IrDA is defined as a set of interoperable, low cost infrared data interconnection standards. The standards support a broad range of appliances, computing and communications devices.
Almost all new PDAs support the IrDA infrared communicaton. However the companies often only implement a minimal subset of these standards. Therefore it is very difficult to exchange information between PDAs using different operation systems.

The program IrChat was developed as an example how different PDA operating systems can work together to exchange information.

IrChat is currently ported to the following operating systems:

• Psion EPOC32
• Windows CE 2.0 (MIPS, SH3)
• Apple Newton MessagePad 2000 (alpha release)
• 3COM Pilot (coming soon)

The main application is a chat program. On top of it we build a simple file transfer protocol to exchange arbitrary binary or text files.

For further information contact Markus Lauff

Download for MIPS, SH Windows CE machines (including the MFC20D.DLL)

Installation:

Unzip the archive and copy the irchat.exe file to your CE machine.
Start the program, open the menu File/Properties and enter the following value into the Service fields (Home and Remote-Service-Name)
...-Service-Name: LSAP-SEL029

Known Issues in IrChat for Windows CE:

• alpha version - see FAQ
• no error handling if the infrared connection is interrupted
• error message "Error number 10060 ..:" after exiting the server mode

Psion Series 5 (EPOC32):

Download for Psion Series 5

Installation:

1. Create a /System/Apps/IrChat directory on any drive of your Psion.
2. Unzip the archive and copy the two files to your Psion in the /System/Apps/IrChat directory

Known Issues in IrChat for Psion Series 5:

• alpha version - see FAQ

Q2: Is there any support?
NO. Because it is a alpha version it is NOT supported.

Q3: Is the source code available?
In general the source code is not available. If you need the source code for scientific reasons send us an email introducing yourself and your project.

Q4: Where are the Newton binaries for download?
The binaries will be available for download in a few days - please be patient.

Q5: I have a error message "File not found" after starting IrChat?
The distribution of IrChat was incomple - the problem is fixed.

1. beta version (more stable)
2. 3COM Pilot version
3. enhanced FTP (file transfer, data exchange) support