Permanent wiimote sync: HOW TO DO IT!
Posted by .carsten
|
Permanent wiimote sync: HOW TO DO IT! June 10, 2009 02:37PM | Registered: 14 years ago Posts: 1 |
This is copy of my post at wiimoteproject...but I thought it would be equally well interesting for wiibrew::
There have been a lot of activity regarding the permanent synchronization between a Windows PC and a wiimote. I made some test, and finally found a working solution!!!
Please see the "README_FIRST" text below, or just goto
mergeit.dk/uploads/media/wiiscantray-1.0_demo.zip
to get the source files and binaries for a Windows XP PC. The code is able to permanently pair a wiimote and a PC. After a registration you only need to press "1-2" on the wiimote to reestablish the connection. It even stays connectable even after a PC shutdown/restart.
The code is still in demo phase, specifically I just encountered a problem, when there are more BT radio in close vicinity of the wiimote.
And if anyone know how to check for an established connection (like the one you see in the BT device list gui: "Connection established") programatically, then I am all ears!!
Any comments or test results are naturally welcome...
Enjoy
.carsten
README_FIRST text (from the zip file):
Copyright © 2008 MergeIt, Aps.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software
and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that
the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice
and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation.
WIISCAN/WIISCANTRAY:
a connection utility for wii console remotes - this version is rewritten to
encompass permanent pairing of a wiimote and a Windows PC.
VERSION:
1.0 demo, (note that the source is not "cleaned" up yet)
INSTALL:
Just run bin/Release/wiiscantray.
Right-click on the trayicon to see menu; use register to pair a wiimote;
use unregister to remove the pairing.
Be sure to unregister all wiimotes, before doing a fresh paring.
IMPORTANT: Modify the address in the Release/wiiscan.ini file to make the
connection more robust: replace the line "allowed_wiimote_adr=00:00:00:00:00:00"
with your specific address, like "allowed_wiimote_adr=00:22:D7:94:13:2B".
The paring between a wiimote and a PC consist of:
1: Hard-syncing the wiimote, to get it to know the PC bluetooth address.
2: Establish a paring-key between the wiimote and the PC. This is initiated
on the PC side, using the bluetooth adapters MAC address as key. The
PC BT radio key could be something like "00:50:B6:A0:48:8C", such that
the paring key gets to be:
// adr of btadapter
WCHAR pass[6];
pass[0]=0x8C;
pass[1]=0x48;
pass[2]=0xA0;
pass[3]=0xB6;
pass[4]=0x50;
pass[5]=0x00;
in c-code, and what is then needed is a simple call to the authentication
procedure, like
DWORD r=BluetoothAuthenticateDevice(0,hRadio,&bdi,pass,6);
The problem of entering some hex values in a GUI paring window, is hence
solved by programmatic doing the same thing. BT address entries of the
form ":00:" is also only (and always) encountered in the end of the address.
Notice also that the BT MAC address is read from the right to the left, that
is from least-significant-byte to most-significant-byte (this explains some
of the confusion regarding "reversing the MAC address byte order").
3: Once a pairing have been established, it persist! Check the pairing status
by looking into the Bluetooth device properties.
4: Powering the wiimote down and up; that is pressing the power-button for a
couple of seconds, and then pressing a soft-sync button, like "1-2",
immediately reestablish the connection. No software external software is
involved in this process, but the wiiscantray will try to continuously
monitor the connection.
5: And, voila...from here you can run all the Whiteboard software.
Once paired, the wiimote and PC keeps the pairing information, and it as such
persist through both a PC shutdown/restart and wiimote power-down (press the
wiimote power button for a couple of second) and soft-resync, that is a "1-2"
keypress or likewise.
A peculiarity in the pairing process, is that it only seems to work stable after
a long period, say a minute. Hence the software wait a long time, such that the
connection is stable. This may be attributed to some unknown "Windows-features",
but the long wait is only necessary at a hard-sync, so its really a minor
problem. This problem may be attributed to the BT caching mechanism in Windows.
Do not hard-sync the wiimote after a successful pairing.
Old pairing to other computers are lost, as they should be, when paring the
wiimote with a new computer.
