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When this is the #1 spot on a Top 10 list (the rest are empty), a site needs some help :)

http://www.wlan.org.uk

They are number 5 on the Top WLAN Sites list

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wirelesslan/message/ 2461

And Gino says the following:

"Re: 802.11a Basics- Shipping

I have Proxim 802.11a cardbus cards on stock....

need any?

AP will ship next week..

Gino"

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wirelesslan/message/ 2457

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Bill Austin

Top Wireless LAN Related Sites

Here is the message (REG) containing most of the useful references for co-existence and interoperability of 802.11b and Bluetooth

Bill Austin
Top WLAN Sites

Here is the message (REG) containing most of the useful references for co-existence and interoperability of 802.11b and Bluetooth

Bill Austin
Top WLAN Sites

Original apology note

Another article with further discussion

Bill Austin
Top Bluetooth (tm) Sites

It is a lot like the Free-Net movement of the early 1990's ( see AzTeC Free-Net ).

There is an association of these free WLAN Networks. That group and several of the free systems are members of the Top Wireless LAN Related Web Sites List.

Bill Austin
Wireless LAN News and Discussion.

Transmit power:

Spike: mW 0.75 mW

Bluetooth: Class 1: 1 to 100 mW
Class 2: 0.25 to 2.5 mW
Class 3: 1 mW

>Didn't some company come up with a chip that increases Bluetooth range?

The higher powered devices are supposed to be capable of up to 100 meters.

You can check to see if there are any Qualified Products in that classification.

Bill Austin
Bluetooth (tm) News and Discussion
Best Bluetooth (tm) Sites

Cambridge Silicon Radio is saying that they will ship their new chip at about $5 sometime this year.

It sounds to me like SPIKE will be the real follow-on replacement for IR (IrDA) and that it will actually bring us the kind of connectivity which was promised there but never delivered (well, maybe it was delivered but it was rarely used).

Bluetooth (tm) brings us a different kind of connectivity for a different purpose and it looks to me like they both have a place, as do Wi-Fi (802.11b) and CDMA/GPRS/UMTS. [ a place for everything and everything in its place ]

I am certain that many technologies will be mis-used in the future and I am sure that some people will be very happy about that and others less happy. We have seen lots of examples over the years (beta-max/vhs; Linux/MacOS/Unix/Windows; [give me a command line and get out of my way])

I have no doubt that we will see Wireless LAN's built using Bluetooth (tm) and that someone will add Service Discovery to some 802.11(b/a/g/e) implementation. It will not matter to consumers whether those are mis-applications of the technology.

What will matter to them is:

What do I find on the store shelf when I go looking for a solution?
Does it work how I think it should work?
Is it easy to use, easy to set up, etc?
Did my favorite super-model or football player tell me to buy it?

Bill Austin
Bluetooth (tm) Mailing List
Top Bluetooth (tm) Sites

Over the last few weeks I've been assembling a page of links converning working with amateur radio using Linux . I've managed to assemble a collection of links covering things such as:

• Hardware that works with Linux
• Linux software available
• Protocols and standards
• Books with reference information

This started after I read about how it is now possible to exchange data through and talk with astronauts on the International Space Station. I've started working on my own license which is really quite easy to attain. It's just one 35 question test which most people should be able to prepare for in under a month with just one or two books.

With luck, in a few months, I'll be ready to flood the airwaves with my own useless drivel. With a little more luck, I'll manage to get a postcard from space.

This project follows in the footsteps on a previous effort I took to compile a comprehensive list of links regarding Bluetooth on Linux Thanks to SlashDot, this page managed to stay in the top ten list of the Bluetooth Top Sites list for all of April.

And Digianswer has announced that they will promote the creation on Bluetooth Drivers for Linux and I believe they announced that they plan to open their source code in the future.

Sorry to disagree here, but Digianswer appears to be more interesting in getting the open software community to help them develop a closed driver. This quote from the announcement makes this pretty clear:

"The source-code will, under no circumstances, be freely available."

I'll lay odds on the Axis stack being the standard interface for Linux with a mixture of open and closed hardware level drivers that bind to the bottom of it. There is already a USB driver out there and some support for various PC Card adapters.

Obligatory plug: Information on Bluetooth under Linux and general Bluetooth information is available at the Bluetooth topsites list .

And Digianswer has announced that they will promote the creation on Bluetooth Drivers for Linux and I believe they announced that they plan to open their source code in the future. They are also a Top Bluetooth (tm) Related Web Site

The typical range would be something like 10-15 feet, not the 150 feet you can get out of 802.11B.

