Bluetooth Serial Port Profile?

[ctmagnus]

How does the BT Serial Port Profile function?

Particularly, is there a device that is essentially a 9-pin (or 25-pin) port into which a serial cable can plug, and then the serial IO is transferred over the air?

I found this pdf (http://www.iemw.tuwien.ac.at/files/188.pdf) and this page (http://www.swedetrack.com/usblue4.htm#2) that clarify it somewhat, but I am as yet unsure as I have yet to see any bt devices beyond the infamous* MS keyboard.

* Three Amigos definition, or not. Your choice.

[Janak Parekh]

Particularly, is there a device that is essentially a 9-pin (or 25-pin) port into which a serial cable can plug, and then the serial IO is transferred over the air?
One could make one, and presumably they exist. However, this is not fundamentally what the serial profile is -- I believe the serial profile is just software that emulates RS232 framing (CTS/RTS? DSR/CSR? I don't know which ones it supports.) so that one can virtualize the communication at the endpoints to look like (and, indeed, support) a standard serial protocol.

--janak

[ctmagnus]

Particularly, is there a device that is essentially a 9-pin (or 25-pin) port into which a serial cable can plug, and then the serial IO is transferred over the air?

One could make one, and presumably they exist. However, this is not fundamentally what the serial profile is -- I believe the serial profile is just software that emulates RS232 framing (CTS/RTS? DSR/CSR? I don't know which ones it supports.) so that one can virtualize the communication at the endpoints to look like (and, indeed, support) a standard serial protocol.

--janak

Thx. I'm particularly looking for NMEA 0183 (aka GPS) support. I could spring for a BT GPS receiver but it's probably cheaper this way.