Two PC in close vicinity, with unique wiimote pairing, do not interfere with
each other. They pair individual to their respective wiimote, as expected.
The hard-sync registering phase, may however require a setup of a single online
PC and wiimote only (not tested).
A severe problem, is however, that the wiimotemay try connect with the BT
address, of the lowest order. A current observed defect is that an otherwise
perfect paired wiimote and PC may not be able to reestablish the connection if
another, secondary BT adapter is switch on. The problem needs to be futher investegated.
The wiiscantray continuously polls the BT connection, using the MS Bluetooth API,
but this may sometimes cause interference with the pairing. A better solution is
on its way. You can exit the wiiscantray software immediately after a successful
pairing, if you experience problems.
PREREQUISITES:
.NET framework 3.5
Windows XP or above.
Microsoft Bluetooth stack.
Bluetooth radio compatible with the wii-remote.
NOTE:
If you are running a non-Microsoft Bluetooth stack (like Widcomm),
you must follow the procedure found in the document doc/CHANGEINGBTSTACK.rtf
TEST:
The software was tested under these three setups:
1: Lenovo Thinkpad R500
XP professional, version 2002, SP2
Trendnet TBW-102UB bluetoohg dongle (=Broadcom Ultimate Low Cost Bluetooth 2.0+EDR USB), driver 5.1.2535.0
Microsoft BT stack, driver 5.1.2600.2180
2: "bambus" PC
XP professional, SP3
Trendnet TBW-102UB bluetoohg dongle (=Broadcom Ultimate Low Cost Bluetooth 2.0+EDR USB), driver 5.1.2535.0
Microsoft BT stack, driver 5.1.2600.5512
3: eeePC (does not work 100% stable)
XP Home,version 2002, SP3
Azware BT252 bluetooth dongle, driver 5.1.2600.5512
Microsoft BT stack, driver 5.1.2600.5512
(Not tested yet: "bambus" PC
Vista Buissnes
Trendnet TBW-102UB bluetoohg dongle (=Broadcom Ultimate Low Cost Bluetooth 2.0+EDR USB)
Microsoft BT stack, driver ??
)
Not tested: multiple simultaneous wiimote connections to the same computer.
There have been a lot of activity regarding the permanent synchronization between a Windows PC and a wiimote. I made some test, and finally found a working solution!!!
Please see the "README_FIRST" text below, or just goto
mergeit.dk/uploads/media/wiiscantray-1.0_demo.zip
to get the source files and binaries for a Windows XP PC. The code is able to permanently pair a wiimote and a PC. After a registration you only need to press "1-2" on the wiimote to reestablish the connection. It even stays connectable even after a PC shutdown/restart.
The code is still in demo phase, specifically I just encountered a problem, when there are more BT radio in close vicinity of the wiimote.
And if anyone know how to check for an established connection (like the one you see in the BT device list gui: "Connection established") programatically, then I am all ears!!
Any comments or test results are naturally welcome...
Enjoy
.carsten
README_FIRST text (from the zip file):
Copyright © 2008 MergeIt, Aps.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software
and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted, provided that
the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice
and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation.
WIISCAN/WIISCANTRAY:
a connection utility for wii console remotes - this version is rewritten to
encompass permanent pairing of a wiimote and a Windows PC.
VERSION:
1.0 demo, (note that the source is not "cleaned" up yet)
INSTALL:
Just run bin/Release/wiiscantray.
Right-click on the trayicon to see menu; use register to pair a wiimote;
use unregister to remove the pairing.
Be sure to unregister all wiimotes, before doing a fresh paring.
IMPORTANT: Modify the address in the Release/wiiscan.ini file to make the
connection more robust: replace the line "allowed_wiimote_adr=00:00:00:00:00:00"
with your specific address, like "allowed_wiimote_adr=00:22:D7:94:13:2B".
The paring between a wiimote and a PC consist of:
1: Hard-syncing the wiimote, to get it to know the PC bluetooth address.
