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[on:]

I have BlueTooth working on my Mac, but it is annoying. Right now sketches don't download because only bluetooth serial ports show in the Arudino IDE. (Which is another question.) There was driver installation and Bluetooth connections don't always start automatically.

Is WiFi or something else easier?

[Reply #1 on:]

> Right now sketches don't download because only bluetooth serial ports show in the Arudino IDE.

Are you trying to upload a sketch over Bluetooth?  If so you may need to reset the Arduino to get the bootloader to run.

What hardware do you have?  Different Bluetooth modules and Arduino boards have different capabilities.

[Reply #2 on:]

No, I would like to upload a sketch over USB with FTDI cable. But the Arduino IDE does not list any ports but the Bluetooth ports. Removing the Bluetooth board from the breadboard and disabling Bluetooth on the Mac does not help. I'm using Arduino alpha 0021. Probably should upgrade that, but likely a driver issue. I didn't know you could upload sketches over Bluetooth.

But main question is: Is wifi easier?

[Reply #3 on:]

>  I would like to upload a sketch over USB with FTDI cable. But the Arduino IDE does not list any ports but the Bluetooth ports.

Probably time to install the FTDI drivers.  http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

>  I didn't know you could upload sketches over Bluetooth.

If the Bluetooth module is connected to the UART pins (0 and 1) then you upload sketches over Bluetooth the same way you do with a physical USB cable if you don't have auto-reset.  You select the Bluetooth serial port, click on Upload, and press the Reset button briefly when you see the "Binary sketch size:" message.

[Reply #4 on:]

But main question is: Is wifi easier?

Depends on which board you get, which library you use, what your level of experience with wireless connections and configuration are, and what your expectations are. Generally, WiFi is not easy.

[Reply #5 on:]

Reinstalling the FTDI drivers fixed the download issue. Must have lost the drivers when upgrading the Mac OS. Thanks John.

I have an Objecive-c iPhone app that connects to a Python server socket app. It works smoothly; there is minimal fussing around. I'll try the Bluetooth again as it is already wired up and see how it goes.

[Reply #6 on:]

Ok, Bluetooth works fairly well. The annoying thing about it is that if you start your Arduino Bluetooth, but don't connect within like 5 minutes, it seems to turnoff. With Wifi, you start your server and just leave it up. You have to start the server first, but it prety much just works or you get a clear error (like port already in use). So I guess Bluetooth is okay.