Is it possible to share USB port hooked by libusb-win32 among several applications? - windows

To make my program could communicate with Nokia phone I have setup libusb-win32 library. But after I have this library installed any standard Nokia soft like PC Suite refuses not only to communicate but even to detect my phone! The phone is still available only to my program through libusb-win32 now. Removal of the libusb0.sys driver helps and phone becomes again accessible through Nokia PC Suite, but then it is no more visible to my app via libusb-win32 library. Whether it is somehow possible to get the phone accessible as through libusb-win32 for my application as for standard Nokia phone programs (Nokia PC Suite, NSU, NSS, etc.)?
I run Windows 7 Enterprise and libusb-win32 1.2.6.0

Answer to myself. Yes, it is possible. The driver libusb-win32 should be installed in the filter drive option, not in the device file option.

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Universal Drivers will run inside Universal Apps in Windows 10?

I am wondering how I will be able to integrate my KMDF driver into a Universal App. Currently I have the user download a KMDF driver which is used in my desktop application. If I transition to a universal app, how will I be able to use my drivers? Does "Universal Driver" mean it can run in a "Universal App"?
How does the phone or xbox download my driver?
I think this is what I gather from my research:
it more relates to the fact it can run on any Microsoft device (Desktop, phone, tablet, xbox). However those devices must be UWP (Universal Windows Platform) which pretty much means they must have at least Windows 10.
The Universal Driver and Universal App are two separate things. The Universal App can implement the Universal Driver, but it can also implement a KMDF driver (but only in a Windows 10 desktop application). A Universal Driver can be used by WPF application (but only on a Windows 10 desktop).
If I turn my application into a Universal App, and change my drivers to be universal, any platform should be able to use my app.
Is this correct?
Still unsure how something besides a desktop runs a Universal Driver.
As you surmised, Universal Drivers mean that the drivers can run on any device running Windows 10 (PC, Phone, IoT, etc. -- in theory Xbox as well but that's a closed platform). A Universal Windows App can also run on any device running Windows 10, but it can't contain drivers; drivers must come from Windows Update or from a legacy installer like MSI for the desktop.
Whether or not your Universal App can talk to your Universal Driver depends on whether you need to pass Store certification or not; how the driver is exposed (eg, via HID or something else); etc.

Maintaining a Windows Bluetooth Connection

I'm manufacturing a device that connects to my computer using Bluetooth and then a desktop Java app uses the Bluetooth connection to send serial data to the device which is then displayed.
When I try to connect my device to windows 7 it successfully finds and pairs with it creating a Bluetooth link on a COM port. This link can then be used by a serial prompt (used for testing) or my Java application. It works initially however soon after windows drops the connection and the only way to reconnect is to delete the device within devices and printers and then reconnect.
This seems to be a known problem with windows bluetooth so I decieded to use a third party Bluetooth application. I downloaded and tried Toshiba's Bluetooth Stack and it was able to add a Bluetooth device and keep a stable connection which works great however this only works for Toshiba computers without getting a cracked version.
This device is commercial and can't be sold with cracked versions of software. Has anybody experienced the same problems or not in other operating systems and has any solutions of advice as that would be a tremendous help.
This is not a good idea/method to use the COM ports generated by Windows, it's not working fine and not reliable in any scenario ; you should use Bluetooth Sockets instead.
Using Toshiba or Widcomm or BleuSoleil won't help: under Win7, all dongles are now trying to use the Microsoft Stack, not their own implementation.

iBeacon BLE Bluetooth 4.0 Windows 7

How can I create an iBeacon on a windows 7 PC with Smart Bluetooth 4.0 integrated with the Wi-Fi, I.e not a separate dongle. I'd rather not look at other OS's as the device also has to run an Adobe air application at the same time.
Thanks
Mike
Sorry, but you cannot natively make a Bluetooth LE-equipped Windows 7/8/8.1 computer broadcast as an iBeacon. The operating system is limited in its BLE support to allowing third party apps to work with a limited number of BLE profiles. More details are available here in this question about Windows phone, but the info also applies to the desktop Windows OS:
iBeacon support for Windows Phone devices. Support is expected to be added in Windows 10 in late 2015.
Until then, your options are limited to a Linux VM or to a hardware dongle with native iBeacon support.
As David pointed out, there is no API available for working with iBeacons until Windows 10.
If you don't need any other Bluetooth connectivity, you can replace the Bluetooth driver with a libusb driver and use your own Bluetooth stack which adds support for iBeacon. You can check out open-source libraries like BlueZ and btstack and make the HCI layer work. On top of that you can implement/port the BLE advertisement and discovery HCI commands and you have all you need for working with iBeacons.

