Hello all, My old cell phone (an ancient Audiovox CDM-8100) has died. I used it to connect via ppp, at 14.4k, through an RS-232 cable, to the internet via Verizon's #777 and qnc login. The cofiguration wasn't easy to set up but once done, it worked. And yeah, I'm cheap: I don't need verizon's fast data service at $80 a month.
Today's phones are a totally different breed. There are so many more options. With a couple of hours of research I've already discoverd that Verizon's web site is not very accurate about what features are available in different phones and that they routinely cripple the firmware so you can't (for instance) use bluetooth to transfer files. I started with a careful look at the LG VX8100 and Motorola E815. Given that these phones have bluetooth, I figured I'd use that to connect the phone to the laptop instead of having to buy a $50 data cable every time verizon forces me to upgrade or the phone dies and is no longer available/supported. This might also be useful to not have to buy a new headset (assuming compatible protocols) with every phone change. So the first question is: is it possible to use the bluetooth connection to establish a ppp connection between the debian laptop and these phones? any other phones? I have serial ports on both laptops I use (Dell 8600 and IBM thinkpad 600E) so if I have to buy a cable it would be a serial cable, unless it is preferable/easy/possible to use USB cable with Debian and a cell phone. Has anyone done this? Is anyone using one of these phones with Debian? as a modem? how do you transfer files (pictures, mp3, phone lists) given the sorry state of the crippled bluetooth software? Is bluetooth crippled on every verizon phone? Is there a way to change this? Since all phones have a GPS these days, is it possible to access the GPS data from the Debian laptop to use, say, in geographic programs such as GPSdrive and/or gpsd? Has someone done this? via bluetooth? via cable? I have a PDA (Handera) that I keep synced with kpilot and the IR port. Is it possible to sync the phone list to these phones? how? If not these phones, what verizon-compatible phones do people use that can do this? I'd rather not re-enter every phone number manually. IR seems to be falling by the wayside... Any pros/cons about the removable memory? I understand there are adapters to plug the trasflash/miniSd cards into a PCcard slot, correct? How does this work with Debian? Given that these phones use/create different files, it would be nice to sync/DL them to the laptop. Any phone specific software in Debian or are these phones recognized as storage devices? I presume if a USB cable is used they should be, but what about a bluetooth connection? How is the memory handled with a serial (rs-232) cable? Any other suggestions or info on using a current generation cell phone with Debian would be welcome. http://www.mobiledia.com has good descriptions of the phones and reviews. Any recommendations? other phones? Is it reasonable to expect that firmware shortcomings might be improved via firmware downloads? or is this not at all possible? Many thanks. Augustine -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
