Do you have support ( or know of support ) for your dongles if OS X  
or Linux is the desired operating system ?
cc

>
> On Jul 19, 2008, at 6:44 PM, Vitaliy wrote:
>
> Olin Lathrop wrote:
>>> http://www.BTDongles.com
>>>
>>> ...
>>>
>>> Your comments regarding the website and the products are welcome.
>>
>> I'm a bit confused.  I thought you were making automotive  
>> products?  This
>> not only seems like a departure, it doesn't seem to be your company
>> either.
>>
>> What market are you generally in and what is the web site for your
>> company?
>
> Sorry for the confusion, Olin.
>
> The company name is ScanTool.net, LLC. Our core business is PC-based
> automotive diagnostic scan tools, and our main website is
> http://www.ScanTool.net.
>
>
> In 2006, we felt that there may be a market for a short-range (~100 m)
> wireless scan tool. After testing the waters with external adapters
> (AIRCable, FireFly, etc) we realized that we need something that is  
> easier
> to use, costs significantly less, and can be built into the scan tool.
> Besides being bulky, the external adapters were routinely destroyed by
> customers plugging them into the wrong cable (car battery voltage  
> across
> data pins).
>
> Much effort was spent looking for an off-the-shelf Bluetooth module,
> unfortunately the options available at the time were few, cost more  
> than the
> external adapters, and did not have all of the features we needed.  
> In order
> to meet the requirements (cost, size, features), our only choice  
> was to
> build the module ourselves. The result was the STM4100.
>
>
> Along the way, we found that the cheap USB to Bluetooth dongles  
> have several
> major flaws:
>
>     * They are not FCC compliant
>     * They rely on the BlueSoleil software for operation
>     * BlueSoleil software supplied with the dongles is pirated
>
> BlueSoleil was a support nightmare -- it doesn't work reliably,  
> installs two
> dozen virtual COM ports, and is next to impossible to uninstall. So  
> after
> much searching, we found a Class 1 FCC certified dongle that is  
> based on the
> CSR chipset, supported natively by Windows XP and Vista, and is  
> super easy
> to install. The downside is higher cost and MOQ.
>
> Since we are forced to buy/build more dongles and modules than we  
> need for
> the short-term, it made sense to offer them for sale. ScanTool.net  
> website
> is not the best vehicle to sell Bluetooth products, therefore it  
> was decided
> that a new website was necessary, http://www.BTdongles.com. As an  
> added
> bonus, it is being used as a test bed for a new shopping cart and  
> content
> management system that all of our websites will soon be migrating to.
>
>
> To add to the confusion, we also run another website,
> http://www.OBD2Cables.com. The story is similar to BTdongles.com:  
> we needed
> OBD cables, could not find a good source, and were forced to have them
> custom built in large quantities. So in 2004 we built a website and  
> offered
> the surplus cables to engineers and hobbyists. Single cable orders  
> were soon
> followed by orders for 10,000 cables, and eventually the sales grew to
> account for almost half of our total revenue.
>
>
> I'm sorry for the long post, but I hope it helped to clear things up.
>
> Vitaliy

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