IrLink v1.5 for Visor User Guide
01/01/2000

DISCLAIMER

IrLink V1.5 --  Copyright (c) 1998-2000 IS/Complete, Inc. -- All Rights Reserved.

NO WARRANTIES. IS/Complete, Inc. expressly disclaims any warranty for this product.  This program is NOT free software. You cannot redistribute it without permission from IS/Complete, Inc.   This product and information and any related documentation is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the implied warranties or merchant ability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. The entire risk arising out of use or performance of this product and information remains with you.

NO LIABILITY FOR DAMAGES. In no event shall IS/Complete, Inc. be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without limitation, system crashes, damages for loss of business profits, business interruption, loss of business information, or any other pecuniary loss) arising out of the use of or inability to use this product, even if IS/Complete, Inc. has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Because some States/jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitation may not apply to you.

3Com, Graffiti, HotSync, and Palm Computing are registered trademarks of 3Com Corporation or its subsidiaries. Palm III, Palm OS, and PalmPilot are trademarks of 3Com Corporation or its subsidiaries. Visor is a registered trademark of Handspring Corporation.  Other brand and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners

Table of Contents

1. Before You Get Started
2. About IrLink
3. What IrLink Can Do
4. Installation Pre-Requisites
5. IrLink Installation
6. How To Use IrLink
7. Q & A
8. IrLink Examples and Instructions For Your Target Devices (IR HotSync instruction included)
9. How to report IrLink bugs

1. Before You Get Started: [top]

2. About IrLink: [top]

IrLink is software which allows you to use your Palm/Visor and your cellular phone to dial into the Internet simply by using an Infrared signal.  It eliminates the need of  a physical cradle or serial/USB cable which is usually needed to connect your Palm/Visor and cellular phone.  You can also use IrLink with your Visor to HotSync with your notebook or iMac/PowerMac G3 wirelessly via Infrared port.

IrLink is a general utility/tool (a kind of middleware) to re-direct cradle (USB or serial) communication to IrDA communication without the need of  code changes from the developer.   It supports cradle (USB or serial) re-direct to IrDA communication and cradle re-direct to HP Serial IR.

IrLink is the only software that makes your Visor talk to Nokia 8810 or  Ericsson SH888 (or other model that is compatible with DI27) without a cable, dial-up to your ISP, retrieve email, or browse the net without waiting for a new OS or a new patch from the vendor.  At this time, IrLink is not compatible with Nokia 61XX models.

The "on-the-fly" port redirection feature will ease IR HotSync between Visor and Notebook/iMac/PowerMac G3 and mixed use with the other devices/applications that use the cradle.

IrLinkAskMe.gif (2345 bytes)
3. What IrLink Can Do [top] Notes:
  1. HP SIR -- HP Serial IR or Raw IR, is the lowest layer (Physical Layer) of the IrDA 1.0 standard. For IrDA standard, please visit www.irda.org
4. IrLink Pre-Installation [top]
  1. Before you begin the installation of IrLink onto your Visor, you should familiarize yourself with how to install programs onto it (i.e., check out their help area at www.handspring.com)
  2. You need to click here to download the latest version of IrLink and LicenseMgr onto your PC/Mac. (these will be links to the actual files)
  3. Click here to download 3com’s Ir Enhance Update onto your PC/Mac.
  4. Make sure you either have a cradle for your Visor plugged into your PC/Mac, or are familiar with beaming applications from another Visor, and have one available with IrLink and LicenseMgr and 3Com’s Update on it.
5. IrLink Installation onto your Visor [top]
  1. On your computer, click on the Palm Desktop icon. Click on the Install button. Choose the Add button. Open the SerIrCommLib.prc, LicenseMgr.prc and IrLink15.prc files you downloaded earlier. When all three are listed, choose the Done button. You should receive a notice that these files will be HotSynced the next time this action is performed.
  2. On your Visor, choose the HotSync icon. Choose either Local or Modem Sync according to your setup (Local means you have a cradle plugged into your PC/Mac).
  3. You will get a pop-up message asking you to reset your Visor after HotSync is completed. Click on the Reset button. You should now be able to see an IrLink icon on your Visor.
  4. Please follow the instructions below in order to use IrLink effectively.
  5. Some Quick Links for your setup if you are familiar with IrLink
    1. Infrared PPP Dial Up to ISP, Ericsson SH888I888//DI27 , or Nokia 8810/7110
    2. IR HotSync with your PC or iMac classic, or PowerMac G3 via IrDA
    3. IR HotSync with NT/Unix or other OS via  HP SIR
6. Using IrLink v1.5 [top]
  1. Click on the new IrLink icon on your Visor.
  2. In order for your Visor to start using the Infrared signal instead of the cradle, check the "Redirect Cradle" check box. (see figure 6a)

  3.  

