|
A personal computer must have a Bluetooth adapter in order to be able to communicate with other Bluetooth devices (such as mobile phones, mice and keyboards).While some portable computers and fewer desktop computers already contain an internal Bluetooth adapter, most PCs require an external USB Bluetooth dongle. Most Macs come with built-in Bluetooth adapters.
Unlike its predecessor, IrDA, in which each device requires a separate dongle, multiple Bluetooth devices can communicate with a computer over a single dongle.
Operating system support
Linux provides two Bluetooth stacks, with the BlueZ stack included with most Linux kernels. It was originally developed by Qualcomm and Affix. BlueZ supports all core Bluetooth protocols and layers.
Of Microsoft platforms, Windows XP Service Pack 2 and later releases have native support for Bluetooth. Previous versions required the users to install their Bluetooth adapter's own drivers, which was not directly supported by Microsoft. Microsoft's own Bluetooth dongles (that are packaged with their Bluetooth computer devices) have no external drivers and thus require at least Windows XP Service Pack 2.
Mac OS X has supported Bluetooth since version 10.2 released in 2002.
Specifications and features
|
