bluetooth issue

[MikeyD]

Hey all,

I'm having an issue with my bluetooth that I was hoping someone could provide some guidance on. I have my BlueSMiRF all wired up and connecting to my pc via com7 (on the computer). Great.

The problem, however, is that my bluetooth dongle will support only one virtual serial connection at a time. So in other words, I can only communicate with one robot at a time. Additionally, I don't know how to set up the bluetooth connection via java. I can initialize the input/output stream for the COM port, but I can't actually handshake the two bluetooth devices to make the COM port active.

So I'm looking for one of several solutions:
1) is there a way to set up the bluetooth connection from within robobasic? and for that matter, is there a way to change the broadcast name of the BlueSMiRF?

2) does anyone know of any affordable bluetooth dongles that will support multiple virtual serial connections simultaneously using different COM ports? In other words, I would be able to set up 3 different input/output streams in java to communicate with three different bots.

3) maybe I could set up the bluetooth communication from within java. Then I could switch between different robots as I need to. The issue is that the classes with which serial communication is done through java are no longer supported for windows, so I'm not sure if this can be done.

If anyone has any other ideas or answers to any of the above proposed solutions, please let me know, as this is a massive hurdle. I really don't want to have to connect 4 different bluetooth dongles to communicate with 4 different robots...

Thanks,
Mikey-D

[JavaRN]

To use bluetooth through java I suggest that you use the RXTX package available from the website http://www.rxtx.org also I posted a link in some other thread (I forgot where) where you can find examples how to access the serial port. To communicate through bluetooth dongle you can use the same command you use for serial communication - it is as if you are communicating with com7 rather than com1 or 2.

Regarding multiple communication from one single bluetooth module - I've never tried something similar I only communicate with a single robot. I've also noticed that if there is another bluetooth active in the vicinity I have problems with connecting to my robot.

Hope this helps

Charles

[MikeyD]

I'll have a look at the rxtx package you suggested. Hopefully it will simplify things. As for the serial communication, I had already gotten that working. It wasn't an issue, as I realize that it is the same as communicating with a different COM port. I'm not trying to nullify your advice, just trying to clarify my problem.

I'm not having any problem communicating with a single robot. Only with multiple robots. I sort of had my doubts as to whether anyone would have any experience in this area, because I imagine most people here have only one robot or are only communicating with one at a time. I haven't had any problems communicating with the one, even when my cellphone's bluetooth is active and broadcasting. I just can't connect to both simultaneously unless I use different services for both (serial and headset, for example).

But thanks for the tips, Charles, and if anyone else has anything at all to contribute, please do so. I'm beginning to realize just how new I am at this (as I spent the day trying to get MOTORIN() working properly with my bluetooth...)