Hi,

as I'm working much with Bluetooth, I discovered a serial module from http://www.tdksys.com with AT-style commands. So you can connect to another module simply by typing ATD <number>, where <number> is the ID of the other module. Further it's possible to discover all Bluetooth-Systems (-> empegs?) around you with an AT-command. Bluetooth may not be the best solution to share music, because of it's low bandwidth, but I'm sure there are many new services to create. I dreamed a bit:
- If bluetooth-enabled mobile in range play music, if not go to stolen-mode :-)
- If wife's mobile in range, play her music
- Via Tuner-I/O-Ports unlock door if mobile in range
- Say hello to other Bluetooth-enabled empegs if in range (e.g. change email-addresses or something else)
- Control the empeg via BT-enabled PDA or mobile
- deal with BT-GPS-Mouse (simple thing)

Ok, you won't really need it, but the empeg itself isn't build for pure needs, too :-).

Problems: I don't want to use the normal serial-port of the empeg which should still be available for my GPS-Mouse. Maybe we can set up a low-speed-serial with one of the I/O-Lines in spare from the tuner?

Give it a try,
Rolf

Wireless connections with the empeg http://empeg.rowi.net

Palantir could be modified easily to support bluetooth. I wouldn't have to change much in the app at all to make it work with a Palm Tungsten or such.

Problem is, I rely on the serial port being available to the player to send the player the list of songs. This could be resolved if we could point the player at a dummy serial port and we could use the real serial port for everything else.

Would Palantir work for Pocket PCs like the iPAQ? I never had a Palm. The Empeg should have at least 3 serial Ports :-). Too much things we can do with it... Maybe it's possible to share the IR with Bluetooth, or may there be one who would like to use both at the same time? I will play with the TDK-Modules, maybe there will come some ideas how to implement it.

Rolf

After reading this post, I had a dream... using my empeg as an headset device for my mobile phone !
Some questions arise to me :
Is it possible to use the bluetooth module with an empeg through Pcat's tuner kit ?
IIRC, there are I/O pins left on the kit for "future use", and the kit provides 5 and 9V DC.
Is it possible to use the tuner's PIC for multiplexing the data over the serial line ? Of course some code must be written into the kernel to demux the data... and to encode it correctly to the kit... This must also be done on the programmable PIC...
What is the speed of the tuner's serial line ? 9600 ? Could it be raised to 115200 (empeg and tuner side)? What is the bandwith needed for normal operation of the tuner ?
The TDK's module support GAP protocol (General Audio Protocol), so it would be possible to establish an audio connection with an mobile phone.
Can PCM decoding be done by the empeg processor, at kernel level ? And encoding the voice from the mic input ? But... how can I transfert the PCM data ?

I'll first wait for my tuner kit.... my order number is 133...

I know pretty much nothing about the BT protocol (just familiar with the high-level concept) so tell me if this would work.

Your BT enabled phone rings and sends a signal to your wireless headset telling it to turn on. The empeg's BT module also hears this (promisc?) and auto-mutes the player. When the conversation ends, the empeg starts playing again.

Maybe with a bit of coding, write something for a phone with both BT and Java. When the phone rings, the caller ID info is sent to the empeg. The music fades down, and the caller's name is either TTS'd or you have a WAV file for your frequent callers and one of those is played. That ends, the music is paused and 2 rings have gone by.... your phone's auto-answer now kicks in. You hear a short beep through your wireless headset (which you were already wearing because you were expecting a call) queing you to say "Hey, Chris!" without having taken your hands off the wheel or your eyes off the road!

>Is it possible to use the bluetooth module with an empeg through Pcat's tuner kit ?
Probably. Should only be switchable to at leat 1200 Bauds or so, but I couldn't imagine to be fast enough to transfer audio.

>Is it possible to use the tuner's PIC for multiplexing the data over the serial line ?
Why multiplexing? If this works with the spare pins, you have a normal serial line.

Well, obviously there are other "dreamers" like me, thank you, I'm sure we will find a solution.

>The empeg's BT module also hears this (promisc?) and auto-mutes the player. When the conversation ends, the empeg starts playing again.

Bluetooth ist mostly a one-to-one-connection. If you could use the empeg to be master and create a scatternet, maybe it would work. Phones won't be designed to do such things :-).

>Maybe with a bit of coding, write something for a phone with both BT and Java.
If the step above works, even this should be possible.
Wow, what an idea, using the empeg as an answeringmachine :-). You guys are crazy, I love it!

But be aware that there should someone who is able to program this and even does it... When I shall program the whole thing by myself, you'll surely be old and grey and your empeg has learned to fly in the meantime ;-).


BTW: I got an reply from TDK. I asked if a one-chip-solution is possible to detect an bluetooth-device (e.g. your mobile) and put an output to hi / lo. No, without an PIC or other device with a little brain it won't work. Ok, I expected it not to work without anything else but asking is tax-free :-).

Rolf

What exactly would have to be done to get bluetooth working with Palantir? I would be very interested in this. I have a bluetooth serial adapter coming and think palantur would be a great use for it.

* BlueZ would have to be ported to the Empeg.
* Empire would have to be modified to allow reading OBEX objects from BlueZ instead of IrDA. This wouldn't be too bad because OpenOBEX, which Empire uses, has built-in support for OBEX over Bluetooth.
* Palantir would have to be modified to detect if the Palm device has Bluetooth support, then an option menu would have to be created to allow the user to determine which transport layer (IrDA or BT) Palantir would use. Then the playlist beam portion of Palantir would have to be modified to allow for this option.

Ok, so no little feat. That's a shame. is this on your to do list at all? or were you hoping someone else would take the lead?

It's not on my todo list until I get the hardware. It's all about incentive.

I looked at it a bit further last night, and it seems that BlueZ only works on linux 2.4 or greater, while the Empeg runs (stock) a version of 2.2. So it looks like getting BlueZ to work (or any bluetooth stack) would be the biggest problem. Rewriting Empire and Palantir is not a big deal, getting support for BT in the kernel seems to be. It is possible to install debian on the Empeg, but that is not a solution for everyone. Backporting BlueZ to 2.2... well...*shudder*

wasnt kernel 2.4 in the new V3 software? I think I´ve read that somewhere....

wasnt kernel 2.4 in the new V3 software?

No, it wasn't.

damn... my bad!...

Is the issue with moving to 2.4 still rewriting the drivers for the Empeg, like you said in this thread? I'm totally happy with 2.2, but there is better IrDA support and BT support in the 2.4 kernel tree. It would allow us to patch things when bugfixes come out too, instead of backporting. I know you guys are busy and it may be just a time issue... just wondering out loud.

Hey thanks for the update and for looking into it

Also just wanted to say thanks for such a cool app in palantir

Is the issue with moving to 2.4 still rewriting the drivers for the Empeg

Yes and no. Mainly no. The main problem with moving to 2.4, as I understand it from John is that the memory manager sucks even more for our purposes than 2.2. I don't remember the details.

And, yes, the drivers would need porting anyway.