Bluetooth USB dongle?

I see these little Bluetooth USB thumb drives and have read a few reviews of
them at Amazon.com. Still, I am not sure exactly what they do or how I
might put one to use. I have a new tablet PC with Bluetooth and a desktop
without it. If I bought one of these little Bluetooth USB drives, plugged
it into my desktop, then I could do...what? That I can't do now.

Is the advantage just that I can radio files from drive stuck into desktop
over to my tablet without disconnecting it from desktop and then plugging it
into the tablet? If so, well, that is something. Might be worth the $40,
over time.

Comment on various brands, features and benefits?

mack
austin

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 13:39:16 GMT, "Mack McKinnon"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> I see these little Bluetooth USB thumb drives and have read a few reviews of
> them at Amazon.com. Still, I am not sure exactly what they do or how I
> might put one to use. I have a new tablet PC with Bluetooth and a desktop
> without it. If I bought one of these little Bluetooth USB drives, plugged
> it into my desktop, then I could do...what? That I can't do now.
>
> Is the advantage just that I can radio files from drive stuck into desktop
> over to my tablet without disconnecting it from desktop and then plugging it
> into the tablet? If so, well, that is something. Might be worth the $40,
> over time.

You're muddling USB BlueTooth dongle with USB thumbdrive. The USB dongle
is a wireless transceiver to network a computer to other BlueTooth devices
such as another BlueTooth PC or a BlueTooth headset or a cell phone. A
USB thumbdrive lets you store files to it after which you can take the
thumbdrive to another computer read or to make a copy of those files.

Tony

"Anthony R. Gold" <not-for-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote

> You're muddling USB BlueTooth dongle with USB thumbdrive. The USB dongle
> is a wireless transceiver to network a computer to other BlueTooth devices
> such as another BlueTooth PC or a BlueTooth headset or a cell phone. A
> USB thumbdrive lets you store files to it after which you can take the
> thumbdrive to another computer read or to make a copy of those files.

Not surprised if I am "muddling". I have USB thumbdrives and use them all
the time, to transfer files, music, photos, etc. between computers.
Recently, I have seen USB Bluetooth devices that look just like the
thumbdrives and cost about $40. I thought this was what people were calling
a "dongle". Maybe not, huh?

Anyway, is the Bluetooth USB device not a thumbdrive with a radio in it? If
not, what is it? How would I use it, if I stuck it into my desktop (now
without Bluetooth) and used it with my Bluetooth-equipped tablet?

mack
austin

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 15:39:37 GMT, "Mack McKinnon"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Anyway, is the Bluetooth USB device not a thumbdrive with a radio in it? If
> not, what is it? How would I use it, if I stuck it into my desktop (now
> without Bluetooth) and used it with my Bluetooth-equipped tablet?

I have BlueTooth USB dongles which have no flash memory drive but maybe
someone makes one. Doesn't the vendors description say? If it's silent
about any thumbdrive memory then assume there is none. The plain
BlueTooth dongle is a wireless transceiver and will allow you to network
your desktop with the tablet to exchange files its. It's very similar to
an IR connection or an 802.11 peer-to-peer (non access-point) Wi-Fi one.

Tony

Well, thanks. The vendors' descriptions I have read may just assume I know
some basic facts that I did not. In any case, it did not occur to me that
the thing that looked like a thumb drive was not the same at all. I will
have to hunt for some details about how these things work.

mack
austin


"Anthony R. Gold" <not-for-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 15:39:37 GMT, "Mack McKinnon"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> Anyway, is the Bluetooth USB device not a thumbdrive with a radio in it?
>> If
>> not, what is it? How would I use it, if I stuck it into my desktop (now
>> without Bluetooth) and used it with my Bluetooth-equipped tablet?
>
> I have BlueTooth USB dongles which have no flash memory drive but maybe
> someone makes one. Doesn't the vendors description say? If it's silent
> about any thumbdrive memory then assume there is none. The plain
> BlueTooth dongle is a wireless transceiver and will allow you to network
> your desktop with the tablet to exchange files its. It's very similar to
> an IR connection or an 802.11 peer-to-peer (non access-point) Wi-Fi one.
>
> Tony