Traces of Oliver

S500i, Bluetooth, Ubuntu 7.10, X60 - success

I didn't get this to work at first; but somewhere in the Ubuntu forums (I forgot where), someone said: "install gnome-vfs-obexftp". Which I did. Now I can access all the good stuff on my phone in Nautilus (right-click the Bluetooth icon in the panel, then click "Browse Device").

Also, sudo hidd --connect (with the MAC address of the phone - hcitool scan) lets me use the phone as a remote control (i.e. wireless mouse etc.) for my computer. (See the useful entry, "BluetoothRemoteControl", in the Community Ubuntu Documentation.) This probably works for other Sony Ericsson phones too.

sudo su
echo enable > /proc/acpi/ibm/bluetooth

sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart

hcitool scan

sudo hidd --connect [MAC address]

Phone, Bluetooth, Ubuntu, X60

Trying to connect my new mobile, a Sony Ericsson S500i, to my laptop. The phone doesn't have infrared but Bluetooth. (Last spring I had some success connecting my Nokia 6020 via infrared.) Thierry Nicola has some useful hints on his nice blog, William Brown Street.

bluez-utils was already installed. Turning on the Bluetooth device was no problem (as root: echo enable > /proc/acpi/ibm/bluetooth). After I started the Bluetooth services (sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart), a Bluetooth icon popped up in my panel - lovely to behold! hciconfig -a showed me that the device on the computer works fine. hidd --search didn't produce any output (other than "Searching ...") so I tried hcitool scan instead, which gave me the address and name of my phone. Excellent!

However, with hidd -connect (with the address of the phone) I got: "Can't get device information: host is down". Will I be able to get beyond this point? Is the S500i to new for Ubuntu 7.10?

Unsurprisingly, the Bluetooth connection was up and running (in both directions) within seconds between the phone and B.'s MacBook. I can even use the phone as a remote control for the computer.

Ekiga instead of Skype?

I like to use free software whenever possible. Ekiga would be an obvious replacement for Skype - hey, it even works with my webcam! Something similar to "SkypeOut" is available too, and at similar rates (calling a fixed-line number in Germany: US$ 0.02; calling a mobile number in Germany: US$ 0.211). However, I'm somewhat reluctant to give my credit card information to yet another company I don't know, and I'm not sure if Ekiga works as well as Skype. Also, I chat (and sometimes talk for free) with a lot of people who are on Skype, while I don't know anybody who uses Ekiga.

More about the Neo1973 phone

Details about that wonderphone are available at the OpenMoko wiki. I want that phone. Now!

iPhone available in Germany

The iPhone is available in Germany from today - at a minimum monthly rate of 50 euros. Some love it, some hate it.

I'm waiting for the OpenMoko Neo 1973, which seems to be a much better deal.