asterisk users - Feb 2005 - Mac Mini and chan_bluetooth, has anyone told The o if it works?

I googled on this for about an hour and the most relevant hit I got was, of
course, the first hit:

http://www.sowerbutts.com/linux-mac-mini/#support

In it, he indicates that the stock Bluetooth module "should work, but
untested" - he doesn't qualify the statement with anything. Has anyone
tried
chan_bluetooth or even the Bluz stack on a Mini or a G5? If so, under Linux
or OSX? (assuming it will compile) If not, I'm eager to try it when my Mini
comes in. What's the point of that, you say?

Hmmm....let's see, IAX <--> Bluetooth on a Mac seems to be a bit of a
killer
app. PSTN calls are handed off from a primary Asterisk server to dialplan on
a user's Mac, and the user's cell phone rings. Or the user's Mac
announces
the user's presence to Asterisk or the LAN by the cell in his pocket and re
routes calls automatically. That's pretty friggin killer, don't you
think?

That is pretty cool, except I'm not able to get my head around the 
usefulness of BT's 3~30 foot range limitation. Every time I think of a 
great use for BT, I then think about the consequences of walking down 
the hall for a moment.
> Or the user's Mac announces
> the user's presence to Asterisk or the LAN by the cell in his pocket 
> and re
> routes calls automatically. That's pretty friggin killer, don't you
> think?

We have Bluetooth working up to a 75 foot radius from the base station
through standard drywall and plenums. Dunno if it is localized to those
specific devices, or whatever. I am specifically looking at this to issue a
single handset to our sales people who are in and out of our office, and go
to their remote offices, to create micro cell sites, all tied together with
IAX. It galls me that we have broadband coming out of our yinyang and yet we
still pay > 10K a month for cell bills, and I still see stupid salespeople
walking around in our office yipping on their cell phones. Pick up a
landline, you idiot! There's one not two feet away from your right hand!

In a perfect world, the user would roam from 1X/PCS to Asterisk (obviously
not transparently - the active call would get cut off, no?)

In any case, my assumption is that there will be no hand-off's, and it's
still compelling. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Goodyear [mailto:me@jrob.net]
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005 4:31 PM
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Mac Mini and chan_bluetooth, has anyone
told The o if it works? 


That is pretty cool, except I'm not able to get my head around the 
usefulness of BT's 3~30 foot range limitation. Every time I think of a 
great use for BT, I then think about the consequences of walking down 
the hall for a moment.
> Or the user's Mac announces
> the user's presence to Asterisk or the LAN by the cell in his pocket 
> and re
> routes calls automatically. That's pretty friggin killer, don't you
> think?
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On 17-Feb-2005, Colin Anderson wrote:
> Hmmm....let's see, IAX <--> Bluetooth on a Mac seems to be a bit
of a killer
> app. PSTN calls are handed off from a primary Asterisk server to dialplan
on
> a user's Mac, and the user's cell phone rings. Or the user's
Mac announces
> the user's presence to Asterisk or the LAN by the cell in his pocket
and re
> routes calls automatically. That's pretty friggin killer, don't you
think?
I use bluetooth for presence detection in exactly this manner.  Sadly, I'm
stuck in Linux because I also use a TDM400P in the asterisk server.  I think
the Mac Mini would be a great solution for this sort of feature.

http://slacker.com/~nugget/asterisk6.php describes what I built.  In my 
experiences, the 30 foot range claimed for bluetooth is extremely
conservative.  I can "see" my cell phone from anywhere in my house.

-- 
David McNett <nugget@slacker.com>
http://slacker.com/~nugget/

>I use bluetooth for presence detection in exactly this manner.  Sadly,
I'm
>stuck in Linux because I also use a TDM400P in the asterisk server.  I
think
>the Mac Mini would be a great solution for this sort of feature.
I promise to report back to the list and document on the Wiki my
experiences, if my Mini ever comes! 2 week backorder. Thanks to all that
responded.