So I discovered my laptops IR port today

First of all, I'm using WinXP Pro with a Dell Inspiron 600m:


I was in my electrical engineering lab and noticed the printer used for oscilliscope printouts had an IR port, so I busted out the laptop, enabled IR reception, and sat down next to the printer. Within seconds my laptop tells me that HP laserjet 1100 is in range.

Now here's my problem: I opened up a word document and tried to print. Only my home printer was listed as a printer to use (which obviously wasn't there at the time). So I run the add printer thing and it tells me it can not detect a printer. My taskbar still tells me that the printer is in range, but I am unable to actually print to it. My roommates Inspiron 8100 detected the printer fine and started printing right away.

Soo, what's wrong with my computer? What am I doing wrong?

As a followup question, I got a phone call a couple mins ago on my Nokia 3360 cell phone (with AT&T service) and remembered that my cell phone also has an IR port. I turn on the IR port, stick it next to my laptop and my laptop magically detects new hardware called "Nokia 3360." So, umm...what can I do with that aside from say, "Look! My laptop and phone like eachother?"

If they like each other enough, maybe they'll mate and you'll get a wifi palm or something.

I'm currently sitting in my electrical engineering class next to my roommate, who has an Inspiron 8100. His IR port is on the opposite side of the laptop as mine. Our laptops keep trying to make out with eachother. It brings a new meaning to PDA when it comes to electronics.

You'll need software to talk to the phone, I think my phone does the same thing and you need software...

As for the printer, I would suspect you have to custom configure a local port... never done it, but that's my best guess.

use Logomanager to upload new operator logos, picture messages and ringtones to your phone

Krusty said:

I'm currently sitting in my electrical engineering class next to my roommate, who has an Inspiron 8100. His IR port is on the opposite side of the laptop as mine. Our laptops keep trying to make out with eachother. It brings a new meaning to PDA when it comes to electronics.

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rofl

A friend of mine had a laptop in college with an IR port. The best thing we did with it was finding a program that allowed us to use it a remote for tv's, vcrs, dvd's and such. Imagine the fun of setting in a boring class watching the prof try to figure out why the tv keeps muting itself, the volume keeps changing, and the movie keeps rewinding. He had a program like this for his HP calculator too. That was even better cause it was smaller. Ah the good ol days.

A friend of mine had a laptop in college with an IR port. The best thing we did with it was finding a program that allowed us to use it a remote for tv's, vcrs, dvd's and such. Imagine the fun of setting in a boring class watching the prof try to figure out why the tv keeps muting itself, the volume keeps changing, and the movie keeps rewinding. He had a program like this for his HP calculator too. That was even better cause it was smaller. Ah the good ol days.

Click to expand...

I had a watch that did that and it was hilarious the teacher had no clue what was happening.
Any way away from more mischievous activities, i have an HP2100 laser printer and i got the same message when i got in range, so i grabbed the drivers disc that came with the printer and started the install program, it asked which port it was on and i chose LPT3 (the IR Port) and i could print away.
Hope this helps,
xb-70