[Coco] bluetooth wireless pak users

[gene heskett]

On Monday, January 24, 2011 11:51:34 am Roger Taylor did opine:

> I'm trying to gather feedback from my bluetooth pak users to see how
> things are going.  The radio module was programmed here to work at
> 115200 bps but if reset for any reason will drop back to 9600 bps
> just to be safe.  From a terminal program, like the one included (a
> modified Tandy RS-232 Pak ROM) you can talk to the module and configure
> it.
> 
> Another thing, you can replace the ROM with the CoCoNet ROM and the
> bluetooth pak instantly becomes a wireless virtual drive system with
> HTTP requests, etc.

Except for signal strength problems, which were alleviated to the point of 
being useful about 95% of the time by moving it to the front slot in the 
mpi as opposed to being shrouded by a pack on both sides of it, I'd say its 
working well here.  But when the reported signal quality drops to the 11% 
mark, it will fall over and then the coco side needs a full powerdown reset 
before it will reconnect to this, must also be rebooted, linux box.

This is through the flooring of this house, a literal rats nest of assorted 
cabling and about 22 feet of air between them.  Not ideal for bluetooth at 
all, but I believe its doing as well as bluetooth with its milliwatt power 
levels and microscopic antennas can do.  If I could find a well shaped alu 
trouble lamp bowl, I might consider rigging a mount in the middle of it for 
the button I use on this end, but the ribs they put in the current ones are 
probably more scattering than its worth.

Would I buy another?  Definitely.

-- 
Cheers, Gene
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
To generalize is to be an idiot.
		-- William Blake