Re: Infrared port
 

Bluetooth has replaced the need for IrDA, but I used to use it a lot to sync between my ThinkPad using PC Suite.

Re: Infrared port
 

I still prefer IrDA for such things. Line of sight atleast means nobody is trying to be sneaky ;)

Re: Infrared port
 

The fact it is CIR is brilliant.

IrDA most often is useless more than about a foot away, in which case you are close enough to press the buttons.

As said above, there would be little point it being IrDA anyway as the N900 has much better technologies for file transfers. My old laptop had IrDA and it was next to useless for transferring to my phone, would lose the connection all the time as it was such a poor signal.

Re: Infrared port
 

They did, but then lost interest and There picked up the pieces.

Re: Infrared port
 

The only problem I see is the missing receiver, which kills an use case I find important -- learning.

Like with the resistive/capacitive "debate", there are IrDA ports and then there are good IrDA ports. I could drive my TV up to quite a few meters with the older Palm m130, but then I could barely drive it at a few centimeters using my newer Palm T|X.

Re: Infrared port
 

True, unless Nokia has the same catalog as Logitech (harmony) - which is probably not the case.

Re: Infrared port
 

Yes, there is no need for a receiver to 'train' anymore, as there are databases of the required codes all over the place. eg. http://lirc.sourceforge.net/remotes/

I have never had any problem with using IrDA on my ThinkPads and Nokias. It worked very well, but now Bluetooth is more convenient.

I thought CIR and IrDA were just protocols, anyway, and that IrDA could be implemented on the N900 through third party software, if anybody really wanted to?

(Actually, of course, if there is no receiver, you cannot use IrDA, so disregard that last line)

Re: Infrared port
 

but it would be nice to have your n900 plugged in to your home theater and control it with a remote! I'm not sure about this being CIR only, the chip is capable of fast IrDA and it might be some close to hardware coding needed to make it working as both (which could be the actual reason why nokia left this out for now, most of newer IrDA devices are able to do CIR as well. the used OMAP3430 supports it
http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtb...emplateId=6123

and for the records: just 2 days ago I pulled out my old mobile to use its IrDA to transfer a phone-book from an IrDA-only to a bluetooth-only mobilephone

Re: Infrared port
 

If I look at the IR ports on my IrDA devices, I see two IR diodes (or whatever you call them). One must be for receiving, and one for transmitting. I would guess that the N900 only has a blaster for transmitting, just like a TV remote control unit.

Re: Infrared port
 

See How To: Set Up The Irreco Universal Remote on Your N900 @ http://theunlockr.com/2009/11/22/how...-on-your-n900/

Credits theunlockr