eugenia

Geeks.com has a super price on the Belkin F8T020 Bluetooth CF card:
[url]http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=F8T020-FL&cat=PDA[/url]

Now, the problem is, Belkin does not offer PPC2003 drivers (but it works great with PPC2002 in case you haven't upgraded your X5). [B]Update:[/b] [I]Please read below where I detail how to get PPC2003 support with the F8T020.[/i]

Geeks.com also sells cheaply the PPC2003-capable F8T006 bluetooth card (aka 'F8T020 version 2') for $25: [URL]http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=F8T006&cat=PDA[/URL] This is the second model from Belkin regarding Bluetooth cards and it's better supported.

cyber16

Nice find op ;)

__________________
:approve:

fishwood

Yep nice find :approve:

segadc

Too bad this one sticks out... I would get it if it were the same size as the Socket one...

eugenia

The ones that don't stick out are very new technology and they are usually very expensive. This one was released in 2002.

npoon

Has anyone bought it yet and tried it with the updated ppc2003 drivers? I would be interested to know whether it worked with the x5 or not.

eugenia

My order arrives tomorrow I think. So have patience and re-visit this thread tomorrow night or Friday. :)

eugenia

So, my order arrived. The facts:
1. If you have an X5 with PPC2002, buy the card, it will work.
2. If you have PPC2003, the card won't work:
a. The belkin drivers crap-up the system. I had to hard-reset today. :(
b. The Dell Truemobile 300 CF drivers WORK, but the Dell Bluetooth Manager does NOT work (it thinks that BT is OFF, even when it's ON). Only BASIC functionality works without the Bluetooth Manager (e.g. pairing a device).
c. There is a hack to use com1.fr's drivers, which was the ODM company for both Belkin and Dell. And then, by importing special registry data, you could make the Com1 driver work with a Bluetooth Manager using the Belkin CF card. Bad luck for us, the french Com1 company went busted! Their drivers are not available for download anymore. :(

Conclusion:
1. If you have a PPC2000-2002 PDA, buy that Belkin card. It will work.
2. If you have anything else, don't ([B]UPDATE, it works, look below![/B]).

npoon

Thanks your prompt reply and for the heads up...I guess I saved myself $20

eugenia

Good news everyone!

An online friend actually had the drivers in his PC and so he uploaded them to my web space and so everyone can now download the drivers and have the Belkin F8T020 BT card *work* with PPC2003/SE. Remember, the following instructions are for PPC2003/SE only. For PPC2000/2002 the CD the F8T020 comes with includes native drivers.

1. Make sure that *no other* bluetooth drivers/managers are installed on your PDA. If you have installed other BT stuff there is a good chance that if you follow the following steps you will need to hard reset your PDA and lose your data (the two drivers collide and crash the PDA on boot, soft-reset doesn't fix it). So, before continue go to the 'add/remove programs' panel and make sure no other Bluetooth drivers or managers are installed.
2. Download and install this freeware registry editor program on your PPC:
[url]http://www2r.biglobe.ne.jp/~tascal/download/pocketpc/tre_e.htm[/url]
3. Download the following text file and IMPORT it to your Registry using the above pogram:
[url]http://www.eugenia.co.uk/belkin/Bluetooth.txt[/url]
4. Download these drivers:
[url]http://www.eugenia.co.uk/belkin/TECH0850_Pocket_2000_2002.zip[/url] (5 MB)
5. Place the Bluetooth card on your PDA, connect to the ActiveSync and THEN install the drivers.
6. After the drivers have been installed, soft-reset the PDA.

Voila, you have Bluetooth, with a working Bluetooth Manager, via the Belkin F8T020 CF card on PPC2000/2/3/SE. And if you need it, here's the illustrated documentation:
[url]http://www.eugenia.co.uk/belkin/DOC_TECH0850.zip[/url]

[B]IMPORTANT:[/B] these drivers are good ONLY for the "rounded corners" Belkin model F8T020 ([URL=http://www.geeks.com/images/300x300/F8T020-FL-UNIT.jpg]picture[/url]). If you have the rectangle "F8T020 version 2" (aka F8T006, [URL=http://www.geeks.com/images/300x300/F8T006-UNIT.jpg]picture[/url]) then these drivers are [B]not[/B] for you. The F8T006 has its own, native PPC2003 drivers on its CD.

nsbtman

thank you very much! that is really going beyond the call of duty! :approve:

kiapolo

Wow...first post to this forum...great first thread to reply to...thanks!

Linkchapp

Hi Eugenia,

I have a dumb question. Am I supposed to edit the registry on my PC or the registry on my PDA? Sorry, I am an extreme newbie to this stuff.

Linkchapp :rolling:


[QUOTE=eugenia]Good news everyone!

An online friend actually had the drivers in his PC and so he uploaded them to my web space and so everyone can now download the drivers and have this Belkin BT card *work* with PPC2003/SE.

Here is how:
1. Download this freeware registry editor program:
[url]http://www2r.biglobe.ne.jp/~tascal/download/pocketpc/tre_e.htm[/url]
2. Download this file and IMPORT it to your Registry using the above pogram:
[url]http://www.eugenia.co.uk/belkin/Bluetooth.txt[/url]
3. Download these drivers:
[url]http://www.eugenia.co.uk/belkin/TECH0850_Pocket_2000_2002.zip[/url]
4. Place the Bluetooth card on your PDA, connect to the ActiveSync and THEN install the drivers.
5. After the drivers have been installed, soft reset the PDA.

Voila, you have Bluetooth, with a working Bluetooth Manager, via the F8T020 CF card on PPC2000/2/3.

And if you need it, here's the illustrated documentation:
[url]http://www.eugenia.co.uk/belkin/DOC_TECH0850.zip[/url][/QUOTE]

npoon

[QUOTE=Linkchapp]Hi Eugenia,

I have a dumb question. Am I supposed to edit the registry on my PC or the registry on my PDA? Sorry, I am an extreme newbie to this stuff.

Linkchapp :rolling:[/QUOTE]

I am "newbie II" and would like to confirm this too. I presume that the illustrated doc clariifes this.

eugenia

You DON'T have to edit the registry manually. I explained above:
"[I]Download this file and IMPORT it to your Registry using the above pogram:[/I]"
You only have to use that Registry app to import the text file in it and it will do the editing automatically, no interveing is needed by the user.