     
     

    (figure 6.a)

  4. You now must choose an appropriate Infrared redirect option for your computer. Your choices are the following:
    1.  
    2. IrDA 1.0 (literally Infrared Data Association 1.0) means that in order to communicate with your computer you must have an IrDA IrCOMM Driver installed; (If you have chosen IrDA 1.0 and an error message pops up, you have not properly installed 3Com’s IR Enhance Update on your Visor. Please click here and follow the instructions again.)

    3.  
      IrLinkAskMe.gif (2345 bytes)
      (figure 6b)
      (figure 6c)
    4. HP SIR (literally Hewlett-Packard Serial infrared) means you will communicate through the lowest physical layer of the IrDA 1.0 standard.
    5. MIXED/Menu means you can set your preference as to whether you want each application individually on your computer to be updated by using the Cradle, IrDA 1.0, or HP SIR whenever you perform a HotSync. (see figure 6c)
    6. If you go back to your initial IrLink screen, you will see a set of diagrams called "Quick Launch". These options allow you to choose the method for which your Visor will communicate with your PC. When you choose "Quick Launch" you will go directly into HotSync mode. Choices include:
    7. Each of these options has it’s own setup procedures. Please follow them accordingly.
    8. On your initial IrLink screen, choose the Menu option in the lower left-hand corner of the screen. Under Options you will see the following categories:
NOTES: When you are in IrLink and the "Ask Me" dialog appears, Beam Receiving will temporarily be disabled to prevent the "Waiting for sender…" message box from coming up. This will cause a racing condition if you try to communicate with your PC/Mac via Infrared.

Please also note that whenever you want to disable IrLink, uncheck the "Redirect Cradle" check box.

Feature in Experimental Stage

A new feature of IrLink v1.5 is called Scheduled HotSync. This allows you to schedule on the Date Book application of your Visor an exact time for the HotSync to take place, instead of using IrLink AutoSync feature. Please follow the instructions below to perform this new feature.

  1. Click on the Date Book icon on your Visor.
  2. Click on the date and time you would like your computers to HotSync.
  3. Type the bolded text to Datebook schedule, to schedule a local HotSync: !HotSync,Local and to schedule a remote HotSync: !HotSync,Remote
  4. Once you have typed in this line, click on the Details button, and click on the Alarm check box.
  5. To perform this scheduled HotSync your "Redirect Cradle" check box must be checked, and you must use the MIXED configuration.
Known issue: If there is a pending Date Book alarm message, the HotSync will be blocked and ignored. You will still see the HotSync schedule as an alarm message regardless of a successful HotSync or not.
7. Q & A: [top]

Q1: How can I use IrLink with GSMTools (v1.21) ?
Ans.: Go to Menu/Options/SMS Preferences, uncheck the IrDA connection to phone.
 

Q2: How do you make IR HotSync co-exist with OmniRemote without switching back and forth ?

Ans.: Select MIXED option on redirection method, go to MENU/MIXED, search for HotSync, set it to IrDA 1.0.

Q3: I don't like the Splash Screen. Is there any better way to do this ?

Ans.: Go to MENU/Preferences. You can either disable the notification effect of your choice or you can select sound or flash to avoid any visual effects.

Q4: Why do I need notification ?

Ans.: Many applications will use RS-232 and Infrared in a mixed way.  This is the easiest way to know what you are using and what went wrong when you encounter any communication difficulties.

Q5: When I set IrLink to IrDA option, TailLightTM; silent alarm doesn't work.  How do I work around it ?

Ans.: Same as Q2.

Q6: The Mixed List doesn't have any Hack program. Will IrLink support Hacks ?

Ans.: Hacks are very special, so we have to handle them differently.  When a Hack is activated, the owner of the Hack is the program you are in.  For example:  For AlarmHack, if you are in Date Book, when the alarm was triggered, the owner of the AlarmHack becomes Date Book. If the alarm was triggered when you are in the MemoPad, the owner of the AlarmHack will become MemoPad.  We have no way to tell the owner the code segment during run time.  In this version, IrLink will handle hacks that redirect the sound and alarm to the cradle correctly.

8. IrLink Examples: [top]

9. How To Report IrLink Bugs: [top]

Please report to VirLink@ISComplete.com with the following information. Please be as detailed as possible if you encounter any bugs when you use IrLink with your Visor:

THANK YOU and ENJOY IT !!!
Please visit our web site at  www.ISComplete.com!