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05/13/2001
SUCCESS!
We haven't brought this page up to date
in several weeks, but progress has been
made. We were able to successfully transfer
data between a Palm device and a PC over
a Bluetooth link. This completes our project,
but certainly opens the path for many
to come... Palm has recently announced
a Bluetooth module and SDK for its new
m500 line though, which may mean the end
of table-top experiments... :-)
The
compiled code is available in the Software
section, source code to follow soon.
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03/31/2001
We
have identified the optimal way of powering
the board through the serial cable from
the Palm, and are working on a custom
cable. From a software perspective, not
much progress.
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03/20/2001
Great
news! For the first time, we managed to
receive a response from a remote board
through the board connected to our Palm.
We launched an HCI INQUIRY command and
received a reply from the remote board,
all as described in the protocol specs.
Looks like from now on it's just a matter
of coding.
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03/15/2001
Excellent
News! We found some work
done by Heinz Mathys at the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology, who has
started porting the Axis library to Palm!
His work is not complete, but a great
springboard for us. It also gives us lots
of insights on the protocol implementation.
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03/11/2001
Major
breakthrough! We successfully sent HCI
commands from the Palm device to the Bluetooth
board, and received a reply as expected!
There are some issues, some of the bytes
in the reply shouldn't be there, but we
are on the right track. The first successful
Palm-Bluetooth interaction.
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0310/2001
Downloaded
the protocol implementation for Linux
from Axis. Looks discouraging. There is
a lot of code, and porting it to Palm
will require serious work.
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03/08/2001
We
accidentally ran into... competition!
A team at Santa Clara University in California
is working on a very similar project.
Their website can be accessed here.
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03/07/2001
Bad
news! Finally got in touch with a senior
engineer from Ericsson. The generic code
for the lower protocol levels (see 02/21/2001)
is indeed available, and we can license
it for... about $100,000! Dead end...
On the other hand, the same engineer gave
us a helpful hint: there is a Bluetooth
port for Linux, which is open source in
its entirety! It looks like this is the
way to go.
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02/24/2001
Found out about WIDCOMM, Inc., a company that
has developed a Bluetooth SDK for Palm. Tried
to get some info (and maybe a glimpse at the
code), but the kit is sold for $5000... |
02/23/2001
Our first really official project meeting.
Discovered a white
paper on Palm's website that details the
BT specification for PalmOS. No code available
for download though... :-( |
02/21/2001
Found some mention in the documentation that
Ericsson is providing "generic source
code" for the upper layers, specifically
for simplifying implementation on various
platforms. Contacted Ericsson's US offices
for details, waiting for response. |
02/17/2001
Identified the last protocol layer that is
available on the BT module: HCI (Host Controller
Interface). Everything above is in software.
We will have to implement it. |
02/16/2001
Completed reading generic documentation. Finally
set a clear goal: an API for Bluetooth on
PalmOS, at the very least for RFCOMM/serial
port communication. Identified where exactly
in the protocol stack we need to intervene.
Bad news: it is really low in the stack! |
01/15/2001
The boards have arrived from Sweden! Tested
them through USB connection on 2 PCs, wireless
connection successfully established |
