Is there a Bluetooth PCI card that is *just* bluetooth (and not combowifi) ?

I see that there are some really cheap combo cards that do 802.11 B/G
(not N) and also do Bluetooth. I've read where those cards are
CPU-intensive (they have a DSP and make the computer's CPU do all the
work - ??). They also don't use (or are not compatible with) Microsoft's
Bluetooth stack (what-ever implications or consequences that has - I
don't know).

I was wondering if there was a good (high-performance, long-range)
bluetooth-only PCI card?

A card that is compatible with an external, high-gain antenna?

And if I have to get a combo PCI card just to get bluetooth, is there at
least a card that will do 802.11 N as well as bluetooth?

LR wrote:

> "The Microsoft Windows Bluetooth stack only supports external or
> integrated Bluetooth dongles attached through USB. It does not
> support Bluetooth radio connections over PCI, I²C, serial,
> PC Card or other interfaces."

Are we talking about the tcp/ip stack here?

Or is the bluetooth stack something different than the TCP/IP stack?

And what, exactly, are the consequences of a PCI bluetooth card that
can't run using Microsoft's bluetooth stack?

> > I was wondering if there was a good (high-performance,
> > long-range) bluetooth-only PCI card?
>
> Class 1 BT PCI cards are available but not cheap:

Yea, I came across that exact item before I posted my original question
here. I was wondering if there weren't more of those, perhaps with
availability showing at some US retailers.

> You haven't said which OS you wish to use the device with.

Win-98 would be ideal, but I'd settle for XP.

Peter Pan wrote:

> > I was wondering if there was a good (high-performance, long-range)
> > bluetooth-only PCI card?
> >
> > A card that is compatible with an external, high-gain antenna?
> >
> > And if I have to get a combo PCI card just to get bluetooth, is
> > there at least a card that will do 802.11 N as well as bluetooth?
>
> I have to wonder, why BT via a pci card?

Because I want a long-range solution. I mentioned I wanted to use an
external antenna to maximize the range. Are there any bluetooth usb
dongles or transceivers that have external antenna jacks?

I want to see how far I can receive signals from one (or more) very
small bluetooth-capable GPS loggers.

> in another post you mentioned you had win 98, don't think
> that had a bt stack anyway,

Yes, there are (or were) bluetooth drivers for win-98 for the bluetooth
hardware that came in some laptops in 2004 (and probably for other
years).

The German-made PCI bluetooth card mention in the previous post has
win-98 drivers (according to the specs).

Peter Pan wrote:

> thats what doesn't make any sense, bt has limited range 30 or 100
> meters) no matter what antenna you use (timing in the electronics
> limits how far a signal can travel before it's ignored, switches
> between xmit and receive), so if you want a long range solution
> why even consider bt in the first place?
>
> there are some long range blutooth devices out there
> (http://longrangebluetooth.net/) but they are not cheap (strike 1)

$129 isin't bad

> don't have win 98 drivers (strike 2)

It's not uncommon for a device to state that it's not compatible with
win-9x, but burried deep somewhere on it's driver CD will be a win-9x
directory. But ok, maybe no win-98 driver.

> and are usb devices/not pci cards(strike 3)...

In this case, because it's larger than the tip of your thumb, and
because it's designed to act like a long-range base station using a
large external antenna, the fact that it's usb doesn't matter.

But answer this. If Bluetooth is designed to *not* have a range
exceeding 100 meters, then how can the above-mentioned device exist and
function as advertized - with a range of at least a mile?

Peter Pan wrote:

> it (bt) isn't a computer thing only.... bt ON/IN a computer is
> limited, not standalone bt stuff...

Your understanding is not correct.

Blue tooth is a digital radio communication protocal. It doesn't matter
if the electronics that is performing the radio communication is
embedded in an external box, or on a PCI card, a thumb-sized USB stick,
a pair of wireless headphones or a cell phone.

It also doesn't matter how the radio transciever part of the device
receives data, be it serial port, usb port, or PCI motherboard
interface.

I'm jumping in here but the design for consumer products is Bluetooth
= short range.

It seems you want; bluetooth, long range, internal (pci), & cheap. I
really don't think there is such a ting made.


berk

TBerk wrote:

> I'm jumping in here but the design for consumer products is
> Bluetooth = short range.

If I had two walkie-talkies, and they both had the same small antenna
and the same low-power transmit circuit, then they'd have a short range.

But if I took one of them and boosted the transmit power, AND gave it a
huge antenna, then in theory I'd be able to extend the range even if one
of them still had it's small antenna and weak transmitter.

Same applies here to this bluetooth situation. If the PC's bluetooth
radio had a strong transmit circuit, and if it had a large, high gain
antenna, then it's transmit range and it's receive sensitivity would
enable the communication range to be extended to typical, standard
low-range bluetooth devices.

> It seems you want; bluetooth, long range, internal (pci),
> & cheap. I really don't think there is such a ting made.

I only specified PCI because I didn't believe there was a USB solution
that had an external antenna capability.

But clearly since Microsoft's BT stack only supports USB, then that
creates a preference for a USB solution over PCI from a software POV.
Given that preference, one result is the high-power, long-range BT
transceiver mentioned in the previous post
(http://longrangebluetooth.net).

$129 isin't so expensive if it means extending BT range from an anemic
few dozen feet to potentially a few thousand feet.

Sum Guy wrote:

> $129 isin't so expensive if it means extending BT range from an anemic
> few dozen feet to potentially a few thousand feet.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I think you're dreaming.

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A few flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction

On Sat, 06 Jun 2009 10:56:21 +0100, alexd <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Sum Guy wrote:
>
>> $129 isin't so expensive if it means extending BT range from an anemic
>> few dozen feet to potentially a few thousand feet.
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>I think you're dreaming.

alexd wrote:

> > $129 isin't so expensive if it means extending BT range from
> > an anemic few dozen feet to potentially a few thousand feet.
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> I think you're dreaming.

Tell me who's dreaming:

=================================

http://longrangebluetooth.net/

AIRcable Host XR™

The only long-range (10 km-class) Bluetooth® USB "Dongle"

The AIRcable Host XR, equipped with an extremely-powerful,
highly-sensitive Bluetooth transmitter, can achieve an unparalleled
range of up to 30 km! With a 9 dBi omni-directional antenna, the
extended range is up to 2 km, and with the 18 dBi directional antenna,
it is up to 10 km.

Additionally, given its high sensitivity, it can extend the range of
weaker Bluetooth devices like cell phones and headsets by hundreds of
meters. With most other devices only capable of obtaining a range of 10
meters or less, no other Bluetooth device comes even close. Plus, this
long-range Bluetooth transmitter connects to any computer with a
Bluetooth connection and can handle virtually any Bluetooth profile
available.

Uses include standard data, streaming data, headsets communication (like
Skype calls), and stereo headphone communication, amongst others.

With the AIRcable Host XR you can extend the range of communication from
your PC to other Bluetooth devices.

The AIRcable Host XR's Bluetooth radio receiver is many times more
sensitive than the average Bluetooth device. You can expect about a 10
times more range than with other standard Bluetooth dongles.