Setting Up a Connection to Your PC

To use BlueRemote, you have to connect it to a PC. The one-time connection process has to be initiated from the PC, using its Bluetooth software drivers. In this section we show you how to connect BlueRemote to some popular Bluetooth drivers on several operating systems.

Note that BlueRemote does not come with its own set of PC drivers, but uses the standard Bluetooth device drivers that come with your PC operating system. By emulating a standard Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, BlueRemote is able to control the widest variety of Bluetooth systems, including those that we can't write device drivers for.

Connecting BlueRemote creates a permanent link between the Palm device and the PC. It is therefore normally unnecessary to repeat the manual connection process after a Palm reset or a PC reboot. Once it has been connected to a PC, BlueRemote will automatically try to reconnect to it on startup.

Tap on BlueRemote's icon in the system launcher to start BlueRemote.

On first startup, BlueRemote automatically prompts you to create a new connection. Tap Connect.

Your Palm device is ready to accept connections from your PC. The dots should be animated while the device is looking for connections. You will now have to connect to BlueRemote from the PC you want to control.

To continue, select the operating system that you want to control with BlueRemote:

If you don't see your system on the above list, please consult the documentation that came with the PC. If your device understands the standard Bluetooth HID profile, it is likely BlueRemote will work with it.

Connecting to Microsoft Windows XP

Windows XP has several Bluetooth driver implementations from various vendors. Each of them has its own way of connecting to BlueRemote. In this manual, we show step-by-step instructions to connect BlueRemote with three popular Bluetooth implementations. First, we have to decide which driver is installed on your PC.

Please locate the Bluetooth icon in your system tray's notification area, and right click on it with your mouse.

To continue, click on the picture below that is most similar to the popup menu you get.

If your popup menu resembles none of the images above, you probably have a Bluetooth stack we did not test with BlueRemote. BlueRemote will likely still work with your PC, but you will have to consult the Bluetooth section of your PC documentation to learn how to set up the connection.

Microsoft Windows XP SP2 Bluetooth Stack

Select Add a Bluetooth Device from the Bluetooth popup menu.

The Add Bluetooth Device Wizard appears. Select My device is ready to be found, and click Next.

The wizard will start searching for nearby Bluetooth devices. Please wait until the search is complete.

Your Palm device should show up in the result. If it doesn't, click Search Again until it appears in the list.

Select your device and press Next.

If you have not yet paired your Palm device with your PC, the Add Bluetooth Device Wizard will now begin the pairing process.

The pairing process sets up a secure connection between your Palm and PC, so that this complex manual connection process won't have to be repeated the next time you want to use BlueRemote.

Select Choose a passkey for me and click Next.

Windows will show you the passkey to enter on the Palm device.

Your Palm device should prompt you with the dialog shown above.

Enter the passkey shown on your PC in the text field. If you are sure you entered all the digits correctly, check the Add to trusted device list checkbox and tap OK.

Your Palm will close the pairing dialog and return to the Waiting for a connection form.

The wizard automatically begins installing the necessary drivers to use BlueRemote. During this process, you may see several dialogs momentarily appearing on your screen. Wait until they disappear.

Once the wizard has finished connecting to BlueRemote, it will report the successful connection to you. Click Finish to exit the wizard.

Meanwhile, the Palm device reports that it had connected to your PC, and the Waiting for a connection dialog is replaced by the Alphanumeric Keyboard screen.

You are now ready to start controlling you PC with BlueRemote.

Tip

To skip the rest of the installation instructions and continue with learning how to use BlueRemote, jump ahead to the Controlling the Keyboard section.

WIDCOMM Bluetooth Stack

Select Bluetooth Setup Wizard from the Bluetooth popup menu.

On the first screen of the Bluetooth Setup Wizard, select I want to find a specific Bluetooth device and configure how this computer will use its services. Click Next.

You get a list of nearby Bluetooth devices. Your Palm device should appear on the list. If it doesn't, hit Search Again until the display is updated. If this does not help, try turning off and on your PC's Bluetooth radio and restarting the procedure. Make sure BlueRemote is displaying its Waiting for a connection… screen during this process.

When your Palm device appears on the list, select it and click Next.

During this process, occasionally your Palm device will display some messages below the blue dots. These messages indicate the status of the connection to reassure you that the process is progressing.

If you have not yet paired your Palm device with your PC, the Bluetooth Setup Wizard will now begin the pairing process.

The pairing process sets up a secure connection between your Palm and PC, so that this complex manual connection process won't have to be repeated the next time you want to use BlueRemote.

To start pairing, you have to choose a PIN code (also called a passkey). Choose a number of your choice; any number will do. (Note that once the pairing process is done, the PIN code is discarded. It is not necessary for you to remember it after the connection has been set up.)

Type in the PIN code of your choice, and hit Initiate Pairing.

Your Palm device should prompt you with the dialog shown above.

Enter the same PIN code you entered on your PC in the text field. If you are sure you entered all the digits correctly, check the Add to trusted device list checkbox and tap OK.

Your Palm will close the pairing dialog and return to the Waiting for a connection form.

