Appendix C: Establishing Ir Communications With The Pm880 - GE PM880 Operations & Installation Manual

Establishing IR Communications
with the PM880
As discussed in Chapter 1, the PM880 includes an infrared
transceiver for communication with IR products that comply with
the IrDA protocol. However, you must also be sure that the
operating system of your personal computer offers IrDA
compatibility and either a built-in IR port (available on most
laptops) or an IR dongle (IR to RS232 adapter for PCs without a
built-in IR port). If your PC does not have an IR dongle, GE
Panametrics recommends the ActiSys ACT-IR220L+ infrared to
RS-232 adapter, which has been tested for compatibility with the
PM880. Be sure to position the interface in a way that permits
transmission between the interface and the infrared sensor on the
PM880, shown in Figure 1-2 on page 1-3.
Table C-1 below lists IrDA compatibility for various past and
current Microsoft Windows operating systems. IrCOMM is an
infrared standard supported by Microsoft, while OBEX is a newer
infrared standard which allows more straightforward use and
faster file transfers, while tolerating IR interruptions better.
Table C-1: IrDA Compatibility of Windows Operating
Operating System
Windows XP
Windows 2000
Windows NT 4.0
Windows Me*
Windows 98 SE*
Windows 98*
Windows 95*
Windows 3.1
DOS 6.22
Establishing IR Communications with the PM880
Appendix C
Systems
IrCOMM
No
No
QuickBeam*
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
August 2003
OBEX
Yes
Yes
QuickBeam*
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
C-1