Billionton PCBTC1 PCMCIA Bluetooth Adapter

I just managed to acquire the recommended Billionton PCBTC1 PCMCIA Bluetooth Adapter, Class 1. Has anyone used one under Windows 7 yet? How about Vista?

Perhaps I have bought a Pig in a poke!

Thanks!

 

*Pokes the Pokey pig*

Speaking of such things... has anyone successfully used one of these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PCMCIA-USB2-0-Bluetooth-COMBO-Cardbus-Adapter-Laptop_W0QQitemZ250541087427QQ

in the hidden PCMCIA on a CF-28?

I remember our previous experiences with the AKE dual USB cards weren't exactly stellar...


mnem<~~~ Poked

 

Yeah... Those are junk... You can see the poser Toughbook Customizers on ebay using them to add BT to their "custom" toughbooks... They crap out and have lousy software.

But they are about 1/3 the cost of the good old Billiontons

 

Ohhhhh, Class 2.0, a 3rd USB slot and Vista support! Well I am gnashing my tusks now, but I will be fine if mine will work for what I want it for!

If not, a <STRIKE>sucker</STRIKE> customer comes along on eBay every minute, ask me how I know...

 

Yeah, well... I'm kindof with Az on this one.

Not so much the price, as an easy way to add BT AND get that internal USB2.0 in the PERFECT package. Even if the survival rate is only 50% like the shorty dual USB cards... buy 2 and it STILL adds up like a good deal.

mnem<~~~Contemplating~~~<<<

 

I have one in the hidden slot and it works just fine, I am abel to use it to tether my blackberry. As soon as I figure out how to whittle down a usb cable I will use the usb to run a hidden jump drive in the computer, as someone else on the forum did.

 

I have 2 of those AKE brand USB/BT combo cards. So far they both work good although have not run them for months on end yet. The crappy software they came with caused both CF-28 and CF-29 running WinXP3 to blue screen, so I removed it and let Windows install default drivers that seem to work OK.

Tried reworking several plugs but couldn't get them small enough. But I did have good results with a AKE brand dual USB 2.0 card by opening up the card and soldering female USB pigtails to the ports, then routing the pigtails inside the chassis. One was connected to a mini 4-port hub, so plenty of ports inside to play with.

 

Thanks I will revisit that thread and see if I can take it apart like you did and solder the pigtail from the cable to the board on the card.

 

Spring -

Yup; this was what I had in mind myself.

I've done the same mod successfully with the AKE Dual USB2.0; it worked, but due to the fact of being in a PCMCIA slot(only a 3.3V supply), they are not very forgiving of overload conditions.

BTW - I used twisted pair wire from Cat5 cable to make my jumpers; readily available and it worked VERY well. The ready-made MULTI-STRANDED type used to connect from the wall to a PC was more user friendly; but either type worked. Just remember to use one pair for +5V & Ground, and the other pair for Data In & Data Out, and keep the pairs twisted properly as close as possible to each end (DON'T untwist the wire).

I think that if I route that USB port to a USB hub and figure out a good source of +5V for the hub, then ONLY connect to the USB hub I would be good to go...

mnem

 

:laugh: Well if I can highjack back my thread for a moment... J/K!

I am trying to determine if the Billionton PCBTC1 PCMCIA card uses the Broadcom bluetooth chipset. If I believe that I can use WIDCOMM, which is available for Win7, HERE.

 

I use that Billionton card on my CF29 with W7, no problem, W7 uses native drivers and works perfect (for sur better than the intel video drivers )

 

Thank You! Rep added!

 

Vista and W7 do have fairly good bluetooth support from their built-in driver database
I have not had to update with these operating systems

I had issues with a stock xp pro restore on a cf-18 mk-2 a few weeks ago
that had the standard bluetooth installed
Issue was finaly resolved as I found bluetooth drivers for it
I have uploaded drivers to Robs downloads area for xp with the standard bluetooth modules for both the cf-18 and cf-19 ( it may work for others as well under xp)
http://toughbooktalk.com/public_downloads/


Alex

 

Azrial... I am mailing you both Billionton Installation CDs that I have... I think the copy is what you want but I have an OEM disk that may also work... They will grace your presence in about 3 days!

 

Toughbook, thanks for the CDs and Tomcat57 thanks for the Info!

Denrosten, I have a question that you should be in a unique position to answer, does the Class 1 Billionton card on your CF29 running Win7 run fast enough to stream full stereo audio to a pair of Bluetooth headphones?

 

That is one thing i don't know, i only use it to sync my phone, sorry

 

I have read that even a high quality stereo audio stream requires only a maximum of only 345 kb/ps. If the CD standard can be used 128 is "CD Quality" but even my old shell shocked ears can hear the difference between that and 256 kb/ps or better!

The Billionton PCBTC1 PCMCIA Class 1.1 Bluetooth Adapter specifications claim a data rate of 721 kb/ps.

So, maybe I will be OK!

 

Az -

It doesn't matter what the bitrate is I'm afraid; stereo audio is only supported in the BT 1.2 & higher profiles...

mnem<~~~ Learned this the hard way ~~~<<<

 

Thanks for getting me straight on this... as I snort off in disgust at my ignorance!

 

Bill.... Just realize that $1.45 let you down and then let the OTHER crap of the world get you down. You STILL have a heck of a card and I'll pay you 10X what you paid for it sight unseen! (If you want to dump it.)

Just let me know.. Bu try the software I shipped first!

 

Nah, it's not like that, don't take me too seriously here, I think that it was summed up in that old Queen song, "I want it all, I want it all, and I WANT IT NOW!"

However, I bought it with the idea of resale if if I could not use it as it seems to be nice acquisition Toughbook wise.

Thanks, I will give you first option on it if I sell it! I am hoping to get a stereo headset for my birthday!

Now that the house if quiet, I think that it is time to add in this mod that I received in the mail today!

 

Is it? I wonder..... Could it be so soon?

 

Yep, the eagle has landed, the eagle has landed!

 

I am having problems with a billinton bt card in the hidden slot. I had done the install over 6 months ago and it froze on me (windows xp i.e.) several times. I decided to revisit this issue this weekend and did a fresh install of XP pro on a new HD (320gb partitioned into 3 drives), and it did the same thing after it recognized the card and loaded the windows drivers. I don't remember whether this happened b4 with the billionton drivers or not but I had installed Bluesoleil as well at that time. I am going to do some diagnosis and see what happens. First I am going to install another identical card in one of the A cardbus slots (with the B cardbus disabled of course) and see if it freezes on me again. If it does, I am going to use the billionton drivers next and see what happens. I am using the class 1 ver 2.0 + EDR billionton cards (GCBBTCR41B-BT) and the toughbook is a CF-28SW. I was wondering if anyone had similar issues ?