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This article
discusses how to set up Bluetooth wireless
technology on Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar. This is part
one of a two-part series. In this article we'll
look at setting up Bluetooth on OS X, in
Part
II we'll look
at using it with Bluetooth-enabled devices like
PDAs and cell phones.
The first step to
setting up Bluetooth on Mac OS X 10.2 is to make
sure your Mac is Bluetooth-enabled. This means
having a Mac that has it built-in like the Aluminum
PowerBook G4 models, or getting an external
Bluetooth adapter, which is usually a USB device.
Apple recommends the D-Link USB adapter on it's web
page, but i prefer the oh-so cute and slick
Sony
PCGA-BA1 USB
Bluetooth adapter which is currently available for
sale only in Japan or on the web.
I like this adapter because 1) It has Sony's
legendary quality, 2) it's white and matches my
iBook, 3) when connected it lights up with a cool
little blue light. Apple says it's not compatible
with the Mac, but it works fine on my system. I did
have problems when i plugged it into the USB hub
attached to my Mac, but after plugging everything
else including my Apple USB keyboard into the hub,
and then plugging the Bluetooth adapter into the
iBook's USB port directly, it works great. It's
slick and looks cool. Here's a photo:
Most web places seem
to sell the Sony adapter for around $99. But i
exploited the Yen's fall as the U.S. launched the
war on Iraq and got mine in Japan for around $65.
:-)
So now onto the
setup. Assumning you have a working Bluetooth
adapter, open the System Preferences pane in the
Finder:
You'll
now notice a "Bluetooth" icon under the "Hardware" section
in the System Preferences window. Click it and you'll
get the Bluetooth preferences page:
Now for
each option: the lines at the top of the window show whether
Bluetooth is powered, and the name
used for the Bluetooth device (which is the same as
the computer's name in the Sharing Preferences
pane). Checking "Discoverable" lets
other Bluetooth devices find your device automatically. If
you uncheck this
option, you'll
have to specify you Mac's name and connection
manually on the other device. "Require
Authentication" determines
whether the connecting device requires a name and
password to log in. I have left it off here
for ease of use, but you
may want to turn this option on so that other
Bluetooth roamers can't connect to your
device without a
name and password. Note that turning both this
option and "Discoverable" on means that
someone can only
log into your Mac from another Bluetooth device if
they know both the device name, and have a
valid user name
and password to log in with. "Support Non-Conformin
Phones" is a legacy option that makes it
easier to connect to the
Mac if you have a very early model Bluetooth phone
that might not be fully Bluetooth-compliant. "Show Bluetooth status
in the menu bar" does just what it says. I
recommend you turn this option on since the
menu lets you
toggle many of the Bluetooth settings on and off
just by selecting a menu item.
Next,
click the "File
Exchange" tab to go to the next Preferences
pane:
In the
top of this pane are options that let you set whether or
not
you want to be prompted each time items come
in over the Bluetooth
connection. You can also set the folder on the Mac
where the incoming items should be saved.
Checking "Allow other
devices to browser files on this computer" allows
other Bluetooth users to see the files on your
Mac. You can also
select which folder to allow the remote user to
browse.
In Part
II we'll look
at how to set up and use devices such as PDAs and
cell phones to access the information on the Mac
and to exchange files and data with those
devices.
Links
Apple's
Bluetooth Developer Page
Apple:
Working with Bluetooth Devices
Official
Bluetooth Website
Bluetooth.org
SIG
Listening
to Bluetooth
Ericsson Licensing |
