ can get an IP address and talk on the network.  Then bring up a web browser in the IPAQ, navigate to the Pluto Admin web site, choose the link to install the orbiter software, and pick the ce version.

You'll need to add an orbiter as well.  The only problem is that we haven't yet created the new PDA-size screens for series 2.  Our designer program, the tool we use to create the GUI's, allows you to create a different layout for 3:4 (ie normal vga), vs 4:3 (what pda's use).  In our series 1 we had both.  At the moment, we only have the 3:4 layout--which means the screen won't look right.

Doing a 4:3 layout for pda's has been a low priority for us since, now that we have the bluetooth mobile phones, everybody likes those better.  The tactile feel of physical buttons is easier for most people than a small-ish touch-screen on a pda.  But eventually we will do a 4:3 layout for pda's as well.

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Do you have a palm version of the mobile orbiter software?  

Ultimately the question is, can the treo 650 be used as a mobile orbiter with all the cool bluetooth features (detection.)  I'm assuming the same answer as the CE response....

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No, sorry.  No Palm version.  Orbiter only runs on Linux, Windows, Windows CE, and Symbian--although it is Ansi C++ and may run on other OS's.  Eventually we'll spread out to Palm and other proprietary OS's, like Motorola's.  But for now our focus is on completing what we have and not spreading ourselves too thin.

[archived]

You'll need to add an orbiter as well.  The only problem is that we haven't yet created the new PDA-size screens for series 2.  Our designer program, the tool we use to create the GUI's, allows you to create a different layout for 3:4 (ie normal vga), vs 4:3 (what pda's use).  In our series 1 we had both.  At the moment, we only have the 3:4 layout--which means the screen won't look right.

Doing a 4:3 layout for pda's has been a low priority for us since, now that we have the bluetooth mobile phones, everybody likes those better.  The tactile feel of physical buttons is easier for most people than a small-ish touch-screen on a pda.  But eventually we will do a 4:3 layout for pda's as well.

Heres a dumb idea.....couldnt ya just rotate the image 90 degrees one way or another and get the same result....just would have to hold the PDA 90 degrees off center.  I dunno, just was looking ay my PDA and tought it may work, dunno if its easier or harder to implement. I know that for the slide on camera that I use with the PDA, I have to turn it 90 degrees to use it.  If Im not making myself clear I can post an image of what Im talking about.

[archived]

Hi,

Yeah, that would work fine.  I actually just added that as a new size/aspect ratio to our database.  As soon as your system auto-updates to 2.0.0.14 it will have that new database entry.  Then, you'll be able to go into the Pluto Admin website, choose Advanced, Devices, locate the PDA, and change the data parameter "PK_Size" to 4 (which is 320x240).

Of course, this is just a really bad hack to get you to see it.  All that it will do is scale the screen down to 320x240.  The buttons will be so small you'll hardly be able to read them.

The real solution is to create what, in Designer, is called a new "Criteria" specifically for the PDA.  This is what we did in v1, and this is what we do now to distinguish the tablet and the phone.  With the PDA Criteria, we can re-arrange the screen, and place less buttons on there.  So, the DVD remote on the tablet may have several advanced buttons and a more broad layout with big cover art, the PDA may have only the basic buttons and put the advanced options and cover art on a separate tab.  That's what we will do eventually, but for now, I just added a new scaling value in the Size table.

The 2.0.0.14 upgrade should be up next Thursday or Friday.  If you change the size to '4' before the upgrade posts, then OrbiterGen won't generate anything for the pda since it won't know how to handle that size.

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Thanks again aaron.  Ive already looked over the spring web site (they are my cell provider) and they have a bt phone that I plan to upgrade to in the next month or so. Till then Ill use my pda and look forward to the update next week.

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Just another question along this topic...
Are there any plans for the CE version of the Orbiter to support Bluetooth in the future? The reason I ask is that I have an XDA II (running Windows 2003 Mobile SE) which has built in support for Bluetooth, but not 802.11b. I've got a SD WIFI card which I guess would make it work, but I don't really like the way it sticks out the top; plus I suppose that you'd need Bluetooth to support the 'follow me' stuff.

Cheers,
-Kent

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We haven't done anything with Bluetooth pda's/webpad's, but it definately makes sense, and should be easy to do.  All our bluetooth code already runs on Windows, CE, Linux and Symbian, and so does the Orbiter code.  In fact for development we use a Windows version of Orbiter/Bluetooth since it's easier to debug than on the phone directly.

The only issue may be the bluetooth drivers under CE.  We don't have a CE device with Bluetooth.  I don't know if it uses the same drivers (Widcom) as Windows XP Bluetooth, and if the dll's and libraries we use in Windows XP for Bluetooth will work for CE.  Regardless it won't require a change in our code, it will just be a matter of getting a hold of CE+Bluetooth device and finding the right Bluetooth SDK.

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What ever came of this??

I have a fujitsu-siemens Pocket Loox with BT and wifi
Using wifi at the moment and the CE orbiter

If i could use the bluetooth aswell to add the location feature then that would rock. I'll have a look and see what i can find.

---Update:
my pocket loox 420 uses the Widcomm drivers.
its says on the info screen

Bluetooth for Windows CE (BTW-CE)
Version 1.4.2 Build 02

next i'm going to have a look at the windows XP bluetooth code and see if i can just change the calls to use the CE drivers....