I needed to implement a reliable network connection into my Verdex Pro once it was attached to the GPSstix since the USB networking is hosed. Here was my solution to this wireless networking issue.

Step 1. Enable only necessary options
As you’ll see from my config from /etc/default/bluetooth, I disable most Bluetooth options. The key parts are at the end dealing with PAND (Personal Area Network daemon).

# Bluetooth configuraton file

# Attach to the onboard bluetooth adapter  (allowed values are "true" and "false")
HCIATTACH_ENABLE=true

# Start of hcid (allowed values are "true" and "false")
HCID_ENABLE=false

# Config file for hcid
HCID_CONFIG="/etc/bluetooth/hcid.conf"

# Start sdpd (allowed values are "true" and "false")
SDPD_ENABLE=false

# Start hidd (allowed values are "true" and "false")
HIDD_ENABLE=false

# Arguments to hidd
#HIDD_OPTIONS=""

# Run hid2hci (allowed values are "true" and "false")
HID2HCI_ENABLE=false

# Bind rfcomm devices (allowed values are "true" and "false")
RFCOMM_ENABLE=false

# Config file for rfcomm
RFCOMM_CONFIG="/etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf"

# Start dund (allowed values are "true" and "false")
DUND_ENABLE=false

# Arguments to dund
DUND_OPTIONS="--listen --persist"

# Start pand (allowed values are "true" and "false")
PAND_ENABLE=true

# Arguments to pand
PAND_OPTIONS="--role GN --listen"

Step 2 Add the bnep0 interface
Assign your Gumstix a static IP address so you can connect. Here’s a snippet of my /etc/network/interfaces file.

iface bnep0 inet static
      address 10.10.10.1
      netmask 255.255.255.252
      network 10.10.10.0
      broadcast 10.10.10.3

The netmask above defines a two-host network. Your outside connection (laptop, desktop, mobile device) must use 10.10.10.2 as its IP address as well as the netmask above. Sure, I could have installed a small DHCP server to issue IPs automatically, but since the same device will connect to the Gumstix, I didn’t see the need.