Suggestions for Bluetooth Newbie?

Hum ... good ideas ... let me think here ...

We can't necessarily maintain line-of-sight, so IR won't work ...
We need to mount the pushbutton & LED on a small hand-held tool, so I really
don't have enough space to put a whole PDA. I have about enough space for a
pushbutton, LED, and an IC or two...

"Zimmy" <x@y.z> wrote in message
news:dr52fl$f7c$1$830fa7a5@news.demon.co.uk...
>
> "Chris Shearer Cooper" <chrisnews@sc3.net> wrote in message
> news:11t4n7og7fd1e2c@corp.supernews.com...
>> I'm trying to prototype something, and am not sure even which way to go
>> ...
>> what I want to be able to do (in the end), is have a very small board
>> that
>> has only a pushbutton and an LED or two, that communicates wirelessly
>> with
>> something that communicates with a Linux workstation through its USB
>> port.
>> I've been told that Bluetooth is probably my best bet, and I have seen
>> some
>> nice cheap dongles that plug into the USB port and talk Bluetooth, so
>> that
>> takes care of one side of the equation.
>>
>> Does this sound like a reasonable way to approach this problem? My
>> degree
>> is in EE, but it's been a very long time since I played with any hardware
>> (been doing software mostly), so I'm better off sticking with solutions
>> that
>> are mostly complete, and I can just add a few resistors, LEDs, and
>> buttons,
>> and call it good ...
>>
>> Suggestions?
> Depends what your application is. If you simply want (local) remote
> control of the computer then there are many cheap IR remote controls
> available. If you want the PC to control LEDs, etc on your remote board
> then its more complicated and you'll need some kind of processor on your
> remote board. An easier alternative might be to interface to a PDA which
> has a wireless connection to your Linux box?
>
> Z
>

"Chris Shearer Cooper" <chrisnews@sc3.net> wrote in message
news:11tf342lbig2n75@corp.supernews.com...
> Hum ... good ideas ... let me think here ...
>
> We can't necessarily maintain line-of-sight, so IR won't work ...
> We need to mount the pushbutton & LED on a small hand-held tool, so I
really
> don't have enough space to put a whole PDA. I have about enough space for
a
> pushbutton, LED, and an IC or two...
>
> "Zimmy" <x@y.z> wrote in message
> news:dr52fl$f7c$1$830fa7a5@news.demon.co.uk...
> >
> > "Chris Shearer Cooper" <chrisnews@sc3.net> wrote in message
> > news:11t4n7og7fd1e2c@corp.supernews.com...
> >> I'm trying to prototype something, and am not sure even which way to go
> >> ...
> >> what I want to be able to do (in the end), is have a very small board
> >> that
> >> has only a pushbutton and an LED or two, that communicates wirelessly
> >> with
> >> something that communicates with a Linux workstation through its USB
> >> port.
> >> I've been told that Bluetooth is probably my best bet, and I have seen
> >> some
> >> nice cheap dongles that plug into the USB port and talk Bluetooth, so
> >> that
> >> takes care of one side of the equation.
> >>
> >> Does this sound like a reasonable way to approach this problem? My
> >> degree
> >> is in EE, but it's been a very long time since I played with any
hardware
> >> (been doing software mostly), so I'm better off sticking with solutions
> >> that
> >> are mostly complete, and I can just add a few resistors, LEDs, and
> >> buttons,
> >> and call it good ...
> >>
> >> Suggestions?
> > Depends what your application is. If you simply want (local) remote
> > control of the computer then there are many cheap IR remote controls
> > available. If you want the PC to control LEDs, etc on your remote board
> > then its more complicated and you'll need some kind of processor on your
> > remote board. An easier alternative might be to interface to a PDA which
> > has a wireless connection to your Linux box?
> >
> > Z
> >
>
>

im confused, with such a small board and one led and a button what is it the
computer is going to do with your remote?
at the very least your remote board is going to need a bluetooth
transmitter. some kind of program built into it to make it have instructions
to talk to the transmitter, then it will relay the info to the host
computer.

kinda need to be a tad more specific so we can find out if such a device is
around to take apart to help you build what your looking for.

do you just want to control an on/off type thing with a button press that
runs some software on computer? or are you doing something more complex.

