Bluetooth Woes
As some of you might know, I’ve been wanting to use Bluetooth for quite some time. Unfortunately, a series of minor problems completely prevents me from easily using Bluetooth for any of the things I want to use it for. What do I want Bluetooth for, and why can’t I use it? Here’s a quick list:
The first thing I’d like is a Bluetooth mouse. This way I could bring a mouse around with my PowerBook and not have to worry about cables. I know that there’s a Microsoft Bluetooth mouse, but I really really prefer Logitech mice. Unfortunately, Logitech does not make a Bluetooth mouse yet. If they did, it’d be great if I could even have a dock for it like the Logitech MX700 has. That way I could recharge it when I have it back at my desktop, but just carry the mouse around (without the big dock) when I’m carrying my PowerBook around. The thing I hate about the MX700’s dock is that it requires yet another power connection. Ugh. It should just use FireWire to get power. But like I said, my only option is Microsoft’s mouse, which I don’t like all that much.
Another thing I’d like is to be able to sync my cell phone using Bluetooth. I really like the size and shape of my Samsung A460 for Spring PCS. It was a cheap phone and it works well for everything I want to do. Except it doesn’t have Bluetooth. Pretty much all the cell phones out there that have Bluetooth also have bright flashy color screens, cameras, etc, etc. None of which I want. I’m fine with a cheap black & white screen that shows me phone numbers. I just want that plus the ability to sync with my Address Book. But that’s not happening.
I love my Palm V and wish I could sync it with my PowerBook using Bluetooth, rather than having to plug it in. Amazingly enough, there is a device that would let me do this: TDK’s Blue5. It can be had for somewhere around $80 on ebay now, so I’m considering it. Unfortunately, it’s a device which clips on to my Palm V, and doesn’t provide me with any extra memory or battery life. Speaking of Palms, it doesn’t seem that any of the new PDAs are for me. At all. I basically just want a PDA that’s like my Palm V in size and weight, but with longer battery life, a bit more memory, maybe SmartMedia or CompactFlash support, and Bluetooth. All the new PDAs have color screens, are thicker, and have tons of features I don’t want. So I’m sticking with my Palm V. I just wish the Blue5 gave me a bit more memory or battery life. Here’s to hoping the Blue5 works with iSync.
The final problem is getting Bluetooth on my Powerbook. I have the Titanium PowerBook G4, which means no built-in Bluetooth for me. A USB dongle would be ok, but seeing as I don’t use my PCMCIA slot at all, and it would be much more convenient to use than plugging a dongle in the back, I’d love to get TDK’s Bluetooth PC card. Except I’ve read that Mac OS X does not support Bluetooth PCMCIA cards. It only supports built-in Bluetooth and Bluetooth USB dongles. Dammit. I can never win. Bluetooth’s still out of reach for me.
If anyone has any experiences with any of these products, especially Blue5 with iSync, I’d love to hear about them.
just write your own bluetooth PCMCIA driver. how hard could it be? i have no idea how mac os x works though.
Considering my current level of knowledge of device drivers for Mac OS X, PCMCIA, and Bluetooth, I’ll have to say…. no.
I was at Edinburgh airport about to catch a plane and saw at the Dixons (electrical goods) store a package containing a TDK PCMCIA card (the green one) in a box that clearly stated “operating system requirements: windows Xcrap etc and… Mac OSX”
I did not have time to buy and it was expensive there anyway (£99). I I bought one on the web for £50 and when it arrived there were no OSX drivers… damn!
When I find a driver I will post again.
Logitech has a bluetooth mouse coming out this xmas for $99 It’s called the “MX900″ just do a search for it, or you can view it on logitech’s website. Also belkin is releasing their bluetooth mouse this Oct 1st. Be on the lookout for both. ^.^
Tommy: Yep, I heard about it. See some of my more recent posts. :)
Quentin: The TDK PCMCIA card is the one I’ve been looking at for a while. It’d be really nice if it worked in OS X. I sent an email to TDK tech support asking if it worked, but they have yet to respond.
I want to get a Bluetooth mouse. I have a Acer Bluetooth Dongle but I really nead a mouse.
Hello, we’ve had several requests to support the PC Card on OS X, including one from me as I am also a TiPowerbookG4 user, so I am looking into the feasibility of developing the PCMCIA driver. I will let you know if we decide to go with it. I am very keen to support Mac users in the future.
Best regards, Stuart
–
Stuart John
stuart.john@tdksys.com
Head of Research & Development
TDK Systems Europe Ltd
http://www.tdksys.com
Wow, Stuart, thanks for the reply. Please do keep me informed… I love that TDK Bluetooth PC Card.
any other PCMCIA Bluetooth cards out there for Powerbooks? anyone know where the bluetooth logic is in the newer powerbooks? I wonder if I could somehow retrofit mine… eh, or I could just wait for PCMCIA…..
Any word on the A460 syncing with Address Book?
Nope, I’ve seen some A460 usb cables (unofficial) on ebay, but I haven’t purchased and tried one yet.
