I’m looking for advice on my first Bluetooth experiences. I don’t feel like things are making sense.
I just bought a little GPS logger and PC software that goes with it. The device’s only link to the PC is over a Bluetooth connection. I also bought a Bluetooth USB adapter for my WinXP SP2 desktop PC. My PC, by the way, only offers USB1.1 since a nasty virus infection required reinstalling Windows, but the adapter says USB1.1 is fine. This is my first Bluetooth experience.
The USB adapter came with software, but its install program just puts its name on the Taskbar (as if the install program is running, not in the bottom right Task Tray as if it’s succeeded in getting some service running in the background). No window opens and nothing else happens. However, its instructions say if I have SP2 installed I can opt to use Microsoft’s Bluetooth manager, so that’s what I’m doing so far.
I can make the logger software and hardware work as follows:
I plug in the USB Bluetooth adapter and open the Bluetooth Devices dialog by right clicking on the Bluetooth icon in my Task Tray. I turn on the GPS logger. I select Add Device, click the Device Is Ready button, select Enter Passkey, and type in what the logger instructions call a PIN. The Bluetooth Devices dialog reports that it has found the device and tells me which two COM ports it has associated with it. I close that dialog. Then I open the logger’s software program, select the lower numbered COM port reported by the Bluetooth Devices dialog, and click the Connect To Device button.
At this point I can communicate with the logger through this software program.
When I am finished with this, I close the software, turn off the logger, and open the Bluetooth Manager dialog again. I select the device and click Remove Device. Then I pull the battery out of the logger for at least 30 seconds to do a master reset, and put it back in.
This is all a lot of fiddling. However, I have tried leaving out various combinations of these steps, and have not found any that I can skip successfully. Without doing each of these things, the Connect To Device button makes everything wait for several minutes and then gives a Failed To Connect error. The logger has a blue LED that flashes when it is on but has no Bluetooth connection, and stays lit when there is a Bluetooth connection. I see that the LED stays on when I go through all these things and have successfully connected. It also stays on for the duration of the Connect To Device attempt if I skip one of the steps, but goes back to blinking when I get the Failed To Connect error.
The instructions that came with the logger describe different options than I see when I use the Bluetooth Manager. For example they say I should click on the option to connect over a COM port and the blue LED should stay on after that, and then I should open their software. I don’t see any option to connect over a COM port in the Bluetooth Manager, and have found nothing to click in that dialog that leaves the blue LED on. There are enough differences between what the instructions say and what I see on my screen that I can’t quite bridge the two. I found all these steps posted by a user in the logger manufacturer’s help forum. No luck yet in getting my own postings answered. Tech support has a computerized voice that tells me I’m important to them several times and then hangs up on me.
I was hoping that I would have to go through some initial kinds of installation and configuration steps, but after that would be able to turn the logger on, start their software, and get the connection I need. So far it doesn’t seem like it works that way.
My questions:
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Do you typically use a Bluetooth device with a PC by going through the Bluetooth Manager’s “Add Device” sequence, recording the COM port number, entering the COM port number into the device’s software, using the device’s software for something actually useful, using the Bluetooth Manager’s “Remove Device” sequence, and doing a master reset of the device? This is hard to believe. Well, wait, this is a PC, so maybe it isn’t hard to believe.
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How heavily does working with the Bluetooth Device Manager figure in one’s day-to-day interaction with Bluetooth devices, once they’ve been set up and configured and so forth?
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Is my problem that I am using Microsoft’s Bluetooth Manager? I mean, I wouldn’t think that editing text was a reasonable goal, either, if the only editor I knew about was EDLIN, you know? So, should I buy and try other Bluetooth USB adapters until I find one whose install program succeeds in putting their Bluetooth Manager on my machine?
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Do Bluetooth products compete on the basis of user friendliness of the Bluetooth Manager? I mean, is it like using the World Wide Web, where you need frequent and significant interaction with a Web Browser, and people have their favorite Browser and debate the various features of the Browser and sometimes use more than one Browser? If so, what are some popular Bluetooth Managers? Are there programs you can buy to automate the Add Device and Remove Device routines?
Thanks!