This is the FAQ for the CSR newsgroups. To access the newsgroups with your web browser (username and password required) please go to https://news.csr.com/.
From: Support <forum@csr.com>
Subject: Frequently Asked Questions for the CSR newsgroups (last updated 2006-03-06)
Newsgroups: csr.public.announce
Followup-To: csr.public.misc
Organization: CSR
Posting-Frequency: monthly
Last-modified: 2006-03-06
Copyright: (C) 2003-2006 Cambridge Silicon Radio Ltd.
This article consists of answers and pointers to answers for the most
frequently asked questions in the CSR newsgroups.
Most answers are in the form of pointers to the information on the
web, rather than detailed responses. This FAQ is really a first point
of reference for finding the information you need.
Recent changes
--------------
2006-03-06: Added Q4.5.
Index of Questions
------------------
Section 1: Posting guidelines
Q1.1) Who can use the CSR newsgroups?
Q1.2) What are the CSR newsgroups for?
Q1.3) Who reads the CSR newsgroups?
Q1.4) How do I connect to the CSR newsgroups?
Q1.5) What should I do before I post?
Q1.6) Which newsgroup should I post to?
Q1.7) What should the subject of my message be?
Q1.8) How should I format my message?
Q1.9) What information should I supply to get the correct answer?
Q1.10) How should I attach extra data?
Q1.11) What do BCHS, DFU, BTW, RTFM, RTFS, etc. mean?
Q1.12) Why can't I see old messages?
Q1.13) Should I/How do I hide my e-mail address?
Section 2: Bluetooth general information
Q2.1) Where can I find the Bluetooth specification?
Q2.2) What other sources of Bluetooth information are there?
Q2.3) My problem isn't covered in the spec --- now what?
Section 3: CSR general questions
Q3.1) Where can I find out information about CSR the company?
Q3.2) Where can I find general information about CSR products?
Q3.3) How do I get the data sheets?
Q3.4) How do I get the application notes?
Q3.5) Where do I go to get more information?
Q3.6) How do I find document <x>?
Section 4: CSR hardware (chips)
Q4.1) What's the correct terminology: BC02, BC2 or BlueCore2?
Q4.2) What's the difference between BC1 and BC2?
Q4.3) What's the difference between BC2-External, BC2-ROM, etc?
Q4.4) The answer I need isn't in the data sheets --- now what?
Q4.5) My Bluecore-EXT chip crashes at startup. Why?
Section 5: CSR firmware (general)
Q5.1) What's the difference between HCI and RFCOMM firmwares?
Q5.2) What's the latest firmware version?
Q5.3) How do I find out what changed between firmware versions?
Q5.4) How do I upgrade a device?
Q5.5) How do I change a persistent store (PS) key?
Q5.6) Where can I find out more information about PS keys?
Q5.7) How does BCSP work?
Q5.8) How does BCCMD work?
Q5.9) How does HQ work?
Q5.10) What does a particular panic or fault code mean?
Section 6: CSR HCI firmware
Q6.1) What sources of information are there for HCI firmware?
Q6.2) [Renumbered to Q5.7]
Q6.3) [Renumbered to Q5.8]
Q6.4) [Renumbered to Q5.9]
Q6.5) What information will help answer my question?
Q6.6) How do I get more help with HCI firmware?
Q6.7) What does a hardware error code mean?
Section 7: CSR RFCOMM firmware
Q7.1) What sources of information are there for RFCOMM firmware?
Q7.2) How are RFCOMM firmware, BCHS and BlueLab related?
Q7.3) Can I bypass BlueLab and BCHS?
Q7.4) What information will help answer my question?
Q7.5) How do I get more help with RFCOMM firmware?
Section 8: CSR BlueCore Host Software (BCHS)
Q8.1) What sources of information are there for BCHS?
Q8.2) What's the latest version of BCHS?
Q8.3) What information will help answer my question?
Q8.4) How do I get more help with BCHS?
Section 9: CSR applications on chip (BlueLab)
Q9.1) What sources of information are there for BlueLab?
Q9.2) What's the latest version of BlueLab?
Q9.3) What information will help answer my question?
Q9.4) How do I get more help with BlueLab?
Section 10: CSR host-side development tools (BlueSuite)
Q10.1) What is BlueSuite and where is it used?
Q10.2) What sources of information are there for BlueSuite?
Q10.3) What's the latest version of BlueSuite?
Q10.4) What information will help answer my question?
Q10.5) How do I get more help with BlueSuite?
Section 11: DFU
Q11.1) What is DFU and where is it used?
Q11.2) What sources of information are there for DFU?
Q11.3) What's the latest version of DFU?
Q11.4) What information will help answer my question?
Q11.5) How do I get more help with DFU?
Q11.6) How do I write my own DFU tools?
Q11.7) What does this DFU Wizard error message mean?
Appendix
Legal
Corrections
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 1: Posting guidelines
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1.1) Who can use the CSR newsgroups?
Anyone who's using CSR products in any form whatsoever. This includes
OEMs looking to incorporate a CSR device into an end product, host
stack vendors trying to get their host stack working with our devices
and end users who've bought third party devices, such as PC cards,
that incorporate a CSR device.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1.2) What are the CSR newsgroups for?
CSR newsgroups are for answering technical queries about CSR's
products.
For OEMs, almost any question may be asked on the newsgroups, however,
bear in mind that this forum is public, so confidential queries should
be e-mailed to CSR.
For end users with third party devices, such as PC cards, questions
should be restricted to those directly related to the CSR part of the
device. We cannot answer questions about third party host software
supplied with the device, nor can we help with general non-Bluetooth
problems with the device.
For example, if you bought a PCMCIA card and, from new, your PC failed
to recognise it when you plugged it in then you need to contact the
PCMCIA card manufacturer, not us.
