OpenOBEX is an open source implementation of Object Exchange (OBEX) protocol. This implementation is supported list below.

INFRARED DATA ASSOCIATION ® (IrDA) http://www.irda.org

USB-IF, Inc. http://www.usb.org

Bluetooth(TM) http://www.bluetooth.com

Support for TCP/IP links, file descriptors and custom transports is also provided. This project can be downloaded from OpenObex. Lots of supporting projects are happening based on OpenOBEX. Moreover this is supported with win32 also which increase the scope of the project along with Linux.

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We are also using OBEX protocol for receiving. In my earlier post I mentioned about the packages for send and receive. Here I am going to explain the process involved in receiving files from a bluetooth device.

For receiving a file your bluetooth is in discoverable mode. If not turn on by running the command below on your terminal.

hciconfig hci0 piscan

Now you have to listen for bluetooth connection. This can be done by running the obexpushd tool.

obexpushd -B

You should be able to receive files now. The file(s) will be saved in your /home directory. This command works in command mode. Those who hate the command mode alternate solution is to install gnome-bluetooth. Install the gnome bluetooth as I mentioned in one of the post. This is UI based tool.

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We are using OBEX protocol for sending files over bluetooth. For sending files we need to install obexftp and obexpushd package. I will explain the procedure for installation first. We can use package manager apt for this.

sudo apt-get install obexftp obexpushd

Steps to send a file from your Ubuntu machine

For sending a file to nearby devices we need to find bluetooth device first. We know each and every bluetooth device(s) have unique hardware address. We need to find the hardware address first. Scan the nearby device(s). Open a terminal and type the command below.

hcitool scan

This will show the scan result as below.

This is a bluetooth device nearby. Copy the address in displayed in your terminal window. Select the file you want to send. Type the command below to send the file to your nearby bluetooth device. For instance the file name be “icon.gif” and address be “00:17:00:98:39:F2“. (The device is my mobile phone)

obexftp -b 00:17:00:98:39:F2 -p icon.gif

This will send the file icon.gif to the external bluetooth device. I will explain the process of receiving in my next post. Enjoy reading!!!

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Setting bluetooth in Ubuntu needs some prerequisite. I guess all of you people are aware about Ubuntu package manager `apt`. I am using this package manager to install bluetooth.

We have to install 2 package

1) bluez-utils

2) gnome-bluetooth

Open a terminal window type the commands below.

sudo apt-get install bluez-utils

This will prompt for the user password, enter your admin password. Package bluez will be installed. You have to configure couple of things to make your bluetooth up and running. Restart your bluetooth device.

sudo /etc/init.d/bluez-utils restart

(In some machine it may be sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart)

You have to check whether the bluetooth module and associated drivers are working fine. Type a command `lsusb`. This will display the hardware address and manufacturer name.

The second package we are going to install is the `gnome-bluetooth` which contain all application that are used for file sending and receiving.

sudo apt-get install gnome-bluetooth

Enter the password of the admin and hit enter key. This will start installing the package gnome-bluetooth. After installing the package restart your bluetooth hardware and if possible your system.

Restarting you hardware driver is simple. Type the command

sudo /etc/init.d/bluez-utils restart

(In some machine it may be sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart)

Your system is now ready with bluetooth. . I will explain the steps involved in the configuration in my next post. Thats all for today !!!!

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Those who have bluetooth enabled mobile phone, are using file transfer service to exchange files between different bluetooth enabled mobile phones. Anyone can send any kind of files to nearby bluetooth device. The file may be either a image file or video file or even application installed in the mobile. Whatever file it may be, when we sent the file to nearby bluetooth enabled mobile phone it will receive appropriately. You know why it is receiving properly? Yes it is because those file sharing use OBEX, Object Exchange.

OBEX is a communication protocol that can be used to exchange binary objects between devices. It was developed by Infrared Association later bluetooth SIG(Special Interest group) adopted the same. OBEX is somewhat similar to HTTP, where the user can connect to the server is almost in the same way like HTTP. Afterwards the user can either make a request or provide object to push.

All the bluetooth enabled mobile phones are equipped with OBEX stack along with bluetooth driver. In my next post I will explain how to exchange files from your ubuntu system to any other bluetooth enabled device(s).

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As I mentioned in my earlier post that I am mainly concentrating on programs in Ubuntu. I am going to explain about a proximity tool called BlueProximity. This tool allow us to lock our desktop when we are away from the PC. We don’t need to lock our system manually it will automatically lock the computer.

How does it work?

There are mainly two part in this application. One is a bluetooth equipped PC and another bluetooth enabled cell phone of yours. Each and every bluetooth device have a unique hardware ID. The program use the unique ID to detect our presence. We can assign a bluetooth device in the application as authentic one. The bluetooth device may be our cell phone or some other device with bluetooth. We need to carry the device with us when we go away from our PC. The application installed in our ubuntu operating system search for the signal strength always. If the signal strength exceeds certain limit our PC got locked or it will start some other program when we are away.

The application is open source we can re-modify accordingly upon our use. The application is available for download here. Download the tar file and unzip using the command tar xvzf blueproximity-versionnumber.tar.gz. Check out the manual for its installation. After installing the application you need to start a program named “start_proximity.sh” you can add your mobile phone as authentic one. Then it will work as I described above.

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To be start off with this post series today I am going to explain what is bluetooth and its usage? What are its predecessors? I guess you people at-least heard the word `bluetooth` before. In the modern world of communication, all are having mobile phones sometimes the mobile phones are equipped with bluetooth connectivity, WiFi connectivity etc. Anyway It is simply a wireless protocol capable for sending data’s with other devices. The devices may be either a laptop, mobile phone, PDA or whatever device that are equipped with a bluetooth chip. The bluetooth are used for short distance communication normally works in the frequency 2.4GHz.

There are mainly 3 bluetooth device class which are classified according to the range it cover. Class 1 cover upto 100 meters, Class 2 cover upto 10 meters, Class 3 cover upto 1 meters. The other classification is based on the firmware the chip carry. It may either be Version 1.2(1Mbits/sec), Version 2.0 with EDR (enhance data rate, 3 Mbits/sec) and Wimedia alliance which is proposed to be bandwidth between 53 – 450 Mbits/sec.

One of the main predecessor for bluetooth is WiBree, which comes with ultra low power chip with a bit rate of 1Mbits/sec. It is proposed and developed by Nokia recently. The WiBree research are still going on.

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