Bluetooth

From WiiLi

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This article is about Bluetooth technology in general. If you want detailed information about Bluetooth communication with the Wii, see Wii bluetooth specs.
See BlueZ for documentation on the Linux Bluetooth drivers.
See Compatible Bluetooth Devices for Bluetooth drivers and hardware that are compatiable with the Wiimote.

[edit] What Is Bluetooth?

From Wikipedia.org ...

"Bluetooth is an industrial specification for wireless personal area networks (PANs). Bluetooth provides a way to connect and exchange information between devices such as mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers, digital cameras and video game consoles via a secure, globally unlicensed short-range radio frequency."

From http://www.palowireless.com/infotooth/whatis.asp ...

What Is Bluetooth?

What is Bluetooth what is called blue tooth cable replacement technology Well it isn't some strange form of tooth decay as you might initially imagine. Bluetooth is the name of a new technology that is now becoming commercially available. It promises to change significantly the way we use machines.

Bluetooth

1 Take a look around

Look around you at the moment, you have your keyboard connected to the computer, as well as a printer, mouse, monitor and so on. What (literally) joins all of these together?, they are connected by cables. Cables have become the bane of many offices, homes etc. Most of us have experienced the 'joys' of trying to figure out what cable goes where, and getting tangled up in the details. Bluetooth essentially aims to fix this, it is a cable-replacement technology.

2 How?

Conceived initially by Ericsson, before being adopted by a myriad of other companies, Bluetooth is a standard for a small , cheap radio chip to be plugged into computers, printers, mobile phones, etc.A Bluetooth chip is designed to replace cables by taking the information normally carried by the cable, and transmitting it at a special frequency to a receiver Bluetooth chip, which will then give the information received to the computer, phone whatever.

3 How about?

That was the original idea, but the originators of the original idea soon realized that a lot more was possible. If you can transmit information between a computer and a printer, why not transmit data from a mobile phone to a printer, or even a printer to a printer?. The projected low cost of a Bluetooth chip (~$5), and its low power consumption, means you could literally place one anywhere.

4 Ideas, ideas...

With this viewpoint interest in Bluetooth is soaring, lots of ideas are constantly emerging, some practical and feasible e.g.: Bluetooth chips in freight containers to identify cargo when a lorry drives into a storage depot, or a headset that communicates with a mobile phone in your pocket, or even in the other room, other ideas not so feasible: Refrigerator communicating with your Bluetooth-enabled computer, informing it that food supply is low, and to inform the retailer over the internet.

[edit] How Does the Wii Use It?

The Wii uses Bluetooth to communicate with the Wiimote. The Wiimote has been reverse-engineered to work on various operating systems. This allows you to use your Wiimote as a mouse or a presentation pointer. Although the Wii currently limits to 4 Wiimotes being used at once, there may be a way to use up to 7 at once (See the Wiimote page).

GlovePIE is a Windows application that acts as a driver for the Wiimote.