If the host software supplied with the card displayed only the first
20 characters of the names of remote Bluetooth devices then you need
to talk to the host software manufacturer or the card manufacturer.
If you've bought a PC card and are trying to write your own stack,
and, for example, you can get the card to respond to an
HCI_Read_Bluetooth_Address command, but not an HCI_Inquiry then we
may be able to help.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1.3) Who reads the CSR newsgroups?
The newsgroups are monitored by CSR's staff, mainly to detect abuse,
but this isn't an official support channel. That means that most of
the answers you see will come from either
a) other customers, possibly including your competitors, who've
already solved the problem, or
b) CSR engineers acting in an unofficial capacity and reading the
group over a coffee in the morning.
When this FAQ says "we" it generally means the second group, but you
should remember that both groups are likely to be reading your
articles.
Using these newsgroups in preference to an official support channel
has costs and benefits. The cost is that since it's not an official
support channel, the reliability of the support can be somewhat flaky.
If the engineers are busy on their official business then they may not
have time to reply. The benefit is that the quality of the support
can be excellent. It's quite common to have a reply from the person
who designed the very piece of software or hardware with which you're
having difficulty.
Since the engineers reading this group are doing so in a break between
the work they get paid for, be nice to them. If you're polite and ask
meaningful, deep, interesting, technical questions and provide
sufficient information to make it easy to diagnose the problem then
you are likely to get polite, reasoned, helpful answers at a level of
detail unavailable on any other support channel. If, however, you are
rude, unhelpful, vague, demanding or ask questions which already have
well documented answers, then you are likely to be ignored and the
engineers will go and answer someone who has been nice.
Sometimes the engineers get busy and are unable to answer your
question promptly. Sometimes they get so busy doing the work they're
paid for, they forget about your question. This is unfortunate, but
does happen. If you really need an urgent response and if you have
access to an official support channel then use that, the response
will be much more reliable.
Never mail any of the CSR engineers directly with a problem unless
invited to do so. They tend to get upset - remember they're not paid
to provide support, they're merely volunteering.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1.4) How do I connect to the CSR newsgroups?
The CSR newsgroups run on an industry standard NNTP server. Many
programs can be used to access it.
Setup instructions for Netscape and Outlook Express are at
http://www.csr.com/forum.htm
For any other newsreader, the appropriate information is that the
server is at news.csr.com and everything else is set as standard.
Please turn off all fancy features. In particular don't use
background images or Outlook Express stationery. It just wastes
bandwidth and can cause problems with other newsreaders. Turning
HTML messages off will also endear you to us.
Also, it would be appreciated if you didn't use a name including `CSR'
or similar when posting as this might be confusing. Newsreaders
typically allow you to set this as `Your Name' or something similar
when you set up the server to connect to. You don't have to use your
real name --- we don't care --- but we'd rather people didn't think
you were CSR!
It may be that when you first connect, no newsgroups are visible. In
this case you will need to 'Subscribe' to the groups you're interested
in.
If you're not sure whether your newsreader is configured correctly,
then post a message to csr.public.test. Test messages should not be
posted to other newsgroups.
If you're reading news over a modem link, you may want to consider
configuring your newsreader not to automatically download messages
over a particular size. Good newsreaders should show you the headers
of large messages (in particular, the sender and the subject) so you
can choose to download only those messages of interest.
Since we are running standard NNTP it might be possible for you (or
us) to mirror the server to improve download speed and reduce the
load on our main server. You may want to do this if there you have a
lot of readers at one site and your network connection to us is slow.
Although this is technically feasible, please contact us first before
doing it. We'll almost certainly need to configure something here,
we'll want to see that you have enough users to justify our effort,
and we'll need assurances that the messages won't propagate
uncontrollably. Specifically, if you let our newsgroups escape onto
Usenet we'll hunt you down and prod you with big pointy sticks.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1.5) What should I do before I post?
Check the available sources of information. If you ask a question
which can easily be answer from publicly available information
sources then we'll probably just ignore you.
If you've checked publicly available sources and you still have a
question then explain in your post why the source doesn't help. If
you don't do this you're likely to get pointed back at the external
information source.
Before you post, read both of these:
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
if you don't understand something in these documents then ask us, not
the authors of the documents --- they're not employed by us.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1.6) Which newsgroup should I post to?
The following descriptions may help:
csr.public.announce:
Announcements from CSR (read-only). Discussions arising from
postings on here should go to the newsgroup appropriate to the
topic being discussed (or csr.public.misc if there's no better
group).
csr.public.bluetooth.spec:
CSR's implementation of the Bluetooth specification. General
discussions about the Bluetooth specification should go to other
public fora, however, a little general discussion will be
tolerated, particularly if it's something interesting.
csr.public.bluecore.production:
Production test and programming of CSR devices
csr.public.bluecore.hardware:
The Radio, PIO, PCM, USB, UART etc. interfaces
csr.public.bluecore.firmware:
Firmware versions and issues. At the moment this covers both
HCI and RFCOMM firmware issues. However, if there's a question
regarding using RFCOMM firmware from BlueLab or BCHS then it
should go to the BlueLab or BCHS newsgroups.
csr.public.bluecore.bluelab:
BlueLab SDK for on-chip applications. As well as support, you
can post requests for new features and ideas for new
applications.
csr.public.bluecore.bluesuite:
BlueSuite set of applications, the USB device driver and any
corresponding source code releases.
csr.public.bluecore.bchs:
BlueCore Host Software product. Discussions about porting
ABCSP (and other variants) can also go in this group.
csr.public.bluecore.dun:
CSR's Dial Up Networking product.
csr.public.bluecore.misc:
Any BlueCore related topics not covered by the other groups.
Use this group only if none of the other groups are appropriate.
It's always wrong to post a message to this group and another
group.
csr.public.misc:
Any topics not covered by the other groups, such as discussions
of newsgroup etiquette, CSR, the web sites.
csr.public.test:
Post test messages here and only here.
csr.public.oldforums.readonly:
Archive copy of the old CSR forums (read-only).
