Using IrDA "dongles" with FreeBSD 4-stable?

Torfinn Ingolfsen torfinn.ingolfsen at broadpark.no
Mon Jul 7 06:47:20 PDT 2003


Hello,

I have this IrDA "dongle" (it connects via usb) from KC Technology, Inc.
It is called KC-180, and would be perfect for giving an old Toshiba
laptop (which will be running FreeBSD 4.8-stable) an IrDA port.
(BTW, Linux seems to have support for this, but I could not find any
more information about the workings of this dongle.)

My idea is to use the birda port to "talk" through this dongle to a
mobile phone.

However, when I connect the dongle to a machine running 4.8-stable, here
is what the log says:
"Jun 26 23:41:58 machine /kernel: ugen0: KC Technology, Inc. KC-180 USB
IrDA Device, rev 1.10/1.00, addr 2"

If I want birda to talk to it, doesn't it have to act as a serial port?
Or am I mistaken?

After some searching, I'm left with some questions;
- do we have support for IrDA dongles (which connects through usb) in
  FreeBSD at all?
- will birda talk to this dongle even if FreeBSD doesn't see it as a
  serial port?
- does anybody have more information that might help me to get this
   working? I have searched bot the net and Google groups, but haven't
   found any useful information yet. 

Any help appreciated.
-- 
Torfinn Ingolfsen,
Norway



More information about the freebsd-mobile mailing list