Last weekend we had urgent demand to get the dive profile data out of an Uwatec Smart Pro computer. The Smart Series uses IRDA to transfer files. It wasn’t as easy as I initially thought…

First Problem: The Software

That was an easy one – JTrak is running on Linux, Windows and OSX.

Second Problem: IRDA

Apart from the new macbook all new mobile macs have a recieve only Infrared interface for the Apple remote but no full IRDA interface.
I was not able not find any reliable information which USB irda device works on OSX Snow Leopard (Intel).
While reading the changelog of Jtrak I discovered a note that the MOS7780 chip is support under Snow Leopard.
After some more googling I dicovered that this chip is used in the Longshine LCS-8141-A USB Infrared Dongle.

This dongle is available at KM Elektronik here in Germany and works flawless on OSX without the need to install any drivers. JTrak immediately discovered the Smart Pro and I was finally able to import the data.