Postings should go to a single group. The CSR people who read the
groups tend to read all of them. Make your best guess and post there.
If you get it slightly wrong then it won't matter.
On the other hand if you give up and post to several newsgroups,
you're likely to be ignored for being annoying.
In the unlikely event that the subject of a posting really does fall
between two groups, then cross-post; don't post the same message
multiple times. (To distinguish the two, if you make one message and
specify several newsgroups and press send once, you've cross-posted.
If you have to enter the message multiple times and hit send multiple
times you've done the wrong thing.) If you cross-post then use your
newsreader to set the followups to a single newsgroup (see your
newsreader's manual).
See also:
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
if you don't understand something in these documents then ask us, not
the authors of the documents --- they're not employed by us.
csr.public.misc is the appropriate newsgroup for discussions about
newsgroups.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1.7) What should the subject of my message be?
Something short and descriptive. It should be sufficient for the
reader to work out whether they're likely to be interested in the
message without having to read the whole thing. For example, these
real examples are good:
Does baseband inform upper layers upon receiving FHS packets?
Much signal noise with CODEC filter MC145483
Do access procedures (inquiry/page) affect SCO links?
These real examples aren't quite as good but are OK:
Muting microphone
PSKEY_TXRX_PIO_CONTROL = 5 ?
Battery Monitoring Functions in headset profile
HCI problem with Ericsson stack on BCSP using TDK USB adapter
The following are very bad:
Help!
It doesn't work
Problem with BC01
HCI
Application
Software
What am I doing wrong ?
(no subject)
Some people, particular those on slow modem lines, may choose to
download only those messages they're interested in. The primary
way they'll decide this is to use the subject line of the message.
Don't address the message to a particular person (for example, by
putting "To name:" at the start of the subject). This is bad
practice and makes it less likely that you'll get a reply for
three reasons:
1. Other people will tend to ignore it in case the specified
person does answer it.
2. The specified person is less likely to answer it; we don't like
answering questions directed at specific people because doing
so encourages people to do it again. Most of the people
answering questions here are doing so in their spare time; it's
not part of their official duties.
3. People may not be around. There was at least one question
directed to a specific person on the old fora that arrived the
day after the person went on leave for two weeks. It didn't get
answered. If it hadn't been addressed to the person specifically,
it probably would have been answered.
Even if the person has already answered one of your messages, don't
address future messages to them.
See also:
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
if you don't understand something in these documents then ask us, not
the authors of the documents --- they're not employed by us.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1.8) How should I format my message?
We prefer plain text wrapped somewhere between 65 and 75 columns. HTML
messages are strongly discouraged, but will not be rejected (in
particular try to avoid specifying the font explicitly). Excessive
use of HTML features (colours, pictures, flashing text) or of Outlook
Express stationery will annoy us sufficiently to ignore your message.
Messages should include enough information for the reader to
understand the problem without drowning them in unnecessary
detail. However, if in doubt, give too much information rather than
too little. If there's so much information that the message becomes
difficult to read then summarise the problem first then give
detail. Depending on the question, certain information (see question
1.7) will help us answer the question quickly.
When replying to a message, quote just the parts that are relevant to
the answer. In particular, if a message makes several points and you
want to comment on only one of them, then edit out the others.The more
times a message has been quoted, the more that can be left out. Once
text has been quoted three or four times, it's probably safe to omit
it.
We prefer the responses to a message to be interspersed between
carefully quoted sections of the original message to give a question-
answer dialogue. In each case, the original question (or text which is
being commented on) should be quoted first and then followed by the
reply.
Appending all the previous messages in the thread to your message
(either at the bottom or the top) is extremely bad etiquette. As the
discussion continues, more and more text will accumulate until you
have thousands of lines of quoted text adding nothing useful to the
discussion. By not trimming your quotes you're saying that your time
is more important than our time. This does not put us in a good mood
for answering your question.
Newsgroup postings should be in English. However, many users of the
newsgroups may not be fluent. We will tolerate poor grammar and poor
spelling and we expect other users of the newsgroups to be polite
too. We'll be much more tolerant of poor English than we will be of
poor formatting, too much or too little information, excessive
quoting and large attachments.
See also:
http://www.i-hate-computers.demon.co.uk/
http://www.plig.net/nnq/nquote.html
http://www.usenet.org.uk/ukpost.html
http://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/2000/06/14/quoting.html
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/usenet/writing-style/part1/
http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/gey_chr0.htm
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
if you don't understand, or disagree with, something in these
documents then ask us, not the authors of the documents --- they're
not employed by us.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1.9) What information should I supply to get the correct answer?
Later answers give suggestions for details to give for problems in
specific areas. Ideally you should give only the relevant information,
but that can be difficult to work out. If CSR firmware is involved
then give the firmware version. Tell us what host software (if any)
you're using. Tell us what the remote device is. Give us a
reproduction method. Your answer may be delayed if we have to come
back to you for more information or if we can't reproduce the problem.
If you get an error message then give us the exact text.
Traces of the UART, HCI or air traces may help. Initially edit it down
to just the commands that show the problem (plus maybe a few either
side). Attaching an unnecessary multi-megabyte log to the initial
question will not win you many friends. Keep initial logs down below
10 kB. If we need a longer log we'll ask.
See also:
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
if you don't understand something in these documents then ask us, not
the authors of the documents --- they're not employed by us.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1.10) How should I attach extra data?
Summary
-------
* Use the format that's easiest for the reader (not necessarily the
one that's easiest for you).
* Small sections of logs may be cut and pasted into the message.
* Long sections should be attached.
* Compress large attachments.
* Edit very large attachments down to a sensible size (and then
compress).
