[NEWS] It's about to get real interesting! - CM7 dev has working bluetooth!

[faceman]

Yup, one of the cm7 developers has posted a video of bluetooth fully functioning on his cm7 nookcolor!!!!

It's not included in nightly yet, but should be sometime soon. Regardless this is the first I have seen of a fully working bt, and is real exciting... now if we could just get video to work right.

A not from dalingrin @XDA:

****Update**** Bluetooth now works in CM7 but has not been commited to the nightlies yet.
Bluetooth is working seemingly perfect except for the range. Unfortunately, the range is terrible.
Depending on the device you are paried with, the range is between 1-5ft. Any ideas on how to
fix the range issue would be much appreciated.

 

[avi]

w00t ! good thing to hear

 

[KDOG]

I was just about to post a topic asking if people were working on getting the bluetooth working I'm on NookFroyo 0.68 Even if the range sucks it could still be useful for bluetooth keyboards, transferring files from your phone to the nook, etc....

 

[brad0383]

If it's a range problem it may be that there is not a bluetooth antenna. That would be a deal breaker for having fully functional bluetooth.

 

[Stelv]

Alright, Cool Beans! The Nook Just got Awesomer!

 

[bratliff]

Alright, Cool Beans! The Nook Just got Awesomer!

I think you mean more awesome. Hah

 

[caulktel]

If it's a range problem it may be that there is not a Bluetooth antenna. That would be a deal breaker for having fully functional Bluetooth.

In the tear down pictures that I saw, I didn't see anything that looked like a antenna but it could be on the circuit board itself as a copper trace. If these guys actually got it to work with a Bluetooth device then there must be a antenna because the chip itself does not radiate any signal, only from one or more of the pins. If those pins are not connected to anything it wouldn't go more that a couple of inches from the NC if that.

 

[RASTAVIPER]

Sounds really promising and this is what many Nook owners are waiting!!

 

[brad0383]

In the tear down pictures that I saw, I didn't see anything that looked like a antenna but it could be on the circuit board itself as a copper trace. If these guys actually got it to work with a Bluetooth device then there must be a antenna because the chip itself does not radiate any signal, only from one or more of the pins. If those pins are not connected to anything it wouldn't go more that a couple of inches from the NC if that.

Actually it would go more than a few inches. With no antenna, you would end up with an open collector in your circuit and have a massive reflected signal. A typical bluetooth range is 30-50 feet. With no antenna 1-5 feet ranges sounds about right. I am not sure if that chip has any protection but running it with an open load could cause internal damage.

 

[tigersgt]

I am just curious. What was the original NC developers thinking? Why would they build the bluetooth device in it without an antenna?

 

[BoloMKXXVIII]

If it's a range problem it may be that there is not a bluetooth antenna. That would be a deal breaker for having fully functional bluetooth.

Why would that be a dealbreaker? All that means is we would have to do some hardware hacking along with the software hacking. Personally I don't think the hardware hack would be that difficult. I will have to go back through the teardown photos and see just exactly what would be involved.

 

[brad0383]

I am just curious. What was the original NC developers thinking? Why would they build the Bluetooth device in it without an antenna?

It is not uncommon to have hardware that is not complete like this. When you design a piece of electronic equipment you choose components based on form factor, interface type, etc. There are numerous components out that that do much more then the designer needs, but to keep costs down component manufacturers roll lots of functions into the IC's. The radio IC in the Nook color is a perfect example. They needed WiFi, the component they chose happens to have an FM radio and Bluetooth along with the Wifi. That being said, the Bluetooth circuit may very well be complete. Time with the Devs will tell.

 

[brad0383]

Why would that be a dealbreaker? All that means is we would have to do some hardware hacking along with the software hacking. Personally I don't think the hardware hack would be that difficult. I will have to go back through the teardown photos and see just exactly what would be involved.

This is getting blown out of proportion. I simply said it may not have the antenna. If it does not, it would be a deal breaker for MOST people. Anything is possible. If you really wanted the Nook Color to have 4G capability, well with enough hardware and software hacking it could be done.

 

[mooniegt]

1-5 feet is perfect for netbookesk use if desired. Also should work for listening to games, music, and movies.

Way to go devs!

 

[lschroeder]

@faceman Probably a good idea to have a more direct thread about this.
Looking forward to your install and notes to help the rest of (it would be nice if one of the sets of instructions assume emmc Clockworkmod 3.0.1.0 and Rom Manager 3.0.1.2 on our current ROM).

For this we will probably have to wait for the nightly to incorporate it.

I just had time to do more reading. It looks like it is img file that can be burned to sd card and run from there. I will try installing that shortly. I know how that works.

A keyboard and audio CM7 ROM available for bluetooth now at xda

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=989637