@adisonverlice I mean, I could see something like an #IrDA or #BLE / #WiFi thingy that basically exchanges packages kinda like a bulk delivery that one just slaps onto a device.

• Kinda the #DataMule idea some folks suggested to do with like( informal) (mini)bus services in the global south to get large amounts of data to areas that have no internet or only slow narrowband connectivity at best.

A ground-based alternative to #BlockstreamSatellite would be kinda cool espechally since they use #Shitcoin (#Bitcoin) and transfer of data is just absurdly expensive by pricing.

@despens EMBRACE #IrDA INSTEAD!

@stman @50htz @vidak @theruran @forthy42 Yet somehow we've to deal with changing conditions and pretty shure you too have to admit that having a link that may throttle due to weather is better than having no link or poor reliability because it needs perfect conditions.

Optical PtP links outside of laboratories have to deal with changing and adverse conditions and somehow you gotta have to communicate between the units if they loose contact or that the error rate is too high so they need to renegotiate a lower link width.

• Espechally since this ain't like EuroDOCSIS where interference is minimal unless people actively sabotage things.

I'm also referencing #IrDA because they did already do some fundamental research.

• And whilst I was looking I found out that there's also a lack of newly-made IrDA transciever chips like the STIR4220 so designing a new one (even if it's just an FPGA reimplementation) is desireable for a lot of "legacy" applications as well as secure data exchange on short distance.

@stman @50htz @vidak @theruran @forthy42 merely doubling the baudrate per wavelenght compared to #RONJA can yield 100MBit/s at 5 wavelenghts, whilst offering us better link budget & range.
https://infosec.space/@kkarhan/114719599251092905

Not to mention #IrDA as a protocol could be repurposed as a diagnostics / link renegotiation channel and even as ultra-long-range / narrowband & broadcasting (PtMP) solution (see #IrLAN)…

Note that the maximum possible range achieveable under lab conditions will be way better than the real-world outputs, simply because not only does humidity and rain exist, but where it doesn't (i.e. deserts) thermal stress and expansion is moving things out of optimal alignment over the day...

• And in a lab you don't have things potentially disturbing it.

@riley Oh, you'd be surprised where I've found #WiFi #deauthers...

Espechally since even quality ones are cheap...

Plus I'm shure I could easily 4x the bandwith of #IrDA if I were to use 4 different transciever pairs with different colour filters at the same time, which is basically "CWDM at home"

@riley Case in point, #IrDA on optical bandwiths would work excellent for #DataExchange on #airgapped systems with minimal risk of violating #TEMPEST or similar standards, thus making RED/BLACK seperation in various projects on mine simpler.

• Not to mention it's trivial to spoof or merely jam #wireless #RF like #NFC]* and thus denying the ability to use these, whereas it's harder to block a line-of-sight without being identified as root cause of it.

@riley Also using visible light for FSOC avoids all the "spectrum compliance" and "licensing" issues whilst making it impossible to ban, unless one were to ban colour filters and lights!

Having access to said #specification for #IrDA is also beneficial for #RetroComputing as IrDA was a modestly successful tech and could thus be used for #bridging...

@riley it's not just about being able to reimplement the spec which in terms of SIR is a trivial way to make 9600/8/N/1 half-duplex connections but also to read the rationale behind their decisions.

• Also being able to overcome the limitations of #RONJA and #IrDA as systems (as far as possible) is desireable.

(i.e. there are less sources of green and blue light in nature and water doesn't attenuate blue light even remotely as much as red, so there's that benefit)...

@riley The #IrOBEX standard is part of the whole #IrDA specification...

The most interesting part is the #LowLevel stuff, cuz theoretically one could just apply that to any optical system ranging from consumer LEDs to Laser pointers to fiberoptical assemblies.

• But most importantly I do think that IrDA would work great at a diagnostics / negotiation system for the revised #RONJA PtP link that @stman is working on, aiming to do 100 Mbit/s Ethernet with cheap COTS parts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RONJA

As IR will be extremely quickly attenuated by the slightest amount of atmospheric moisture (aka. rain and fog) using visible light spectrum is an easier workaround.

• Plus that tech he's working on could yield a better short-range, contactless data exchange protocol where WiFi, and Bluetooth are not desireable and where passive security-by-design is desireable.

@stman @vidak @50htz @theruran @forthy42 as for "protocol" I'd recommend to take a closer look at #IrDA since there are a shitton of cheap transcievers and implementations available and it would allow this to be reused for a secure P2P data exchange and secure contactless networking solution that is inherently harder (if not basically impossible) to eavesdrop on compared to #Bluetooth and #WiFi.

• Plus it'll be a potentially better alternative to #LiFi for #Broadcast useage.

Not to mention I've not seen any IrDA devices >4MBit/s in the wild, with most being 9600bit/s #serial links fir the most part, and having a direct optical data exchange that takes literal seconds instead of minutes would really have a lot of good use cases i.e. in medical fields, where having a fully sterilizeable computer is kibda important and having a docking cradle with a charging coil and optical "port" would really be appreciated.

In fact ITU G.9991 (G.vlc) & IEEE 802.11bb are worth looking into as well just to see advantages and disadvantages...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IrDA
https://en.mikipedia.org/wiki/Li-Fi

[4/6]
Finding a compatible #IrDA dongle at a reasonable price is quite a challenge and most of them no longer have current working drivers.

Fortunately SCUBA divers use IrDA for a lot of their old devices and on the Scubaboard forum I learned at the heart of some IrDA dongles was a Moschip or Asix chip MCS7780 and there is a working driver for these.

I searched for a list of dongles that used this chip and found an old one by Gearmo for only 40 bucks on Ebay.

[3/6]
We have two objectives to get this going:
- Install the #IrDA stack.
- Find a compatible dongle with working drivers.

Let’s begin by installing the stack. It’s the easiest part and only takes a few minutes.

In #Windows 10 open Settings and select System > Optional Features > Add a Feature. Now scroll down the list and select “IrDA Infrared” to install it.

After a few minutes it should be installed! Awesome! We are half way there!

[2/6]
There is a lot of old and outdated information concerning #IrDA on Windows 10. It also does not help that the information is spread across all parts of the web.

For someone like me who had no experience with IrDA it was a massive amount of scattered information the sift through.

I want to thank everyone that helped me out and offered advice.

Hopefully having all of this info consolidated here will help others and ease efforts to keep these devices fully functional.

@manawyrm Someone should really do this as a #Joke thing...

Q: Do they aso have #TechFighterMobile?
Like that #Java #J2ME version of #TechFighterTurbo but with #Versus mode via #IrDA?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkADWm8A6F0