- First you should put your IR devices in range. Though it is maybe possible that the IR service detects every new device automagically I only have good experience with the devices in range during the configuration process.
- Keep your IR devices together in a range below one meter and an angle of 30°. There has to be a direct connection. If this is not possible, you may use a mirror (an unused M$ CD should work quite good).
- Remove any current print jobs with ``lprm "*"''.
- Add "alias tty-ldisc-8 irtty" to /etc/conf.modules.
- Run ``depmod -a''.
- If it is not in the specs, ``setserial -g -a /dev/ttyS?'' should give you an overview about which devices may include the IrDA-Port. Probably this is one with a 16550 UART.
- Use ``setserial /dev/ttyS<0-2> irq 0xNNNN port M'' to set the values for your IR serial port (if you need it, especially when the IR port is at a separate serial line you usually don't need to change the values). For further info look into the FAQ section below.
- Run ``irattach /dev/ttyS<0-2>''. If kerneld is running this will load the proper modules.
There are eight modules:
- irda.o, main module controls the IR connections in general
- irport.o, "You should not use irport.o, this is a FIR replacement for irtty.o. irport is not finished and should probably not be used by anyone yet! Dag Brattli"
- irtty.o, I suppose this supports the IrTTP layer
- irlan_client.o, network module (client)
- irlan_server.o, network module (server)
- irlpt_client.o for printer connections (client)
- irlpt_server.o for printer connections (server)
- irobex.o Palm III support
- If you don't use ``kerneld'' insert irda.o with ``modprobe irda.o''.
- Do ``lsmod''. It should show the irda.o module.
- Give irattach some time, e.g. seven seconds, to detect other IR devices. Then watch the output from the kernel hopefully, you get it in /var/log/messages. It should look like the following:
Apr 5 06:42:12 ZAPPEL kernel: Linux IrDA v0.1 Sat Dec 13 14:54:04 1997 (Dag Brattli)
Apr 5 06:42:12 ZAPPEL kernel: IrLPT, $Revision: 1.20 $/$Date: 1998/03/08 15:52:10 $ (Thomas Davis)
Apr 5 06:42:12 ZAPPEL syslog: Serial connection established.
Apr 5 06:42:19 ZAPPEL kernel: IrDA Discovered: HP LaserJet 6P
Apr 5 06:42:19 ZAPPEL kernel: Services: PnP Compatible Printer <7>Informing LPT service user
- The following I couldn't test yet because I don't have a HP-NetBeam or something like that. If you can make suggestions please let me know.
- Dag Brattli wrote: "If you want to use IrLAN you must ``modprobe irlan_client'' before ``ifup irlan0''. I had to remove the request_module() stuff since that needed a process context which I don't have in the kernel. "
- Run ``ifconfig irlan0 up <ip_address> netmask <ip_netmask>'' to configure it with IP-address and other parameters. If the protocol is still running you may start communicating. It is possible to use RedHat's netcfg to do this, since it makes it very easy. Next time you only need to do ``/sbin/ifup irlan0''.
- Test the network device by pinging to it. For detailed information about further setup see the NET3-HOWTO.
- Do not forget to add a route, e.g. ``route add default gw <ip_gateway>'' or ``route add -host irlan0''.
- Ping to another IP now.
- For testing reasons I recommend only to use one laptop and one IR ethernet device in the same room. If there are problems look which different modes for the IR ethernet device are possible. Try them.
The only supported dongle (serial motherboard adapter) now is the Extended Systems Inc. ESI JetEye. For the Tekram IRmate dongle, technical information is strongly needed. Make sure you have the define ESI_DONGLE uncommented in the Makefile. This couldn't be tested yet, because I don't have an ESI JetEye. So please send me your experiences.
- Palm III -> Linux
1) Terminal 1> ``irattach /dev/ttyS<x>''
2) Terminal 2> ``load_misc irobex''
3) Terminal 3> Start ``irobex_app'' in the irobex directory.
4) Beam something from your Palm III.
5) If everything is successful, you can take a look at a new file that has been created in the directory you started irobex_app. This file will be named after the object you just transfered.
- Linux -> Palm III
This should be also possible (but is not yet included in a snapshot).
- Linux < - > Linux
Dag Brattli wrote: "The awakened reader may wonder what prevents the beaming of files from Linux to Linux? Well, nothing!! (but I haven't tried that yet). This means that we now have a "simple" way of beaming files between Linux laptops. I think that this may be the "killer app" we all have been waiting for!"
Why this? Unfortenately Linux users are not always supported with necessary hardware information.
Sometimes it is possible to look at them in Window$95.
Where to get? At
http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/info/irda.htm you will find a support pack "Infrared Transfer 2.0". It is a self-extracting archive W95ir.exe with 331KB.
With some machines e.g. a HP Omnibook 800 it is neccessary to use a vendor specific version of this package (e.g. for the HP Omnibook 800 you may find it at the recovery CD).
Especially the ..\windows\inf\*.inf files and the device manager are of interest to look for configuration details.
There are also some non M$ products available. Note: Some of them use proprietary IR protocols:
- CounterPoint: QuickBeam 1.15
- LapLink 7.5
- CarbonCopy 32 4.0
- pc ANYWHERE 7.5
- Puma Technology: TRANXIT pro 4.0
Connection between Linux/IR and Window$95 IrDA
For the moment it should only be possible to get a network connection between to PC's (e.g. no ``getty''). If you have setup Infrared Transfer 2.0, you will find an IrDA network device in the <Network Device Section>. But I couldn't get a working connection yet. Maybe it is also possible to use the IrOBEX protocol. But I guess the necessary software is only provided with a Palm III.
If you like you may use my configuration tool for these steps:
- General Configuration
- Printer-Connection Setup
- LAN-Connection Setup
- Palm III Configuration, not yet ready
- Dongle Configuration, not yet ready
How to use the configuration tool:
- Download the text file irconfig from
http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~r2d2c3po/irconfig.
- Put it in the same directory as all the other Linux/IR programms.
- Do a ``chmod a+x irconfig''.
- Maybe you have to edit the first line #!/bin/sh according to your system.
- You have to be "root" to use the script.
- Start the script with ``./irconfig''.
- You may edit the first part of the script if necessary.
- You have also this options ``./irconfig [ start|stop|test <tty> <port> <irq> ]''.