HOWTO_Synchronize_Palm_via_Bluetooth_Serial

Introduction

The aim of this HOWTO is to synchronize a Palm pilot to a desktop computer. This connection is to be made over a serialized Bluetooth connection, not a Bluetooth dun or pan. This is work in progress YMMV!

Installation

Kernel Config

To start off we need to get the proper modules in the kernel. For this we will need the bluetooth subsystem and rfcomm.

Networking  --->
  <M> Bluetooth subsystem support --->
    <M> L2CAP protocol support  
    <M> SCO links support  
    <M> RFCOMM protocol support   
    [*]   RFCOMM TTY support 
    <M> BNEP protocol support   
    [*]   Multicast filter support  
    [*]   Protocol filter support  
    <M> HIDP protocol support  
        Bluetooth device drivers  --->
          <M> HCI USB driver  
          [*]   SCO (voice) support
          <M> HCI UART driver 
          [*]   UART (H4) protocol support
          [*]   BCSP protocol support

If you need special device drivers for your bluetooth device select them here. This is what I had in my config for my laptop. This will get you a basic bluetooth support for just about anything. I compiled all my bluetooth stuff as modules, this keeps me from having to reboot my system just to check things out.

Software

We now need several software packages. The following emerge lines should cover it for you. Command:

emerge -va bluez-utils pilot-link

Double check the use flags and if everything looks good then just end a 'y' to continue.

Configuration

At this point you should be able to start your bluetooth device. Run Command:

/etc/init.d/bluetooth start

If you get any warnings make sure you have the bluetooth modules loaded. The ones I needed for my laptop where hci_usb and bluetooth.

We are now going to run hciconfig, which is much like the ifconfig, but for bluetooth devices (clever aren't they :) ) Run Command:

hciconfig

And then you should get

hci0:	Type: USB
      BD Address: 00:16:41:B8:DF:E2 ACL MTU: 1017:8 SCO MTU: 64:0
      UP RUNNING PSCAN ISCAN AUTH ENCRYPT 
      RX bytes:29520 acl:887 sco:0 events:291 errors:0
      TX bytes:16924 acl:589 sco:0 commands:77 errors:0

#
# HCI daemon configuration file.
#

# HCId options
options {
	# Automatically initialize new devices
	autoinit yes;

	# Security Manager mode
	security user;

	# Pairing mode
	pairing multi;

	# PIN helper
	pin_helper /etc/bluetooth/pin;

	# D-Bus PIN helper
	#dbus_pin_helper;
}

# Default settings for HCI devices
device {
	# Local device name
	name "BlueZ (%h)";

	# Local device class
	class 0x100;

	# Default packet type
	#pkt_type DH1,DM1,HV1;

	# Inquiry and Page scan
	iscan enable; pscan enable;

	# Default link mode
	lm accept,master;

	# Default link policy
	lp hold,sniff,park;

	# Authentication and Encryption (Security Mode 3)
	auth enable;
	encrypt enable;
}

Here is my file, compare it to yours and make the appropriate changes. Yours should contain more comments about the options for each variable.

#
# RFCOMM configuration file.
#

rfcomm0 {
	# Automatically bind the device at startup
	bind yes;

	# Bluetooth address of the device
	device 00:16:41:B8:DF:E2;

	# RFCOMM channel for the connection
	channel	1;

	# Description of the connection
	comment "Twix Bluetooth Device";
}

In this file replace device with the