HOWTO Synchronize Palm via Bluetooth Serial

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[edit] 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!

[edit] Installation

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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