I found this company http://www.brainboxes.com/ doing a PCMCIA bluetooth card no OS X drivers as yet, however they seem quite developer friendly http://www.brainboxes.com/developer/ … anyone ..?
Thanks for your enthusiasm Stuart… we all wait with breath held!
Stuart, any info on whether TDK will come out with Bluetooth PCMCIA cards with OS X compatiblity?
Six months later, Logitech is coming out with the MX900. It’s basically the MX700 except with a slight gold tint to it, and it uses Bluetooth between the dock/charger and mouse. You kinda need the dock for charging, you personally may want the doubling as a Bluetooth hub, but they’re both true Blue.
Personally, I want to find a way to retrofit my Logitech Cordless Wingman Rumble thingy joystick for Bluetooth. I’m not bad with a soldering iron, and I’ve got some basic knowledge in DC circuits. I’ve just got no clue if the hack requires some messy signal conversion logic or something. I can’t do that.
Yeah, you might want to see this post of mine about the MX900.
Just a quick note:
sync between mac os x (10.2.8) and palm with blue5 is possible using a powerbook gz (titanium) and a d-link dwb-120m dongle.
dunno if anyone saw this, but i guess someone wrote a driver that supports 3com bluetooth pcmcia on os x.
dunno if they can extend that to other manufacturer’s pcmcia cards, but users sound positive about the 3com one.
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/21902
Stephen, thanks for the link. I actually just saw that today and then saw your comment. From the description on the page it sounds like it’s not exactly compatible with all Bluetooth PC Cards… since they all use different protocols.
Yeah, I was trying to figure out what other cards it works with — since there is a version of this 3com card re-badged by HP which is more commonly found on ebay. The one thing I like about this PCMCIA card is that the antenna will retract into the body of the card. I’m gettting on in a few days, will let you guys know how well it works.
Looking at the documentation, it lists a few cards that I think the authors believes are compatible, but haven’t been tested. Just something for people to try out if they have any of this hardware laying around.
- 3Com Wireless Bluetooth PC Card
- AmbiCom Air2Net BT2000E
- Brain Boxes BL-620
- Brain Boxes BL-631
- Cyber-blue BLUE CF01
- Pretec CompactBT
- Sphinx PICO Card
Hope this information is helpful.
Thanks for the info, stephen. I do like 3Com’s PC Card designs lately. The retractable antenna idea is very nice. 3Com makes a combo 802.11a/b/g card.. I just wish they added Bluetooth to that and it’d be perfect. (At this point I’m looking at getting an 802.11g PC Card for my TiBook)
Ah well. I’ve been enjoying my Logitech MX900 quite a bit. Living with the USB dongle for now. I’m trying to decide whether I want to live with the USB Bluetooth dongle and get an 802.11g PC Card, or if I want to live with 802.11b and get a Bluetooth PC Card.
Sorry, no progress on OSX PC Card drivers. We did contact Apple about this but there is no PC Card level specification in the official Bluetooth specs so they were less than helpful. Other open source drivers that you can find on the web do not support CSR BCSP protocol so will not work with TDK cards. You should assume that TDK will not develop any OSX drivers in the future. Best regards, Stuart
Head of Products & Services, TDK Systems Europe
Sorry, but the answer from TDK is a shame. My Card Blues Suite driver can be enhanced to support Cambridge Silicon Radio’s (CSR) BlueCore Serial Protocol (BCSP) quite easily. If they do not want to code, I even give detailed steps for a Bluetooth UART path. TDK could change the PC Card on the firmware level (just some bits) so it works with Bluetooth UART (HCI) at 115200 - the CSR BlueCore2 chipset has no problems with this.
Anyway I highly recommend the 3Com Bluetooth PC Card Version 3.0. It is “quite” cheap and it does not stick out of the computer. Otherwise you could use a USB adapter anyway. Please note you need a Version 3.0. The Hewlett Packard Bluetooth PC Card is based on 3Com’s Version 2.0 and does not work.
BTW there is a Mac OS X driver available for free for 3Com’s 802.11a/b/g PC Card, just look at their driver page! But please remember 802.11g is not much faster than 802.11b if you are far away from the access point.
And the last thing: Great XHTML 1.0 page but a html element does not have a style attribute.
I’m trying to decide between a 1gig mhz/1gig ram Mac Powerbook G3 Pismo and a base G4 Powerbook. I want a Bluetooth PCMCIA card for whatever I get. Mac OS X 10.3.5 supports Bluetooth. Is there a PCMCIA card that works in a firewire-equipped Pismo?
Carolyn, the important part is whether Mac OS X understands it—see the previous comments which talk about PCMCIA Bluetooth cards. :)
Can any one please tell me whether TDK Bluetooth Pc Card is BCSP or H4UART compatible.
i have a wallstreet and was also looking for bluetooth under osx.
http://www.pbzone.com/archive/1202_16thru23.shtml
Update
http://www.traud.de/bluetooth/