Return to your PC which should now display a list of services available on your Palm device. Select BlueRemote (the only entry in the list), and click Finish.

Your PC will now automatically install the drivers necessary to connect to a Bluetooth peripheral. During this process, you may see several dialogs momentarily appearing on your screen. Wait until they disappear.

Meanwhile, the Palm device reports that it had connected to your PC, and the Waiting for a connection dialog is replaced by the Alphanumeric Keyboard screen.

Once your PC completes the installation process, BlueRemote is ready to control your PC.

Tip

To skip the rest of the installation instructions and continue with learning how to use BlueRemote, jump ahead to the Controlling the Keyboard section.

BlueSoleil Bluetooth Stack

Select Display from the Bluetooth popup menu.

You get the Main Window of BlueSoleil. It probably won't show your Palm device yet, so refresh the display by pressing F5, or selecting Refresh Devices from the View menu.

Your Palm device should show up on the ring around the orange center representing your PC. If it doesn't appear, hit F5 again until it does.

To begin the pairing process, right-click on your device and select Pair Device.

The pairing process sets up a secure connection between your Palm and PC, so that this complex manual connection process won't have to be repeated the next time you want to use BlueRemote.

To start pairing, you have to choose a passkey. Choose a random number; any number will do. (Note that once the pairing process is done, the passkey is discarded. It is not necessary for you to remember it after the connection has been set up.)

In the dialog that appears, enter the passkey of your choice, and hit OK.

Your Palm device should prompt you with the dialog shown above.

Enter the same passkey you entered on your PC in the text field. If you are sure you entered all the digits correctly, check the Add to trusted device list checkbox and tap OK.

Your Palm will close the pairing dialog and return to the Waiting for a connection form.

BlueSoleil confirms that the pairing process completed successfully by displaying a little red mark beside the name of your device.

Note how the little mouse icon above the device ring is highlighted with a yellow frame. This means that BlueSoleil has recognized that your Palm device is a Bluetooth peripheral.

If the mouse icon is not highlighted, right click on your device and click Refresh Services.

Now connect to your device by right clicking on the device icon and selecting Connect -- Bluetooth Human Interface Device Service.

Your PC will now automatically install the drivers necessary to connect to a Bluetooth peripheral. Once the process has finished, BlueSoleil will update its display to show that the device has been connected.

Meanwhile, the Palm device reports that it had connected to your PC, and the Waiting for a connection dialog is replaced by the Alphanumeric Keyboard screen.

Once your PC completes the installation process, BlueRemote is ready to control your PC.

Tip

To skip the rest of the installation instructions and continue with learning how to use BlueRemote, jump ahead to the Controlling the Keyboard section.

Connecting to Apple Mac OS X

You can connect BlueRemote to your Mac using the Bluetooth Setup Assistant. The assistant is located in the Utilities folder. Please consult your system manuals for detailed instructions.

Tip

To skip the rest of the installation instructions and continue with learning how to use BlueRemote, jump ahead to the Controlling the Keyboard section.

Connecting to GNU/Linux

To use BlueRemote to control Linux, you will have to use a recent version of the BlueZ Bluetooth stack. We have tested BlueRemote with BlueZ 2.25 and 3.1, but later versions should work equally well. BlueZ should already be included in your Linux distribution, although the package may not be installed by default.

With the BlueZ stack, you will be able to control both the Linux text console and X server input.

To get the full feature set of BlueRemote, we suggest to use the latest kernel patches available from http://www.bluez.org/patches.html. BlueRemote will connect to your PC in a limited Boot Protocol mode unless the kernel patches are installed. Some features of BlueRemote may not work in Boot Protocol mode.

Once BlueZ is installed on your PC, you can connect to BlueRemote using the hidd command-line utility. You will have to know the Bluetooth address of your Palm device, which you can get using the hcitool utility. You will have to become root in order to add a new HID device to your system.

# hcitool scan --flush
Scanning ...
	00:07:E0:3D:B2:91	Treo 650
# hidd --connect 00:07:E0:3D:B2:91
#
      

Note that the hidd utility does not print anything on the terminal on success.

Linux will remember that you have connected BlueRemote and it is therefore not necessary to repeat this process after a reboot.

Reconnecting a Previous Connection

Once connected, your PC and BlueRemote will remember their connection, and will let you reconnect them without repeating the pairing process. To support this, BlueRemote automatically attempts to restore the last connection on startup. If this fails, or you manually disconnect BlueRemote, you will be presented with the screen below.

From this screen, you can select any of the previously connected PCs. Tap Connect to reconnect to the selected PC.

If you want to connect to a new PC, simply tap New and the connection process will start again.

Tapping on the Details button will show you detailed information about the currently selected PC, like its Bluetooth address, or the last time you connected to it.

You can use the Delete button to delete the connection currently displayed in the Details form.

When you tap Connect on the PC selection screen, the Connecting to screen will appear with the familiar blue dots.

This time, however, it won't be necessary for you to go to your PC and go through a series of dialog boxes: in most cases the reconnection will automatically succeed in a few seconds.

Sometimes BlueRemote might report that the reconnection failed. In this case, you have to reconnect the devices by repeating the manual connection process above.