Actually, base station class devices such as LAN access points have a range up to 100' or 200' (sorry, can't remember which right now). These devices require more power than a handheld would provide, but will be used to bring point of presence service to larger areas. I imagine the convention floor was using devices of this level. The potential for too many people in too short of range goes up quite a bit. Still, I imagine it was more trouble with the 1.0 to 1.1 spec conversion than range and population issues.

Obligatory plug: Information on Bluetooth under Linux and general Bluetooth information is available at the Bluetooth topsites list .

Left to themselves, vendors are likely to come up with all sorts of imcompatible implementations (as they've already done). However, if Microsoft provides the de facto standard implementation, every vendor will write to that "standard".

This is very similar to how the TCP/IP interface under Windows evolved with WinSock. In the early days, each TCP/IP utilties vendor had their own IP stack. If you bought a 3rd party application, you had to check which stacks it supported. When WinSock came out, that all changed. Apps could be written for only one interface. However, this did kill off the various IP stacks. Probably not a great loss, but it is of note.

Bluetooth will likely have a similar evolution. The value-add will be in the higher level apps rather than the core protocol stack.

Obligatory plug: Information on Bluetooth under Linux and general Bluetooth information is available at the Bluetooth topsites list .

until there's atleast an x86 motherboard out there with a Bluetooth transceiver built into it!

Would you settle for a laptop? I believe Sony and at least one or two other companies have announced models that include integrated Bluetooth capability. I'll lay odds we will see PC motherboards with Bluetooth within a year.

Obligatory plug: Information on Bluetooth under Linux and general Bluetooth information is available at the Bluetooth topsites list .

There have been a lot of these "poof" events lately. Product pages at both Intel and 3Com have gone away. Motorola still has a products page up, but it provides next to no information. The only idea I can offer up is that when these products were based on the 1.0 Bluetooth spec and were pulled to retool for the 1.1 spec.

Anyone who does have working links for Bluetooth products, please send them to me to be put on my Bluetooth on Linux page. Also, consider visiting the Bluetooth topsites list to keep Linux high on the links list.

It's a little early in the life cycle to be declaring Bluetooth dead and buried. The hardware is only just now starting to show up. Software is under active development. Even though Microsoft is sitting on their back side, other companies are developing Windows support for Bluetooth. There is also work underway to support Bluetooth under Linux. I've already seen reports of success connecting Linux and Windows machines using Bluetooth for file transfers.

Microsoft is not making a mistake in holding off in shipping Bluetooth enabled versions of their OS. They are making a mistake in not commiting openly to providing Bluetooth support as a service pack after the product ships and Bluetooth standards settle down. This can probably be written off as another marketing blunder.

There is a big difference between Bluetooth and Betamax. Bluetooth is an open standard. Sony wanted to collect a royalty of use of Betamax. If you had drawn a comparison between Fireware (with Apple) and Betamax it would have been more appropriate.

More resources on what Bluetooth is (and is not) is available from a Bluetooth topsites list which contains a few dozen links to Bluetooth sites.

Bluetooth also provides a higher level abstraction than 802.11. When printing over a standard network you have to know the model of printer at the other end. With Bluetooth it's possible to use a standard printing "profile". This keep you from having to carry 200 printer drivers on your PDA to handle any situation you walk into. Similar profiles exist for other environments such as file transfer and serial port tunneling.

For those wanting more information, I have a page on using Bluetooth with Linux. Also, you can get more information about Bluetooth in general at a Bluetooth topsites list that is available.

Microsoft isn't alone here. Several vendors are getting squirrely when it comes to Bluetooth support. 3Com had an actual products page for Bluetooth up until about a week ago. Now, the link just circles back to their home page. Intel took their Bluetooth info down somewhere before that.

I've been collecting links for Bluetooth under Linux for the last few weeks. Oddly, some of the information is going away as fast as new information is coming online. The good news, however, is that with Microsoft's latest move we will see Bluetooth for Linux support well before Bluetooth for Windows support at the kernel level. If Microsoft doesn't include support, it will be up to each individual vendor to come up with their own OS API implementation.

For people wanting to get more information on Bluetooth, there is a topsites list of links to information resources. Please, help to keep the Linux links high on the list. :)

I was chairing the second day of a Bluetooth Conference in Washington, D.C. (USA) last summer when the French military made the decision to allow Bluetooth to operate in the required frequencies. This should also apply to 802.11b, HomeRF, etc. The news was brought to me by Brent Miller from IBM and I announced it from the podium. I believe that the effective date was January, 1, 2001. Delbert, I like your Bluetooth on Linux page, and what a great banner. Maybe if everyone who reads this thread votes for your site on the Top Bluetooth Sites list you will move up in the ranking and get a lot more traffic. Bluetooth on Linux needs a lot more work.