Attachment sizes
----------------
If you have long logs then please attach them to the message rather
than pasting them into the body. This allows us to save them out
easily. If you want, you can copy a small section (as text) into the
message and then attach the whole thing. In fact, if the log is long
then we strongly recommend you do this otherwise we'll have to waste
time processing the whole log and this will put us in a bad mood for
answering your question.
Most importantly keep unsolicited attachments short. Your message may
be downloaded by many people, some of them using modem lines. A little
of your time spent editing attachments down to a reasonable size will
endear you to them and make them more responsive to your question.
As a rule of thumb. Attaching a 10 kB attachment (2 seconds over
a 56 kb/s modem) is acceptable and may be attached without warning.
100 kB attachments (20 seconds at 56 kb/s) may be attached only if
absolutely necessary. Attachments of 1 MB or larger (3 minutes or more
on at 56 kb/s) should not be attached without first seeking permission
from the newsgroup readers. We may ask you to put the attachments in
a message on their own to allow readers to choose not to download the
attachment, but still to be able to read the text of the message.
Attachments that are 100 kB or larger should be compressed. A
suitable compression format is Zip. Programs to compress and
uncompress zip files should be available for most systems (for
example, WinZip is available for Windows). In fact, nowadays, Zip
tools often come for free with new machines.
Of course, there's no point in compressing data that's already
compressed. So GIFs and JPEGs can be left uncompressed. If there's
not much change in the file size after compression (say less than
10%) then you may as well attach the uncompressed file. It'll be
easier for people to open.
If you are reading news over a slow modem line, then you might want to
configure your newsreader not to download large messages without first
asking you (it should be able to display the subject of the message
first). Most good newsreaders should support this option.
Air logs (air sniffer traces)
-----------------------------
We prefer air log files to be in whatever format is produced by the
sniffer you're using. We can accept logs from CATC, Tektronix and
Frontline. For other sniffers, check to see if there's a publicly
available program to display them. If so, send them in the raw format
and point us at the display program, otherwise convert them to text.
In the first instance, logs should be edited down to remove extraneous
data. Aim for about 10 kB of log. A simple trick for the CATC Merlin
is to select the baseband view then turn on hiding of hops, but turn
off all other hiding information. Then select File->Save As... and
tick the box marked "Do not save hidden Packets/Messages/Protocols"
before you save. You should notice that the file size is reduced
considerably.
The higher the protocol layer the problem is at, the less likely it
is that the NULL and POLL information will be useful. For a baseband
or LMP problem always include NULLs and POLLs. For L2CAP and higher
level problems you should probably remove them. We can always ask
you to repost the trace with them in (so keep the original).
If the file is still too long then consider saving a range from within
the file.
Note, however, that if you save just part of a trace, either by hiding
packets or by saving a range, then all the packets will get
renumbered. If you need to refer to them in your message then mark
the packets with a meaningful label.
Transport (UART/USB) logs
-------------------------
UART logs should be as interleaved timestamped hexadecimal dumps
showing the relative order in which bytes were transmitted and
received. Separate logs for transmit and receive are less useful. We
can accept raw Frontline UART logs, otherwise the same rules applies
as for air logs.
For detailed analysis we prefer raw UART logs to HCI logs, but HCI
logs are generally acceptable (for some transports they may be the
only option). These should have transmit and receive interleaved in
the same log. These should probably be as text.
We can accept USB logs in CATC USB Chief format, otherwise use the
same rules as for air logs.
Screenshots and other pictures
------------------------------
Screenshots should be in some compressed format. PNG and GIF are the
most appropriate. JPEG might work, it's designed for images that look
like photos, not images with sharp edges like screenshots, so check
that the image looks OK before sending it. For simple line graphics,
such as circuit diagrams, GIF and PNG should work well. BMP is not a
suitable format (it tends to produce huge files).
DO NOT ATTACH SCREENSHOTS OF ERROR MESSAGES. If you have an error
message on screen, then the correct thing to do is to cut and paste
(or retype) all the information into your message. As well as being
smaller, the text version has the significant advantage that it can be
searched. This means that the next person who gets the same error
message can search the newsgroup with the text of the error message to
find any previous discussions.
General notes on acceptable formats
-----------------------------------
We prefer data to be as portable a format as possible. So we like PDF,
text, GIF, JPEG and PNG. We prefer not to receive proprietary formats,
however, if a significant amount of information would be lost then we
prefer the extra information. We can accept most Microsoft formats
including Excel and Word.
Don't wrap files in files. In one notable incident we received a
Word document containing a JPEG of a screenshot of a command window
containing an error message. The error message was 86 bytes. Their
final message was 60 kB. We were not impressed.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1.11) What do BCHS, DFU, BTW, RTFM, RTFS, etc. mean?
BC - BlueCore
BCHS - BlueCore Host Software
BCSP - BlueCore Serial Protocol
BT - BlueTooth
CSR - Cambridge Silicon Radio
DFU - Device Firmware Upgrade
HCI - Host Controller Interface
VM - Virtual Machine
AFAIK - As Far As I Know
AIUI - As I Understand It
AKA - Also Known As
BTW - By The Way
FAQ - Frequently Asked Question(s)
HAND - Have A Nice Day
HTH - Hope This Helps
IIRC - If I Recall Correctly
JOOI - Just Out Of Interest
RTFAQ - Read The FAQ
RTFM - Read The Fine Manual
RTFS - Read The Fine Specification or Read The Fine Source
STFW - Search The Fine Web
YMMV - Your Mileage May Vary (it works for us, but might not for you)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1.12) Why can't I see old messages?
You're using Outlook Express and it's accidentally configured to show
postings only from the last N days (where N could be as low as 4).
To fix this, go to Tools->options-maintenance and look for the 'delete
messages after x days' edit box. You may then need to go to 'Clean up
now' and 'reset' --- be warned that this will mark all messages as
unread.
