3.12.1. Introduction
Why this? Unfortunately Linux users are not always supplied with the
necessary hardware information. Sometimes it is possible to look at
this information in Microsoft-Windows. Sometimes its even useful to connect
the two. Linux could also provide occasional access point services to
a Microsoft-Windows laptop of a friend dropping by.
Where to get it from? At
MicroSoft
in the directory
/Windows95/downloads/contents/WURecommended/S_WUCommunications/W95IrDA/
you will find a support pack Infrared Transfer 2.0. It is a
self-extracting archive W95IR.EXE with 331KB. Note: Microsoft seems to
change the location of this file (and others) at random, the former
URL is Microsoft Windows95 IrDA - Old
Microsoft(tm) has three versions of IrDA support for Windows95. The
version number can be found in the "Software" icon in the Control
Panel and the file infrared.inf.
Version 1.0 is still delivered with some hardware.
Version 2.0 is the version they currently offer at their web site. It
is in the self-extracting file W95IR.EXE. The last time I looked
(1999-02-21) it was 434KB and was found at
W95IR.EXE
. Their website is frequently changing, so do not be surprised to find
the file (also) in another location or not at all.
Version 3.0 can/could be found in their downloadable Infrared
development kit IRDDK30, but is mostly useful for developers. It is
internally different from 2.0, it is based on "miniport" network
drivers, just like the Linux version. It exists for some time and has
some support for NT, but it clearly did not make it into the
mainstream NT4.0 distributions. For 95 you are probably better off
with 2.0. The choice may depend on the documentation of the drivers
you get with your specific hardware.
The Microsoft website also used to contain a nice utility IrXfer, contained in
the archive IRXFER.EXE, This is the Infrared Transfer utility, which
uses an IrOBEX variant I think, it is referenced in the IrOBEX
protocol description. The utility was freely downloadable, but I could
not find it the last time. It is a nice graphical utility which can be
used to transfer files over IrDA between computers.
With some machines, e.g. a HP Omnibook 800 it is necessary to use a
vendor specific version of this package (for the HP Omnibook 800 you
may find it on the recovery CD).
Especially the ..\windows\inf\*.inf files and the device manager are
of interest to look for configuration details.
As far as I know Window$NT doesn't support IrDA(TM). About Window$98 I
have heard there is no IrDA(TM) support yet.
Countersys
claims to sell an IrDA solution for NT4.0 to
support their JetBeam product, Microsoft refers to them for it.
AFAIK:
Windows95 : use 2.0
Windows98 : delivered with 3.0 and IrXfer (works with Linux/IrDA,
IrOBEX?)
WindowsNT4.0: no IrDA support directly by the system
Windows2000 : 3.0(+?)
MicroSoft
There are also some non M$ products available. Note: Some of them use
proprietary infrared protocols:
CounterPoint: QuickBeam 1.15 (works with Linux/IrDA, IrOBEX?)
LapLink 7.5
CarbonCopy 32 4.0
pc ANYWHERE 7.5
Puma Technology: TRANXIT pro 4.0
3.12.3. Communication between MS-Windows98 and Linux
Ha Duong Minh: Today I am delighted to report
that ircp from the
OpenOBEX project
, works like a charm to
transfer files between my Linux box and its Microsoft-Windows98 cousin. It can't be
simpler: ircp file1, file2, ... to send
or ircp -r [DEST] to receive files over IrDA.
