Bluetooth on HP 360LX

Hi,
- Is it possible to use Bluetooth on HP 360LX and how?
- Could PC Card Bluetooth (e.g. from 3com) work and where to get the drivers?
- Could it handle:
BT headphones/earphones and/or
mouse as well as
internet sharing over Bluetooth?

You can find all known compatibility information in the HCL in the support section.

I need to lower your expectations though.

...yeah with the missing welcome can't have high hopes, indeed ??

Not sure I follow?

Actually from memory, I don't think there are any SH3 drivers for CE2.00, only MIPS.

I believe Bluetooth on Windows CE 2.0 is relegated more to internet sharing / and/or file sharing -- if that's even possible with the particular drivers

I'm fairly sure bluetooth mice/headphones/earphones are not supported in any fashion.

Welcome to the forum by the way. You could also find an ethernet PC card, or a WLAN PC card and use those

Edited by torch 2023-11-16 9:44 PM

I had some time and chance to experiment with HP 360LX. I would like to put the results in a straightforward way, so it could be helpful for someone looking for quick answers.

The compact flash slot (CF) can accept 8GB CF card (Kingston in my case), but only 2000MB per partition and max 3 partitions can be detected. The way to format the CF card is to make max 2000MB unformatted partitions e.g. in disk management in Windows and let HP 360LX format them. So 6000MB is detected in total.

To install programs and games, a serial sync(h) cable is necessary along with the software and (I guess) a PC running Windows 95. The cable is HP F1223A (which initially cost $14.99, now ranges $30-$75 online), some listings indicate F1224-80004 as compatible, but I have not tested myself.

The other way (as indicated on this site and other sources) to install things is to get cabinet (.cab) files (extract contents of a respective setup.exe as archive using 7-Zip archiver) on CF card and run them in HP 360LX directly. In case there are multiple designations such as MIPS, ARM, SH3 the latter SH-3 is the one corresponding to the Hitachi (SuperH) processor in this unit.

So far, I was able to successfully install XAudio and run mp3 files in the background without distortion, while with the XAudio being an active window the music is choppy.

I was also able to successfully install PocketDOS and play the original Digger, although the experience was mediocre.

I was unable to run either Pocket Paint or Bluetooth, although installed both: Pocket Paint from "Palm-Size PC Power Toys" package and Bluetooth from AmbiCom "Blue Neighbors for Windows CE.10003.cab". The error related to missing files; I did not investigate further.

It was nice to have Solitaire preinstalled, and this device could have been fun for retro gaming but I was unable to find any fun games that could have been installed via the cabinet extraction method.

I highly recommend also installing the following service packs in order if you haven’t already (and soft resetting in between)

https://www.hpcfactor.com/support/cesd/200228/windows_ce_20_service_pack_1/
And the second one mainly if you intend to use networking (may not be required if you’re not)

https://www.hpcfactor.com/support/cesd/200229/network_service_pack_nsp_for_windows_ce_20/

Edited by torch 2023-12-02 5:32 PM

Thank you for the welcome and follow up, torch, much appreciated! I could not install the service pack as it did not run on my Windows 10 64-bit machine.

Go to here

https://www.hpcfactor.com/downloads/577/Handheld_PC_2.0_SP1

And download file called

sp1.HPC_SH3.CAB
Copy to cf card from computer and install on device

Edited by torch 2023-12-02 10:03 PM

So, after further testing I can clearly answer my own question:
No, it is not possible to use Bluetooth on HP 360LX.
I tested with Ambicom BT 2000-CF compact flash Bluetooth adapter and "Blue Neighbors for Windows CE.10003.cab" software. The software installation stalled at creating a "remove programs" entry and failed to start. The adapter once inserted just blinked once or twice.

'Blue Neighbors for Windows CE.10003.cab' is a Pocket PC 2000 driver. As I said in November, there was never a SH3 driver for CE 2.00.

Thank you, C:Amie and also torch for the time you spent on this. Also, I acknowledge and appreciate the knowledge and dedication.

I suggest adjusting the Hardware Compatibility List which led me to buy the BT CF card and the adapter:

That is a very fair point. Unfortunately the HCL isn't coded to know architectural compatibility, only operating system version. Which I appreciate is an issue.


I'm not sure what the sane answer is. I'll have a think.