Alternatively, also with Outlook Express, it could be because the
newsgroup has a lot of messages in it and Outlook Express has decided
to save you time and download the headers for just the most recent
messages. To get the older messages, you need to select the newsgroup
you want to get the messages from. Then, on the menu bar, select
Tools->Get Next 300 headers. Repeat until you have all the messages
you want.
If you have a fast network link, you may want to configure Outlook
Express to download all the headers for all messages. To do this, you
should go to Tools->Options-Read and untick the box marked 'Get 300
headers at a time'. Then, the menu option 'Tools->Get Next 300
headers' will change to 'Tools->Get New Headers' and you should have
to use it just once per newsgroup.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q1.13) Should I/How do I hide my e-mail address?
Some people prefer to conceal their e-mail addresses on these
newsgroups. There are two main reasons:
1) They're a CSR engineer who doesn't want to receive questions
personally.
2) They want to avoid their e-mail address being too widely
publicised, perhaps to reduce the risk of spam.
Although these are plausible reasons, they have to be weighed against
the fact that if you conceal your e-mail address, there will be no
way to contact you privately, perhaps to ask for confidential
information.
If you do decide to conceal your e-mail address then you must chose
a completely invalid e-mail address. If you just choose an address
randomly then there is a chance that the domain will already exist
and that someone could unwittingly send confidential e-mail to that
domain without realising that it's not your address. In addition, if
another reader's machine gets infected by a virus or worm that mails
everyone in their address book, the unfortunate domain you chose to
have in your fake address will get spammed. That's not fair on them.
The best way to pick an invalid address is to end it with the top
level domain (TLD) ".invalid". This is guaranteed never to be used
for real addresses. So nemo@nowhere.invalid is good, but
nemo@nowhere.com is very bad as nowhere.com is a real domain.
Even if you're concealing your e-mail address please use a meaningful
"real name". If you don't it could get confusing when people are
replying to you. It doesn't have to be your real name, just something
that can be used to refer to you. Perhaps just part of your real name.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 2: Bluetooth general information
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q2.1) Where can I find the Bluetooth specification?
Go to www.bluetooth.com then follow the links to developer information
and the specification.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q2.2) What other sources of Bluetooth information are there?
There's a Yahoo mailing list called bluetooth. There are also mailing
lists for individual host stacks such as Axis and BlueZ.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q2.3) My problem isn't covered in the spec --- now what?
Try asking on csr.public.bluetooth.spec.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 3: CSR general questions
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q3.1) Where can I find out information about CSR the company?
Try our web site at www.csr.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q3.2) Where can I find general information about CSR products?
From our web site at www.csr.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q3.3) How do I get the data sheets?
Either from www.csr.com or www.csrsupport.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q3.4) How do I get the application notes?
Try our support web site at www.csrsupport.com, though you may need to
be registered.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q3.5) Where do I go to get more information?
If our web sites don't help then you can try contacting us directly
using the phone numbers and addresses given on www.csr.com.
The newsgroups are really for technical queries, but if you ask a
non-technical question politely you may get pointed in the right
direction.
If it's a technical question then the appropriate sections of this FAQ
give more specific pointers.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q3.6) How do I find document <x>?
To access documents on www.csrsupport.com you need to be registered,
however, you should be able to get the precis without registering.
The fastest way to find a document for which you know the number is to
type part of the document number into the search box that's on every
page. For example, search terms "an077" and "sp-007" find documents
"Adding Support for Device Firmware Upgrade (DFU) to a USB Device
Driver (AN077b)" and "BCSP Channel Allocations (bcore-sp-007Pa)"
respectively.
Note that as documents are revised, the last letter is incremented.
So when document bcore-sp-007Pa is altered it will become
bcore-sp-007Pb, then bcore-sp-007Pc and so on. This is why it's
better to search for just "sp-007" rather than "bcore-sp-007Pa".
However, occasionally, the document numbers are changed. For example,
document bcore-sp-007Pa used to be known as AN003 and was referenced
in this FAQ as such. Seaching for AN003 won't find it.
Now that you know that document numbers can change, the next step is
to widen your search, perhaps with keywords from the title of the
document (if you know it), or words you expect to be in the document.
Alternatively, you can follow links from the front page of
www.csrsupport.com into the category you expect the document to be
in.
Both of these methods have drawbacks. Searching is good only if you
use words that are in the documents. For example, document
bcore-sp-007Pa can't be found with a search for "host transport",
but can be found by looking for "BCSP". Searching can also be
sensitive to the exact phrase you use. Searching for "host transports"
instead of "host transport" finds different documents. The latter,
although it doesn't find document bcore-sp-007Pa, does find the
category that it's filed under.
Looking in the appropriate category works only if both you and the web
site maintainer agree on which category is appropriate (though a
document can appear in multiple categories, which does help). For
example, bcore-sp-007Pa can be found in the category "Host
Transports".
If you are having trouble finding a specific document, then post a
question on the newsgroup most appropriate to the information you
want. For example, if you were having trouble finding document
bcore-sp-007Pa, then either of csr.public.bluecore.firmware or
csr.public.bluecore.bchs would be the most appropriate groups.
If you're generally having a lot of trouble finding all sorts of
documents, then csr.public.misc is probably the right group.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 4: CSR hardware (chips)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q4.1) What's the correct terminology: BC02, BC2 or BlueCore2?
Nowadays we prefer to use BlueCore2 when writing it in full and BC2
when abbreviating. We used to use BC02 so you may see that on the
newsgroups; sometimes we forget.
On these newsgroups use whatever you prefer, we'll understand you.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q4.2) What's the difference between BC01 and BC2?
BC2 has more memory, better performance, is smaller, cheaper and
generally outperforms BC01. Also, BC01 can support only 4 Mb flash
devices whereas BC2 can support 8 Mb devices. The larger devices are
needed for newer firmware versions.
Also note that CSR will not support any new products using BC01.