Windows 7 and bluetooth 4.0 Smart

I am looking to implement the use of a Bluetooth 4.0 Smart Ready device (Polar H6/H7 Heart Rate Sensors) in my application. I am forced to target Windows 7 OS. However, I'm only seeing Windows 8 support for Smart Ready devices. I will not be able to upgrade clients to windows 8 in order to use these devices.
The first problem I found is that Windows 7 does not even see the device in order to pair with it. This might be the dongle I'm using. I have tried 2 different ones. The first is a CSR V4.0 (I'm not sure the actual model number). The second is StarTech USBBT1EDR4. Both seem to be using a CSR chipsets. Maybe I should try a different chipset based dongle? Such as Broadcom or TI?
I do see and can pair with the device with my Windows 8.1 Surface Pro.
Is there no way to get Bluetooth Smart implementation for Windows 7 OS platform?
I've recently faced the same problems! I need to run an application in o older version of windows (win xp) and I cannot find any support to that with my dongle (one based in broadcom bcm20702).
What I've found is that windows prior to windows 8, has no bluetooth low energy support, so you would not be able to use the windows bluetoth stack, and broadcom doesn't have a sdk for BLE (I've contacted them, and they said it).
So I've looked for other alternatives and BlueGiga bluetooth 4.0 dongle has a C SDK that you can use to develop your applications in Windows XP and 7. In that page (after register) you can find all the documentation you need.
I've also found a C# Wrapper and a Java Wrapper to its API.
Hope it can help.
[EDIT] : just received my dongle, tried it with win XP and it worked. Guess this is a solution for you also!
Strange thing is, I installed windows 10 and I could use bluetooth smart from my Logitech MX master mouse, but I had to go back to windows 7 because of display drivers and now it does not support it anymore. Windows 7 does not support smart bluetooth. It's just a driver I would presume, but Logitech does not provide it.
I find it realy strange that the old bluetooth device in my laptop worked fine with bluetooth smart devices in Windows 10 but in windows 7 it can only connect to plain old bluetooth devices.

How do I connect a Windows Phone device with an Arduino?

I want to capture distances from sensors, using an Arduino and a Windows Phone device. How can I do that?
The Windows Phone 7 SDK does not give access to the USB port or Bluetooth on the phone, so you can't use that. So I think the best way (and probably only way on Windows Phone 7) would be to communcate over Internet or local network with the Arduino acting as a server which the Windows Phone 7 app connects too.
Here are some examples of an Arduino web server and TCP server.
For the Windows Phone client I would check out either WebClient or sockets.
Windows Phone 8 SDK:
Consider establishing an App to Device communication through Bluetooth API which became available for developers in the release. Bluetooth App to Device application sample, available on MSDN, is the way to go.
There is another option in Windows Phone 8, using Proximity (a set of classes which works with NFC), which is more applicable for a short range communication.
As for Arduino, there is certainly a Bluetooth module.
Windows Phone 7 SDK:
No way to establish a peer-to-peer communication with a third party device. A workaround would be to connect them through a network, as was proposed by Johan.
I have actually made a Windows Phone 8 App that connects to an Arduino using the Sparkfun Bluetooth Silver Modem. Issues is, even after I get them connected, I can't get either the Arduino to receive the input OR I can't get the WP8 App to successfully send to the Arduino...
My GitHub for the project is: https://github.com/lanceseidman/Arduino-Bluetooth-WinPhone8
Hoping everyone can try and help on the project.
My Breadboard photos will be up soon and my Arduino Code.

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