2: Establish a paring-key between the wiimote and the PC. This is initiated
on the PC side, using the bluetooth adapters MAC address as key. The
PC BT radio key could be something like "00:50:B6:A0:48:8C", such that
the paring key gets to be:
// adr of btadapter
WCHAR pass[6];
pass[0]=0x8C;
pass[1]=0x48;
pass[2]=0xA0;
pass[3]=0xB6;
pass[4]=0x50;
pass[5]=0x00;
in c-code, and what is then needed is a simple call to the authentication
procedure, like
DWORD r=BluetoothAuthenticateDevice(0,hRadio,&bdi,pass,6);
The problem of entering some hex values in a GUI paring window, is hence
solved by programmatic doing the same thing. BT address entries of the
form ":00:" is also only (and always) encountered in the end of the address.
Notice also that the BT MAC address is read from the right to the left, that
is from least-significant-byte to most-significant-byte (this explains some
of the confusion regarding "reversing the MAC address byte order").
3: Once a pairing have been established, it persist! Check the pairing status
by looking into the Bluetooth device properties.
4: Powering the wiimote down and up; that is pressing the power-button for a
couple of seconds, and then pressing a soft-sync button, like "1-2",
immediately reestablish the connection. No software external software is
involved in this process, but the wiiscantray will try to continuously
monitor the connection.
5: And, voila...from here you can run all the Whiteboard software.
Once paired, the wiimote and PC keeps the pairing information, and it as such
persist through both a PC shutdown/restart and wiimote power-down (press the
wiimote power button for a couple of second) and soft-resync, that is a "1-2"
keypress or likewise.
A peculiarity in the pairing process, is that it only seems to work stable after
a long period, say a minute. Hence the software wait a long time, such that the
connection is stable. This may be attributed to some unknown "Windows-features",
but the long wait is only necessary at a hard-sync, so its really a minor
problem. This problem may be attributed to the BT caching mechanism in Windows.
Do not hard-sync the wiimote after a successful pairing.
Old pairing to other computers are lost, as they should be, when paring the
wiimote with a new computer.
Two PC in close vicinity, with unique wiimote pairing, do not interfere with
each other. They pair individual to their respective wiimote, as expected.
The hard-sync registering phase, may however require a setup of a single online
PC and wiimote only (not tested).
A severe problem, is however, that the wiimotemay try connect with the BT
address, of the lowest order. A current observed defect is that an otherwise
perfect paired wiimote and PC may not be able to reestablish the connection if
another, secondary BT adapter is switch on. The problem needs to be futher investegated.
The wiiscantray continuously polls the BT connection, using the MS Bluetooth API,
but this may sometimes cause interference with the pairing. A better solution is
on its way. You can exit the wiiscantray software immediately after a successful
pairing, if you experience problems.
PREREQUISITES:
.NET framework 3.5
Windows XP or above.
Microsoft Bluetooth stack.
Bluetooth radio compatible with the wii-remote.
NOTE:
If you are running a non-Microsoft Bluetooth stack (like Widcomm),
you must follow the procedure found in the document doc/CHANGEINGBTSTACK.rtf
TEST:
The software was tested under these three setups:
1: Lenovo Thinkpad R500
XP professional, version 2002, SP2
Trendnet TBW-102UB bluetoohg dongle (=Broadcom Ultimate Low Cost Bluetooth 2.0+EDR USB), driver 5.1.2535.0
Microsoft BT stack, driver 5.1.2600.2180
2: "bambus" PC
XP professional, SP3
Trendnet TBW-102UB bluetoohg dongle (=Broadcom Ultimate Low Cost Bluetooth 2.0+EDR USB), driver 5.1.2535.0
Microsoft BT stack, driver 5.1.2600.5512
3: eeePC (does not work 100% stable)
XP Home,version 2002, SP3
Azware BT252 bluetooth dongle, driver 5.1.2600.5512
Microsoft BT stack, driver 5.1.2600.5512
(Not tested yet: "bambus" PC
Vista Buissnes
Trendnet TBW-102UB bluetoohg dongle (=Broadcom Ultimate Low Cost Bluetooth 2.0+EDR USB)
Microsoft BT stack, driver ??
)
Not tested: multiple simultaneous wiimote connections to the same computer.
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