Connect a bluetooth headset to linux

Submitted by GaB on 2008, December 1 - 02:49

Finally I could connect a bluetooth headset to linux. First I upgraded from Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) to Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex). Make sure both your bluetooth interface and your headset is on.
Then find your device's mac address:

$ sudo hcitool scan
Scanning ...
        00:15:A0:B4:BE:E6       Nokia BH-200

Load the necessary modules snd-bt-sco and sco.

Enable the bluetooth audio stack with

$ sudo hciconfig hci0 voice 0x0060

(or Autostart=true in /etc/bluetooth/audio.service

Create ~/.asoundrc:

pcm.bt {
        type plug
        slave {
                pcm "bt_hw"
        }
}

pcm.bt_hw {
        type bluetooth
        device 00:15:A0:B4:BE:E6
        profile "auto"
}

And tada, it woks. Supposed you have a daemon that handles the pairing. And the program you would like to use supports the selection of a device. (Some programs work with bt, some with bt_hw.)

How to test:

$ arecord -D bt -f S16_LE /tmp/lol.wav
$ aplay -D bt -f S16_LE /tmp/lol.wav

Some programs like Ekiga will not work, as they rely on an outdated infrastructure realized by the deprecated btsco daemon.

http://wiki.bluez.org/wiki/HOWTO/AudioDevices

Need help

Submitted by Garret (not verified) on 2008, December 14 - 23:52.

I have bought a bluetooth nokia headset and an usb bluetooth dongle. Both are seen on archlinux but i don't hear anything. Please can you contact me because i am desperate. All works in Windows but i want to use them on linux. I hope to listen to you. You can find my contacts here -> http://garret.netsons.org/contactme

I guess it would be more

Submitted by GaB on 2008, December 15 - 00:07.

I guess it would be more helpful if you post a more detailed description of your problem. What version of utilities and kernel do you use? At which point does does my approach fail for you? Is there any error message? You can hear the headset when it goes into active mode, even if there is no input. Isn't it possible that it is just muted?
My first guess would be that on your architecture the pairing (entering the default PIN) is not automated.

--
GaB

Error

Submitted by Garret (not verified) on 2008, December 15 - 07:46.

2.6.27-ARCH
---------------------
bluez-libs 3.32-1
bluez-utils 3.32-1
blueman 0.3-5
##########
The screen: http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/6042/sc...
The error with aplay(but i only hear a beep on my device!!!): http://gist.github.com/35898

Hmmm. The only strange thing

Submitted by GaB on 2008, December 15 - 10:04.

Hmmm. The only strange thing I can see is this "Error receiving data from audio service: Success(0)".
You should report this bug for the alsa package of your distribution or even maybe upstream. Success should not be treated as an error condition.
Can't you maybe try a newer set of kernel and utils, or some liveCD, whether it works with that?

--
GaB

Ubuntu

Submitted by Garret (not verified) on 2008, December 15 - 19:13.

Today i tried ubuntu 8.10. After installing all the utilities i see that hcitool scan sees my phone but not my headset. But in theory on Linux all bluetooth headset are supported? The thing i hate is that all works on Windows perfectly :(

Are you sure? The output of

Submitted by GaB on 2008, December 15 - 21:36.

Are you sure? The output of hcitool scan should contain the mac address of all visible devices, regardless whether the particular function of the device is supported or not.
I read somewhere that some devices may missing from the list when they are already paired and working right at the moment.
Is the headset not paired at the moment with something else? In Ubuntu, you have the "Setup new device..." in for the BT-applet. Can't you pair it with that?

--
GaB

The only strange thing I can

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on 2009, March 3 - 14:16.

The only strange thing I can see is this "Error receiving data from audio service: Success(0)".
You should report this bug for the alsa package of your distribution or even maybe upstream. auto

Need help attempting to connect jawbone

Submitted by James (not verified) on 2009, May 6 - 10:13.

I updated my Ubuntu to 8.10 and I have the latest BlueZ software

My bluetooth pairs with my computer through a D-Link Bluetooth dongle. I can follow your post up until the part where I am supposed to do :

arecord -D bt -f S16_LE /tmp/lol.wav

when I put this in the command line I get the error:

arecord: set_params:1015: Unable to install hw params:
ACCESS: RW_INTERLEAVED
FORMAT: S16_LE
SUBFORMAT: STD
SAMPLE_BITS: 16
FRAME_BITS: 16
CHANNELS: 1
RATE: 8000
PERIOD_TIME: 125000
PERIOD_SIZE: 1000
PERIOD_BYTES: 2000
PERIODS: 4
BUFFER_TIME: 500000
BUFFER_SIZE: 4000
BUFFER_BYTES: 8000
TICK_TIME: 0

any ideas??? I really need this asap
Thanks alot!

Thanks for sharing this

Submitted by mojardon (not verified) on 2009, June 14 - 20:37.

Thanks for sharing this information. I found it very informative as I have been researching a lot lately on practical matters such as you talk about...DECAanavard-bol

For what reason does this

Submitted by GaB on 2009, June 14 - 21:14.

For what reason does this kind of spam exist?

--
GaB

The output of hcitool scan

Submitted by club penguin (not verified) on 2009, June 29 - 08:28.

The output of hcitool scan should contain the mac address of all visible devices, regardless whether the particular function of the device is supported or not. I read somewhere that some devices may missing from the list when they are already paired and working right at the moment.

Error in Sound

Submitted by vinay (not verified) on 2009, October 14 - 05:27.

Thanks a lot for sharing the information....
But when i play some .wav or .mp3 files on my bluetooth headset, i hear some strange noises on my headset....

aplay -D btheadset -f s16_le /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Center.wav

when I put this in the command line I get:

Warning: rate is not accurate (requested = 48000Hz, got = 8000Hz)
please, try the plug plugin (-Dplug:btheadset)

and i hear some strange noise in the headset.....

Can anyone please help me regarding this.........