See the data sheets on www.csrsupport.com for more information.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q4.3) What's the difference between BC2-External, BC2-ROM, etc?
Some of the differences are to do with how the firmware is stored
(for example, BC2-External uses an external flash device whereas
BC2-ROM has it in ROM). Other devices, such as BC2-Audio, may contain
extra circuits for specific applications.
See the data sheets on www.csrsupport.com for more information.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q4.4) The answer I need isn't in the data sheets --- now what?
Try posting to csr.public.bluecore.hardware, or
csr.public.bluecore.production (if it's a production related issue).
Some customers may also have access to our technical support e-mail
address (if you're entitled to use this address then you should know
what it is).
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q4.5) My Bluecore-EXT chip crashes at startup. Why?
A popular failure mode with Bluecore2-EXT or Bluecore4-EXT devices is
that they crash at startup. A subsequent reset (either via the RESET
pin or via, for example, BlueFLASH) starts them working correctly.
What's the reason?
The most popular reason is that the design is using a 3V FLASH part.
Bluecores 1,2,3 and 4 have 1.8V cores. If power supply design is
poor, then the Bluecore CPU will be released from reset (and start
fetching instructions from FLASH) as the power supply approaches 1.8V,
whereas the FLASH device will return no sensible data until the power
reaches (say) 2.7V.
It is therefore important to ramp the power rail quickly, or to use
an external circuit to hold Bluecore in reset until the FLASH device
reaches operating voltage.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 5: CSR firmware (general)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q5.1) What's the difference between HCI and RFCOMM firmware?
HCI firmware is used in standard Bluetooth parts supporting all
Bluetooth layers up to and including HCI.
RFCOMM firmware includes non-standard extensions to push some of the
higher layer processing on to BlueCore to reduce the load on the host.
Any third party Bluetooth stack should be able to interface to our HCI
firmware. RFCOMM firmware requires the use of BCHS, BlueLab, or a
custom host application.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q5.2) What's the latest firmware version?
The answer to this question changes periodically. Have a look on
www.csrsupport.com to see what's available for download.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q5.3) How do I find out what changed between firmware versions?
The release note for each firmware version includes a list of changes
from the previous version.
Release notes are available from www.csrsupport.com for those users
with sufficient access.
If you're an end user who's bought a third party device with a CSR
chip inside then you will need to ask the OEM for a copy of the
release note. However, they may choose not to give it to you.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q5.4) How do I upgrade a device?
This is a long and complex subject. Start by reading the documentation
that comes with BlueSuite.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q5.5) How do I change a persistent store (PS) key?
The easy way is to use BlueSuite. The hard way is to use the BCCMD
private channel to do it. See the question below on BCCMD.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q5.6) Where can I find out more information about PS keys?
Application note AN102 has most of the information and bc02-an-005Pa
adds information for BlueCore2. Note, however, that some of the keys
are quite complex and are interrelated. There are additional
application notes that deal with how to derive values for closely
related groups of keys.
Adjusting PS keys without knowing what you're doing can render the
module completely inoperable. For some products this can be
unrecoverable. Even if you know what you're doing, it's dangerous.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q5.7) How does BCSP work?
BlueCore Serial Protocol (BCSP) is CSR's recommended 3-wire UART
protocol that supports error detection and recovery.
It's described in the documents:
bcore-sp-007Pa: BCSP Channel Allocations
bcore-sp-012Pa: BlueCore Serial Protocol (BCSP)
bcore-sp-008Pa: BCSP Link Establishment Protocol
See question 3.6 if you have trouble finding them.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q5.8) How does BCCMD work?
The BlueCore Command protocol (BCCMD) is used to issue CSR specific
commands to BlueCore.
It's described the documents:
bcore-sp-002Pa: BCCMD Protocol
bcore-sp-005Pa: BCCMD Protocol Basic Command Set
Other documents give details on command subgroups. See question 3.6 if
you have trouble finding the documents you want.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q5.9) How does HQ work?
The Host Querier protocol (HQ) is used by BlueCore to request
information from the host or to supply CSR proprietary information to
the host.
It's described the documents:
bcore-sp-011Pa: HQ Protocol
bcore-sp-003Pb: HQ Basic Commands
Other documents give details on command subgroups. See question 3.6 if
you have trouble finding the documents you want.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q5.10) What does a particular panic or fault code mean?
They're described in the tables in sections 6.1 and 6.2 of document
bcore-sp-003Pb: HQ Basic Commands
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 6: CSR HCI firmware
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q6.1) What sources of information are there for HCI firmware?
The release notes on www.csrsupport.com have most of the information.
You're also strongly recommended to read bcore-me-007Pb (this is
officially called "HCI implementation" but it should be called
"Everything you wanted to know about CSR HCI firmware but were afraid
to ask").
Some of the other application notes on www.csrsupport.com are probably
also worth reading.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q6.2) This question has been renumbered to Q5.7.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q6.3) This question has been renumbered to Q5.8.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q6.4) This question has been renumbered to Q5.9.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q6.5) What information will help answer my question?
Always include the revision number of the firmware. You can use
HCI_Read_Local_Version_Information to get the firmware ID number. It's
also available as the USB revision string.
UART, USB, HCI and/or air traces will probably help too. At the very
least, give a repeatable sequence of commands that show the problem.
Tell us what host software you're running and which remote Bluetooth
device you're connected to.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q6.6) How do I get more help with HCI firmware?
Use the newsgroup csr.public.bluecore.firmware.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q6.7) What does a hardware error code mean?
For CSR devices they're fault codes. See question 5.10 for details on
how to decode them.
For non-CSR devices you'll have to contact the manufacturer to find
out.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 7: CSR RFCOMM firmware
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q7.1) What sources of information are there for RFCOMM firmware?