Right, the remote board will need something that knows how to talk BlueTooth
(or some other wireless interface), in addition to the pushbutton & LED.

Extremely simple; the Linux workstation will tell the board to turn the LED
on or off - or maybe have two LEDs, or one that can show red or green, so I
can have three states - off, red, and green. The pushbutton simply notifies
the workstation that the button has been pressed.

I need to update the status of the LED at most 10x per second (probably less
often than even that), and the Linux workstation should find out about the
button press within 1/4 second.

The button & LED are being mounted on a hand-held tool; right now, the user
manipulates the tool while concentrating on their work area, but then to see
the "red/green" status they have to look up at a computer screen which for
safety reasons can't be mounted very close to their actual work area, and to
notify the computer that they are ready, they have to step on a footswitch.
I'm trying to make the whole system much more user-friendly.

Thanks!
Chris

"Aaron" <aarons6@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:n5GdnbKOvIqSE0XenZ2dnUVZ_vydnZ2d@comcast.com. ..
>
> "Chris Shearer Cooper" <chrisnews@sc3.net> wrote in message
> news:11tf342lbig2n75@corp.supernews.com...
>> Hum ... good ideas ... let me think here ...
>>
>> We can't necessarily maintain line-of-sight, so IR won't work ...
>> We need to mount the pushbutton & LED on a small hand-held tool, so I
> really
>> don't have enough space to put a whole PDA. I have about enough space
>> for
> a
>> pushbutton, LED, and an IC or two...
>>
>> "Zimmy" <x@y.z> wrote in message
>> news:dr52fl$f7c$1$830fa7a5@news.demon.co.uk...
>> >
>> > "Chris Shearer Cooper" <chrisnews@sc3.net> wrote in message
>> > news:11t4n7og7fd1e2c@corp.supernews.com...
>> >> I'm trying to prototype something, and am not sure even which way to
>> >> go
>> >> ...
>> >> what I want to be able to do (in the end), is have a very small board
>> >> that
>> >> has only a pushbutton and an LED or two, that communicates wirelessly
>> >> with
>> >> something that communicates with a Linux workstation through its USB
>> >> port.
>> >> I've been told that Bluetooth is probably my best bet, and I have seen
>> >> some
>> >> nice cheap dongles that plug into the USB port and talk Bluetooth, so
>> >> that
>> >> takes care of one side of the equation.
>> >>
>> >> Does this sound like a reasonable way to approach this problem? My
>> >> degree
>> >> is in EE, but it's been a very long time since I played with any
> hardware
>> >> (been doing software mostly), so I'm better off sticking with
>> >> solutions
>> >> that
>> >> are mostly complete, and I can just add a few resistors, LEDs, and
>> >> buttons,
>> >> and call it good ...
>> >>
>> >> Suggestions?
>> > Depends what your application is. If you simply want (local) remote
>> > control of the computer then there are many cheap IR remote controls
>> > available. If you want the PC to control LEDs, etc on your remote board
>> > then its more complicated and you'll need some kind of processor on
>> > your
>> > remote board. An easier alternative might be to interface to a PDA
>> > which
>> > has a wireless connection to your Linux box?
>> >
>> > Z
>> >
>>
>>
>
> im confused, with such a small board and one led and a button what is it
> the
> computer is going to do with your remote?
> at the very least your remote board is going to need a bluetooth
> transmitter. some kind of program built into it to make it have
> instructions
> to talk to the transmitter, then it will relay the info to the host
> computer.
>
> kinda need to be a tad more specific so we can find out if such a device
> is
> around to take apart to help you build what your looking for.
>
> do you just want to control an on/off type thing with a button press that
> runs some software on computer? or are you doing something more complex.
>
>
>