Friday, February 17, 2006

Which Bluetooth for OS X?

bluetoothI shop for a usb bluetooth adapter for my ibook G3 (which doesn't came with a built in bluetooth). Just found out the bluetooth dongle price has cut down a lot, price range from 50 to 90. There is quite a number of choices, some with brand name and some with 'no name' brand, just list a few here:
Billionton
MSI BToes
and a few China, Singapore and Taiwan manufacture bluetooth without brand name.

None of the usb bluetooth stated support Mac OS X in their product description, except for 1 which manufactured by Singapore, which stated that support OS X 10.2. I know that some of the ('no name') bluetooth will work on OS X, but just not sure which one will work and which don't.

Apple website recommended D-Link DBT-120, officially supported by OS X, but I don't find it on the those shops. The D-Link bluetooth is much more expensive, may be that is the reason it is not so popular.

D-Link DBT-120

User review and comment on D-Link bluetooth are two extreme, is either very good or very bad. Those users who find it good because it is plug and play on OS X. Those users who comment badly, because it is not working on OS X for many reasons.

Some users can't connect the D-Link bluetooth with some ear set, mouse and keyboard, this can be solved by a firmware update program provided by Apple, but after the update the bluetooth will not work on PC (Windows) any more.

Some users having problem with the D-Link bluetooth working on Windows XP SP2. XP use the default driver but it does not work for the D-Link bluetooth. D-Link provide a driver for Windows XP, user should install the driver before plug in the bluetooth device, or user may need to re-install the XP again for the system to use the correct driver. This is a common problem on Windows XP, most other brand should have the same problem too. I have simular experience once, while installing D-Link WiFi card on a Windows XP. (see broken driver)

dbt-120

D-Link DBT-120 came with (at least) 3 version, which use 3 different software driver, and can't mix up. You can review it at the back fo the product. Most users never stated which version they use.

Billionton bluetooth (work on Linux)

This is a cheap and common bluetooth available. The shop owner recommend it as a more stable product compare to the other 'no name' brand. My friend Coyote told me, it was tested and work on Linux. A website says, driver provided by Apple.

billionton
It was package with a usb cable which could be usefull.

BSI BToe v2

The version 2 (black color) is 3 times faster than the previous version (white color), as the product description.

billionton

The sales person told me, one of the customer had tried the earlier version (white) on OS X, and working fine. I can't make sure the later version (black) will work, but the design of the device look nice.

Conclusion

If they provide me the bluetooth, I will test it all on OS X, anyway I am quite busy, so may be next time.

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