The RFCOMM firmware release note has some information. The BlueSuite
user guide has some more. However, this is not enough to take an
RFCOMM build and write host software to use it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q7.2) What's the relation between RFCOMM firmware, BCHS and BlueLab?
RFCOMM firmware is run on a BlueCore chip. It provides the chip with
the information it needs to run Bluetooth layers above HCI on chip. In
particular it can run L2CAP, RFCOMM and SDP. (This functionality is
provided by BlueStack, an implementation of these layers originally
written by Mezoe).
With just the RFCOMM firmware alone, the chip can make these
connections, but it needs an application to tell it what to do. The
application can be on a separate processor, in which case you should
run BCHS on the processor or write your own code to interface to
BlueStack. Alternatively, the application can be on BlueCore, in which
case you need BlueLab to help build the application.
Running the application on a separate processor will allow you to
write faster and more complex applications than those possible with
BlueLab. However, your finished device will need a separate processor
with the extra cost that entails. If you use BlueLab to run the
application on chip then you do not need an external processor, but,
because the application runs in spare CPU cycles left over after the
main Bluetooth stack is run, speed and performance are limited.
Much more information is available on the main CSR web site at
www.csr.com.
BCHS: http://www.csr.com/products/bchs.htm
BlueLab: http://www.csr.com/products/bluelab.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q7.3) Can I bypass BlueLab and BCHS?
Yes. Contact CSR directly for more information.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q7.4) What information will help answer my question?
For general RFCOMM questions, the version of the firmware running on
chip will help. Information about the remote devices will be
useful. The type of host software (BCHS or BlueLab) along with its
version would also be useful. If your application has any debugging
information then that will also help.
A trace of the air traffic will probably help.
If the RFCOMM connection is running across a UART then a trace of that
may be useful.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q7.5) How do I get more help with RFCOMM firmware?
General RFCOMM queries should go to csr.public.bluecore.firmware,
particularly if you suspect it's nothing to do with the specific way
you're driving RFCOMM. However, much more likely, you should address
your query to either csr.public.bluecore.bluelab or
csr.public.bluecore.bchs, as appropriate.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 8: CSR BlueCore Host Software (BCHS)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q8.1) What sources of information are there for BCHS?
A full user guide comes with BCHS. Your first recourse should be to
use that. It's also available on www.csrsupport.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q8.2) What's the latest version of BCHS?
The answer to this question changes periodically. Have a look on
www.csrsupport.com to see what's available for download.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q8.3) What information will help answer my question?
The version of the firmware running on chip will help. Information
about the remote devices will be useful. The version of the BCHS
you're using will help. If your application has any debugging
information then that will also help.
A trace of the air traffic will probably help.
A UART trace of the RFCOMM connection might be useful, but judicious
debugging information is more likely to help.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q8.4) How do I get more help with BCHS?
The right newsgroup is csr.public.bluecore.bchs.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 9: CSR applications on chip (BlueLab)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q9.1) What sources of information are there for BlueLab?
A user guide comes with BlueLab. Your first recourse should be to use
that. You should also read the release notes.
Source code is provided for the libraries and for some example
applications. It's worth studying those as a similar problem may have
already been solved there.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q9.2) What's the latest version of BlueLab?
The answer to this question changes periodically. Have a look on
www.csrsupport.com to see what's available for download.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q9.3) What information will help answer my question?
The version of the firmware running on chip will help. Information
about the remote devices will be useful. The version of the BlueLab
you're using will help. If your application has any debugging
information then that will also help.
Let us know if you've modified any of the libraries we've supplied.
A trace of the air traffic will probably help.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q9.4) How do I get more help with BlueLab?
The right newsgroup is csr.public.bluecore.bluelab. The group can also
be used to request new features and discuss ideas for applications.
If you've done something funky with BlueLab, let us know.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 10: CSR host-side development tools (BlueSuite)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q10.1) What is BlueSuite and where is it used?
BlueSuite is a set of applications provided for general development
and test of CSR modules. It comprises the following applications:
BlueFlash - program modules' flash devices over SPI, take dumps of
firmware
BlueFlashCmd - command line version of BlueFlash. As used by
BlueLab, and also supports the SPI Multiplexor
E2Writer - command line application to write BlueLab applications
to an attached E2 device.
PSTool - Configure a module's persistent store keys, over SPI, UART
and USB interfaces.
pscli - command line version of PSTool. As used by BlueLab.
BlueTest - Examine a module's RF characteristics.
BlueChat - Demonstrate the radio is functioning.
btcli - Powerful command line application for exercising the HCI
interface.
rfcli - Powerful command line application for exercising the RFCOMM
interface. It also supports an extensible command set via Tcl.
Test Engine - clean DLL interface to HCI functions for scripting
your own production tests from Visual Basic, Delphi etc.
Test Flash - Clean DLL interface to HCI functions for scripting your
own production line flash writes.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q10.2) What sources of information are there for BlueSuite?
The user guides for the Casira and other CSR hardware contain detailed
information about how to use BlueSuite. There's also a release note
that comes with BlueSuite.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q10.3) What's the latest version of BlueSuite?
The latest version is generally available on the CSR support web site,
www.csrsupport.com. It's a restricted item, so generally a Casira kit
or similar will have to be registered before you can obtain the latest
copy of BlueSuite this way.
BlueSuite comes in two versions. The version that ships with Casiras
is complete, whereas the version that ships with other CSR hardware
products doesn't include the tools to manipulate BlueCore chips over
SPI.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q10.4) What information will help answer my question?
If you experience a problem with a BlueSuite application, please
report the version of BlueSuite. Generally you can right-click on the
application or DLL win Windows Explorer, select 'Properties' and then
display the version.
Do provide as much information about the setup as possible. Try to
include the following, provided you feel it's pertinent:
* BlueCore chip type
* Firmware version
* Flash chip type (if applicable)
* E2 device type (if applicable)
* Module manufacturer
* Transport in use (SPI, BCSP etc.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q10.5) How do I get more help with BlueSuite?
