Windows Phone Thoughts: Arrr, Matey, Stow That Serial Keyboard - This 'ere's Cap'n Bluetooth!

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Wednesday, September 29, 2004

Arrr, Matey, Stow That Serial Keyboard - This 'ere's Cap'n Bluetooth!

Posted by Don Tolson in "HARDWARE" @ 09:00 AM


Configuration
Initial pairing and configuration of the keyboard was very quick. It took about 5 seconds for my iPAQ 2215 to scan for the keyboard, find it, and setup an unsecured connection.


Figure 8: Initial ‘New Connection’ screen.


Figure 9: After tapping New Connection, you then have to discover the keyboard.


Figure 10: After about 5 secs scanning, the keyboard is found, and you can connect.

I decided to go back though, and create a secure connection, which requires the establishment of a passkey between the two units, which you do on the Pocket PC first, then you’re prompted to key in the same numeric sequence on the keyboard and press the Return/Enter key to complete. Once this is done, there is a secure, encrypted data connection between the two units.


Figure 11: Establishing a secure connection.


Figure 12: All connected...


Figure 13: Paired up and ready to go with my iPAQ 2215!

Unfortunately, I found that as far as the Pocket PC’s Bluetooth Manager was concerned, it knew nothing of the connection between the keyboard and my iPAQ.


Figure 14: Keyboard? What keyboard?

Once the two are connected, you access the driver via a keyboard icon which has been added to the system tray, located with the other input methods in the lower right corner of the screen.


Figure 15: Keyboard configuration parameters.


Figure 16: User-defineable alternate keys.

Once the keyboard is configured for your Pocket PC, re-establishing the connection is a breeze! Just open the keyboard, then turn on your Pocket PC and hit the keyboard icon at the bottom of the screen. Tap on the Enable button, then select Bluetooth and Setup. You'll get a message saying that Bluetooth is initializing, then a request to press a key on the keyboard to reconnect. When you do that, the connection is automatically re-established, and you're ready to go!


Figure 17: Reconnecting the keyboard. Tap a key on the keyboard, and you're away!

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