The key to teathering your linux laptop to your Cingular Blackjack phone is enabling the Bluetooth DUN profile on the blackjack. Although it shows up by default, it won't work unless you are running the Internet Sharing application. (Which, Cingular has hidden from you, yay carriers!) Continue reading
For some reason, Mandriva has moved the default bluetooth link key location from /var/lib/bluetooth to /var/lib/lib/bluetooth. So, if you are looking for link keys (to delete to force a new pairing, etc) add an extra lib.
When running linux, you sometimes want to connect to a cell phone (using it as a modem) over bluetooth.
Different cell phones use different RFCOMM channels to export their Dial-up Networking service on.
Here are the commands to use to find which channel you should use: Continue reading
Short instructions on how to use a Bluetooth enabled cell phone as a modem (allowing you to log into the Internet while mobile). A few of the commands are T-mobile specific (Look for internet3.voicestream.com), but most of the rest would apply to any service provider. With T-Mobile, you must have an activated data plan to use your phone as a modem. I am grandfathered into a plan called "T-Mobile Internet VPN" for 19.95 a month, but believe the current rate is closer to $40 a month. Continue reading
Note! This phone works better than my previous phone but the user interface is somewhat kludgy. Once you work around its misdesigned phonebook and confusing and inconsistent menu system it does work without crashing (as my sony T610 was prone to do whenever using bluetooth). I’m willing to trade some UI uglyness for a phone that doesn’t crash once a day and the extra speed that EDGE provides. Perhaps the newer Sony Erricson (T616, etc) phones work better than the T610 I bought, but I wasn’t willing to gamble after experiancing a year of crashes and other problems with my T610.
Overall, the Motorola v330 feels snappy, with the web browser and menus responding much faster than my older T610. But how does it work as a celular EDGE/GPRS modem?
Testing in Atlanta, GA, USA where I get 5 bars of service (9th floor) using a T-Mobile VPN Internet account ($19.95 a month when bundled with a voice plan, the costs have since gone up), I have seen bursts of 20-23 KB/sec on downloads, with sustained speeds of 12-13 KB/sec. Uploading is significantly slower, with sustained speeds of 4-5KB/sec. {My previous, GPRS only (no EDGE) phone maxed out at 5.6KB/sec downloads, and 1-2KB/sec uploads, so EDGE is definately an improvement. It makes browsing the web a slow process, as opposed to a painfully slow process.}
The Nokia 9500 Communicator is an extremely powerful and feature rich PDA with a phone on the back cover. When closed, its styling can be generously called Retro or ungenerously "a brick". But when you open the clamshell, it reveals a beautiful color widescreen (640×200)
Photos of the Nokai 9500 Communicator, next to a Motorola V330, Palm T2, dollar bill, and 12oz soda can.
The Nokia 9500, sideview, closed, and open, next to a Motorola V330 and Palm T2. Continue reading
The largest problem I've had with Bluez (the bluetooth stack under Linux) is the pairing process. If everything "just works" that's great, but when your distribution lets you down and something gets miss-configured, it can be very difficult to get a phone or PDA to pair with the linux box.
Here is how to force the issue: