Mobile Python: Rapid Prototyping of Applications on the Mobile Platform

B.1. Setting up Serial Communication

To use the Bluetooth console, or communicate with the PC over Bluetooth from your own PyS60 applications, an RFCOMM serial port must be set up on the PC side. On Mac OS X and Linux, the serial port is just a special file under the /dev directory. On Windows, a COM port is reserved for this purpose. In the following sections, we explain how to set up these interfaces.

First, set up the RFCOMM port as instructed in one of the sections B.1.1 to B.1.3. After you are finished with the setup, you can see if the serial port is visible to your phone as follows:

1. Copy Example 55 from Chapter 7 to your phone in the usual manner.

2. Run the script. You should see the name of your computer on the list of Bluetooth devices nearby. If you cannot see it, your PC cannot be discovered. Check any settings on your PC's Bluetooth configuration that might affect how other devices see your computer. Check also that Bluetooth is actually switched on.

3. Choose your computer from the list. The script should print out a list of services found on the PC. The list should include an entry such as 'Serial Port' (or 'PyBook', on OS X). If you can see a service like that on the list, the serial port is set up correctly. If not, the service is either not visible to this phone or it is not advertised correctly by the PC and you should re-check the settings.

B.1.1. Windows

The following steps should work for at least Windows 2000, 2003 and XP. Because of differences in Bluetooth drivers, ...