Bluetooth and wireless products questions....

[guest11]

Right, me and my friend have laptops, and we want to find a way to get a direct network connection to each other's laptop without using ANY wires. What I need to know is what sort of technology we need to do it. I have two PC Card slots (I got a sweet stuck in them at one point.... long story) and so does he so we need to know whether the technology we're looking for is Bluetooth or Wireless? From what he says (He has a wireless network at home, and a wireless PC card with range of 1500 ft), Wireless only works when there is a wireless router in proximity, so if we had our laptops right next to each other with wireless PC cards in it wouldn't work. I don't know whether that's true or not though. I've not got ANY PC cards for my laptop yet.

So would Bluetooth be the one for direct connections? If we were in range of each other, could we have a direct linkup to transfer files? Or would a wireless product do the trick?

And, on a slightly unrelated note, is there any program that can send IMs over a network without using the internet? Cause if we can somehow get a wireless network from laptop to laptop, we'd need a program that can send IMs. I've heard Windows Messenger can do it (Not MSN Messenger, Windows Messenger) but I don't currently know how to do it.

Thanks,
Dan

(And yes, I realise I probably won't get an answer to this )

[Proximity]

just outa curriosity, what are you trying to do? I mean, if you're close enough to talk, why do you need the IMs .. and if you're trying to transfer information from computer to computer, why not just hook them together via firewire or USB, wouldn't that be faster?

also. I want to hear about the sweet in the card-slot thing..

and oh yeah, I think you can do stuff like this via infared or something, but it probably sucks.

prox.
[fiery furnaces]

[guest11]

It's more of an experiment really, to see if it can be done. And at times we won't be close enough to talk. And we have a lot of file transfers that need to be done and stuff. And we want to be able to talk in lessons even if we're on the other side of the room.... I've got a little too much money spare cause of my job, I guess. And so has he.

And about the sweet, I had sweets on my desk. Then someone asked me what the serial number on my laptop was and I had to turn it on it's side to get the serial number (since it's on the bottom) and managed to get the PC card slots RIGHT on a sweet, and it got stuck. I got it out with a pen though. Was a bit difficult.

And also, neither of our laptops have firewire, and only mine has an infrared port.

[sine nomine]

for file transfers, you'd want bluetooth. the bluetooth adapter comes with bluetooth software. you open it, up, give your device a name and make it discoverable, then tell it to find other bt devices in range and pick the one you want to pair with. it will ask for a pin, and you can put in any four-digit number -- i usually tell people to use 1234. the other device will then ask for the same pin (this way, both sides fothe connection have agreed to the same thing). then you're paired.

after that, you select the paired device (there will be an icon and the bluetooth name of the device) and choose "explore services" or some similar menu option. you'll get a bunch of icons, etc representing a service the other device is configured for. one of those is file transfer. it's pretty simple.

you would have to have some sort of a router to use 802.11 for this, yes.

(this is what i do for a living, only with cell phones and cellular modems -- i work in tier 3 wireless data tech support.)

deb

[guest11]

Would Bluetooth only work for file transfers or would it work for live network traffic from a communications service such as Windows Messenger? It's all very interesting..... I'll be speaking to another professional on Tuesday when I go shopping. Thanks Deb.

Dan

[sine nomine]

it depends on what services the bluetooth software offers. generally on a cellphone those include dial-up networking, lan access, serial ports, fax ports, synchronization, file transfer, etc. the problem with trying to use an instant messenger program over the bt adpater would be knowing how to tell the im program where to connect -- those things are generally through a server. even if they're peer-to-peer, you have the problem of not having an ip address for the p2p program to use.

my bt knowledge is extensive when it comes to cellphones and net connectivity but not as thorough outside my specialties -- it'd prolly be ebst to ask around.

deb