Anonymous Ng said:
I'm looking for IrNet and/or IrLAN resource
(eg/driver/config/program/API, implementation/betas/research etc) to
be used by WindowsCE and/or PC, (I really hope we do not resolved to
wrote ourself).
For eg, if I'm not wrong, on "pocket" linux, the kernel have buildin
this facility, how about windowsCE ? ( I heard that windows 2000
having this support, is it true ?)
Windows 2000 does not have IrLAN, I understand Linux does have support for
it (whether it is "in the kernel" ...?). IrLAN is not so popular today;
using PPP over IrDA is much preferred for multiple reasons:
* it is easier to support (when the device has PPP already)
* is necessary / already supported if dialing-up through mobile phones with
IrDA
* includes authentication
* works regardless of the media the peer device is attached too/supports,
rather than having to support Ethernet/TokenRing frame types as with IrLAN,
and support point-to-point media
* is more feature laden, supports compression etc etc
IrLAN was supported in Windows 98 when the other methods had not become so
popular. Actually removing this support when Windows 2000 was produced was
perhaps a little vicious.
As to the other methods, where PPP is used. The very common method is to
use PPP over IrCOMM, this is just where the IrCOMM connection is treated
like a serial connection. The other is the IrDial/IrNet/IrModem protocols
which defines new IrDA Service Names.
The PPP->IrCOMM method is the normal way to connect through mobile phones
but I guess it can be used between peer (PC/PDA) devices where the dialing
sequence can be skipped. Windows 2000 supports this (when fully
up-to-date), but only outbound (unless the IrComm2k driver can be used).
Window 98 supports this too as does Linux. Be aware that Window's null
modem support requires a minimal dial-ing sequence of CLIENT, CLIENTSERVER.
The IrDial/IrNet/IrModem protocols use Service Name "IrNetv1" when
connecting to a peer and use PPP. When connecting to a modem/terminal
adapter, "IrModem" is (was?!) used, with an initial dialing sequence.
Windows 2000 etc supports the former and no longer supports the latter.
Linux supports the former at least.
For more information, see my pages at
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/alanjmcf/, and for a Linux viewpoint see Jean
Tourrilhes's pages at
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tourrilhes/ and
Microsoft's information around
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/tech/network/infrared/default.mspx