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Connecting PCs and Macs via Infrared Communications?
Stuee asks: "Isn't it about time my friend and I could sit opposite each other on the train and share documents or images without having to build a small network?! I mean, what's the point of both systems having infrared, and software to bridge the platform gap, if we can't connect? It's so frustrating that my XP laptop reports that my friend's iBook is in range, but cannot do anything about it, especially when my phone (which was a fraction of the cost of either laptop) and pocket device can communicate with both machines without any problem! If anyone knows of a workaround for this (other than cables), I think there would be a lot of people interested in hearing about it.
Thanks for listening."
"Isn't it about time my friend and I could sit opposite each other on the train and share documents or images without having to build a small network?!"
Firslty, if you connect them via infrared then you just made a network.
Secondly, there is a solution - it's called Bluetooth and you might have heard of it.
You said it yourself - cable. If you both have ethernet you can just use a single swapped cable. Lo tech = cheap, quick easy reliable etc. etc.
Sorry, nothing profound to put here! (http://www.abacus4.com/
Oh, no it's not. Fuck...
The only trick is that you need to choose IR (or in some cases it says Virtual IR) as the COM port instead of choosing a modem or COM port. Oh yeah, and make sure the two IR ports recognize each other.
I don't recommend you use the infrared ports for any serious communications. While it may be convenient for trivial tasks, I wouldn't commit anything as important as a file transfer to it. The link just isn't hardy. Do yourself a favor, get a crossover ethernet cable and just hook the two machines together.
Why not look at getting a wireless ethernet card or two? All of the speed of a standard (albeit "slow") network, none of the cables. It's a relatively cheap workaround that doesn't involve cabling. :-)
The iBook HAS NO IR PORT.
If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.
Wireless (802.11b)...this is a great alternative...my LUG uses it all of the time, it's great because you get real high speeds out of it (over 10 Mb vs. 256k MAX for IR) and it's available almost everywhere...you'ld be supprised how much wireless is in the air.
... don't read everything you hear ... you're already mobile ... but then again, IR is worse because there is NO built-in security (except maybe the line-of-sight/distance thing)!!!
... You get fast, easy connectivity, without the whole line-of-sight requirement and you get a great mobile network card that you'll find yourself using more and more as time goes on.
As for security
You can easily find PCMCIA wireless cards for under $50
Not to mention that you can get Wicked Distance from 802.11b!!! Yes, this is a special case, but 100 meters is certainly no problem.
While IR is nice and will certainly be used (in other devices) for a long time to come, 802.11b should be your choice for mobile networking. It's worth noting that many companies are already including built-in 802.11b in their notebooks (either standard or as an option).
My laptop (a Toshibia ofcourse) comes with said software. I can transfer files to anyone with similar software. It's so easy I don't even know how it works, it just does.
:s/iraq/microsoft/gi :s/Weapons of mass destruction/Windows/gi :s/Axis of evil/Redmond/gi :s/In this post september 11 climate/Service Pack 1/gi :s/Bush/Linux/gi :wq
Perhaps you posted this story cause your too lazy to look for this software?
--
$vi any_news_story_on_iraq
Rendesvouz and a pair of 802.11s is the solution to your problems.
PPP is the protocol you'll probably need to use, but you have a couple of problems.
6 617
k /infrar ed/WinXP-IrDa.asp
The easy one: One of you will have to act as a PPP server.
Harder:
Mac OSX 10.1 doesn't support the IR ports on some powerbooks. http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=10
MS has added some layers that complicate basic IRDA behavior, and implemented their own IrNET network protocol instead of the IrLAN standard. I'm not even sure you can get raw access to the IRCOMM layer that allows you to treat an IR port as an ordinary serial port.
http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/tech/networ
http://www.irda.org/
The real difficulties of "building a small network" are difficulties of software, not hardware.
There is one advantage of stringing a crossover cable across the aisle. You could end up with both laptops flying towards the ankles of the person you trip.
Assembly is the reverse of disassembly.
One of the few problems I still have with using Linux as my sole platform for work is IR. I frequently find myself at some client site with a couple of colleagues with a need to move some files around. We all have Thinkpads with IR, and when we were all running Windows it was easy to beam stuff around. But with Linux, I can no longer participate effectively.
Yeah, I know about ircp, but it's quirky, unreliable and *dog* slow (less than dialup speeds) when transferring to a Win2K box. I've read that there's another approach that requires reconfiguring the Win2K side, but that's not really an option, because, usually, if the need is sufficiently urgent that it's worth doing there's no time to futz with things. It has to just work.
OTOH, I can't complain too much, since I didn't pay anything for ircp and I don't care enough to fix it myself, but it sure would be nice if someone else would do it (or if someone would post a reply saying they've done it, or that there's some better tool to use? Please? ;-)
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Perhaps you should download a demo of PC MacLAN and install that on the XP machine.
;) USB add-on maybe?
You should be able to bind Appletalk to the Infrared port on MacLAN.
From there, you assign infrared on the Mac (in OS 9 or X) to be the current Appletalk port, restart file sharing and away you go.
Seriously, though: go for the Airport/Orinoco 802.11 card option. It's one hell of a lot faster and more reliable. You're not gonna be able to do Unreal Tourney or Warcraft matches (very well) over IR because the speed is too low and the latency is too high. You've also got line-of-sight issues. Just try synching a palm over IR and you'll see what I mean. It's freaking SLOW.
I'm also curious how you got an iBook with an IR port.
TiBook, yes. iBook, no for built-in.
...APIPA (Automatic Private IP Addressing), and the related RFC is...it looks like there isn't one just yet.
most of the answers go round "tech", which I have something to say about too, but first thing I've got to say is: practically, IR port locations may prevent you from "communicating via IR" anyway. Think about it. There's no "standard" for IR port locations. IBM T-series have their IR port on the left, below the palm rest and next to the headphone jack. Not everyone can "sit opposite each other on the train and communicate" even if they had full IR. This is NOT a trivial problem -- this one time I had to share files via IR with a friend sitting on the same bench, and BOTH of us had ports on the same left side of the machine. Think about how that works out. We were two bloody uncomfortable people for a bloody long time while our bloody large file transferred, let me tell you that.
:-) will have built-in ethernet that won't need crossed cables - they'll auto-detect whether you're plugged in to a hub or directly to another machine. They'll also auto-assign themselves a 169.x.x.x IP address (whether or not you're using OS X or not), so you'll at least be able to ping each other.
:-) systems that are coming up, primarily because of the line-of-sight/placement practical problems (not to mention screwy lighting messing up the transfers and/or comparatively low speed limits in today's world).
Cables have their practical problems too, of course (esp. if you're sitting "opposite each other on the train" and don't want either (a) some kid try to use it as a skipping rope or (b) some big guy tripping on the cable and deciding to break your laptops).
And, if you're sitting on the same bench side by side, having the ports on the BACK of the machine doesn't really help either.
Re: cables - all Macs since around 1999 (before, actually, but I'm not sure exactly when; if it's colourful and/or has white on it anywhere it should be safe
That leads on to the next question - what do you mean by "communicate"? File transfer? Network gaming? It's not all the same thing. You bring up the example of your phone, but quite frankly, those are completely different issues. Are you going to transfer a PDF file to your phone? (Assuming it's not a semi-PDA, I'm guessing the answer is no). Some IR links are just file-sharing links, while some links are "full networks". Does a phone that can be used by your laptop as a wireless modem count as "communicating"? That's more a "(purpose-built?) feature" than "communication".
IR is slowly getting retired, I believe, thanks to all the radio-wireless (since IR is "wireless" after all
I think the only real option is 802.11b/a/g.