Use the newsgroup csr.public.bluecore.bluesuite.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Section 11: DFU
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q11.1) What is DFU and where is it used?
Device Firmware Upgrade (DFU) is a mechanism for upgrading firmware
in BlueCore-based modules in the field. It works by transmitting the
firmware over a UART or USB link to the device, in a format specified
by the USB organisation.
CSR's implementation of DFU comprises these parts:
DFU Boot Loader - the portion of the firmware that implements DFU.
When in DFU mode, it is this portion of the firmware that is
executed. The remainder of the firmware to be overwritten with
a new version.
DFU Engine - A Windows DLL on the PC to transmit a new firmware
version to the chip.
DFU Wizard - A simple, robust Windows application that commands the
engine to send a DFU file to the chip for upgrade.
DFU Tools - A suite of tools for generating DFU files.
DFU Files - The result of taking possibly more than one firmware
build from CSR, signing the firmware with unique keys generated
by tools, adding persistent store keys for specific builds, and
bundling together into one file.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q11.2) What sources of information are there for DFU?
The following are available from www.csrsupport.com. Some of the
documents are restricted, and as such are accessible only to those
who have purchased appropriate products from CSR:
AN077: Adding support for DFU to a USB device driver
AN092: DFU Overview
bcore-an-022: DFU File Format
bcore-an-023: DFU Upgrade Protocol Spec
AN096: DFU Sample User Interface
AN094: DFU API
See question 3.6 if you have trouble finding them.
In addition to these, DFU documents are available from the USB
organisation. In particular, the document entitled "Universal Serial
Bus Device Class Specification for Device Firmware Upgrade".
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q11.3) What's the latest version of DFU?
The latest versions of all the DFU components are available from
www.csrsupport.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q11.4) What information will help answer my question?
If you experience a problem with the DFU tools, please report the
version of the Wizard and Engine DLLs. You can right-click on the
application or DLL in Windows Explorer, select 'Properties' and then
display the version.
Do provide as much information about the setup as possible. Try to
include the following, provided you feel it's pertinent.
* BlueCore chip type
* Original version of firmware (including original version of the
boot loader if possible)
* Firmware version
* Flash chip type (if applicable)
* E2 device type (if applicable)
* Module manufacturer
* Transport in use (USB, BCSP etc.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q11.5) How do I get more help with DFU?
If you're an end user using DFU to upgrade a module you didn't buy
directly from CSR and you're using tools supplied by the module
manufacturer then you should contact them, not us.
Otherwise, csr.public.bluecore.bluesuite is probably the right group.
It certainly is if the problem is in one of the following areas:
Using BlueSuite's DFU Tools to upgrade a module you bought from CSR.
Signing CSR HCI firmware for use in your modules (OEMs).
Trouble interfacing to our USB device driver.
If you're writing your own tools and you appear to be getting far
enough that you're confident the problem isn't in the DFU mechanism
itself, but rather is some unexpected way the DFU is proceeding, then
csr.public.bluecore.firmware might be the right group, although very
technical queries are probably best handled with e-mail directly to
your technical support representative.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q11.6) How do I write my own DFU tool
If you're running on Windows, you can interface to the DLL provided
with BlueSuite. This is covered in document AN094, available from
www.csrsupport.com.
If you're writing your own tool from scratch then the first thing to
realise is that the BlueCore DFU specification is exactly the USB
DFU specification. So you should go to the USB web site at www.usb.org
and search for "Device Firmware Upgrade". You should read that
document fully, otherwise nothing will make sense. If you're running
DFU over a host transport other than USB then you'll also need to read
bcore-an-023, which is on www.csrsupport.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Q11.7) What does this DFU Wizard error message mean?
Here's a list of common error messages from DFU Wizard along with a
description of what the underlying problem usually is. The text
referred to is the message you get from clicking the "Detail" button
when you receive the error message. These descriptions are probably
only useful for people attempting to create their own DFU files. End
users who receive DFU errors should contact their supplier for help.
File error: <filename> is intended for use with a different vendor's
product.
or
File error: <filename> is intended for use with a different product.
This usually indicates that the USB vendor ID and product ID in
the chip's persistent store (PSKEY_USB_VENDOR_ID and
PSKEY_USB_PRODUCT_ID) do not match the values specified in the
DFU file. If you created the DFU file yourself, check that you
gave the right values for the -uv and -up options to dfubuild.
DFU device error: the firmware file failed verification tests.
This usually indicates that the digital signature on one or more
of the components in the DFU file did not verify correctly. If you
created the DFU file yourself, ensure that you have followed the
signing procedure in the tutorial you receieved with the DFU
tools.
DFU device error: the firmware file is not intended for this device.
This usually indicates that one or more of the components in the
DFU file is not marked as suitable for the chip type. Assuming the
firmware image is actually targetted at the chip in question, this
problem usually occurs because the DFU file contains persistent
store updates which are not marked with the correct chip type. To
specify the chip type in a .psr file, you need to a pseudo-key to
the file: see the "Persistent Store Files" page in the
documentation which accompanied the DFU tools.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Legal
The views expressed on these newsgroups are those of the individual
authors, and not necessarily those of CSR.
Any authors who also happen to be employees of CSR will generally
post information without the supervision or authorisation of CSR.
CSR accepts no responsibility for any errors in any postings. CSR
recommends you should verify and confirm any information drawn from
these newsgroups before relying on it.
If you consider any posting to be incorrect, please add your
corrections to the thread. If you consider a posting to be libelous
or offensive, please contact newsmaster@csr.com, where the posting may
be removed from the newsgroups.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
All additions, corrections and suggestions for this FAQ should be
posted to csr.public.misc.
This was the FAQ for the CSR newsgroups. To access the newsgroups with your web browser (username and password required) please go to https://news.csr.com/.