Model 02 Bluetooth woes

[Guest]

[fmillion]

Ok guys, I got my new OQO a couple days ago. I LOVE the thing. It's tiny, I can carry it everywhere and it's a lot of fun.

But I'm starting to feel the novelty wear off and fast. Now it's time to make it useful lol.

I'm running Windows XP Pro. The Toshiba bluetooth stack that this thing comes with is annoying me to say the least. When I pair my phone, I have to literally install a modem manually? I have to end up choosing standard 300bps modem because the higher ones send commands at my phone it doesn't understand. I haven't even tried oing other stuff with the stack yet but I can tell you that part right there ANNOYS me.

I want to be able to use a different stack if it's at all possible. Even the basic Microsoft stack would be better than this for me. I've read of people making Widcomm work on model 01+'s but not on model 02's. Widcomm would be nice but Microsoft's would even be better. At least it automatically adds the modem device for you.

Is there anything I can do to at least get the normal XP Microsoft stack going? Or am I stuck with this PITA Toshiba stack?

Also, the Wi-Fi range seems very poor. Maybe it's been written about - going to search it out. Across the room, my normal laptop gets a full 5 bars, the OQO gets 3. In the next room, OQO down to 1, normal laptop at 4. And this is with the unit laying on a table, so my hands aren't affecting the signal.

Thanks and still looking forward to a lot of productivity on my OQO!

-F

[Stuart]

I'm running Windows XP Pro. The Toshiba bluetooth stack that this thing comes with is annoying me to say the least. When I pair my phone, I have to literally install a modem manually? I have to end up choosing standard 300bps modem because the higher ones send commands at my phone it doesn't understand. I haven't even tried oing other stuff with the stack yet but I can tell you that part right there ANNOYS me.

I use XP, the Toshiba stack, and a phone for BT Internet.  It works fine.  Having to install a Modem is normal and is an OS thing, not the BT stack.  Just pick the plainest modem that doesn't send any commands.  The baud rate of modem doesn't have any impact on the speed you'll get.

[stuartguthrie]

Hey F,

What mobile phone are you using? Is it running Windows Mobile 5/6? If yes, are you just wanting to connect to the internet using the Internet Sharing application? I've found that the Toshiba Bluetooth stack is a little hard to get your head around at first but once it's all setup properly it works great. I've had a Palm Treo 750 and have recently upgraded my phone contract to a new HTC TyTn II and aside from being confusing, I really like the Toshiba Bluetooth stack.

Stu

P.S. Don't worry, the novelty doesn't wear off - lol

[kyone]

One of the things that annoys me with the Tosbiba BT is that it loads a number of different profiles into memory if you use them or not.  If you ctl alt del and look at what process are running, a number of them are related to the stack.  A waste of resources if you ask me.

If I am in the same room as the Wifi hub I will get all bars.

[fmillion]

I searched around the forums and found this little gem of info:

http://www.oqotalk.com/index.php/topic,2162.0.html

Uninstalled the toshiba stack.

Opened c:\windows\inf\bth.inf

Under [Manufacturer] I added:
OQO=OQO, NT.5.1

Then after the last device section I made my own section:
[OQO.NT.5.1]
OQO Bluetooth=                                   BthUsb, USB\Vid_1557&Pid_0004

Haven't given it a try yet but will report my results. It's not that the Toshiba stack is BAD, but it's just annoying. I am used to Widcomm and/or the MS stack. Plus I'm just a purist - I don't like seeing 12 com ports in my system that aren't being used. Call it OCD but it's just me LOL.

Next would be seeing if I can get the Widcomm stack to work - that'd be the ultimate setup since Widcomm is still the most flexible stack I've seen.

-F

[kyone]

Does that also work for Vista ?

It has always been on my to do list to install the MS or Toshiba stack but I have not got around to it.  What I find a little confusing is the relationship between the hardware and the software.  The BT hardware is Toshiba.. does that make a difference ?

BT was suppose to make short wireless connections simple.. With cumbersome software it falls short.

I look forward to the next generation of BT.  To pair a device you simply have to put it within 1cm of the master device.. no more press button and hold.. click twice.. type 0000.. bang your head against a hard surface.

[fmillion]

Success! After modifying the INF as specified in the posting my OQO is running on the MS Bluetooth stack. The MS Stack isn't perfect but it's sure a lot more lightweight and easy to manage than the Toshiba stack, and it fulfills all my needs since I don't use A2DP (yet? lol). I will give Widcomm a try sometime on here just for the heck of it (it's still my favorite stack, with the Explorer-like interface to everything) but MS is still better than the bloated bug-prone Toshiba stack

I can still enable/disable the BT radio with the wireless dashboard but punching Configure does nothing. No big deal. Only thing that concerns me is being able to disable that radio if ever necessary and that ability is there.

Now if I could make a real good suggestion to OQO - Go with Widcomm! It's a much nicer stack, simpler to work with and, well, it's just great.

Yeah that pair by touch thing will sure be nice. The only thing I see being the problem is if it's as short as 1cm people will have to know exactly where the bluetooth radio is inside their device. The OQO, as small as it is, is bigger than 1cm and the radio could be anywhere inside there. lol

YAY!

-F