# Bluetooth questions and (some) ANSWERS

## Steltek

Okay, so I have come into posession of a Bluetooth enabled phone (SE T616) and BT USB dongle.  I'm still messing with it but I thought I would post some experiences so far because I've spent some time asking questions and looking for answers.  It's kinda hard since documentation is either outdated or nonexistent.

So I'll break it down into some easy categories:

What apparently works very easily:

Using the phone as a modem - there 5 gazillion howto's on this

What works after some effort:

pairing a BT device

pushing files to/from Linux

What looks impossible or is a severe PITA

FTP like retrieving of files to/from Linux (pulling?)

sync'ing organizer stuff

I don't care for using my phone as a modem.  It's just not doable for me.  Of course, that's apparently what everyone wants to do with a BT phone so it seems rather easy.  

Pairing was actually difficult because the "PIN helper" app was broken and no error was displayed anywhere.  bluepin is actually a python script that opens a GTK 1.2 dialog for text input.  You can replace this with just a bash script that echos "PIN:123".  I made mine a bit more fancy with zenity and reading /etc/bluetooth/pin if no X was available but the idea is the same.  Once this was done, the phone could be paired.

Pushing files to and from Linux requires two apps.  ussp-push-0.2 and opd-DATE .  ussp-push started as a hack to push files to a BT device but it works rather well.  You'll want the obextool executable, toss the old ussp-push program out.  opd is something like "OBEX push daemon" and simply waits for offers from paired BT devices.  You start it in daemon mode and point at a directory to store files.

Sync'ing organizer stuff almost looks doable but has proven to be a pain.  There are two programs, both confusing and even less documented than the rest of the BT (which is a feat), multisync and tsemgr.  Multisync seems pretty spiffy with Evolution plugins and stuff until I tried to actually point it at my phone.  It seems to want a web server.  Errr, yeah, I'm still thinking this one over.

FTP like file transfers where you browse a remote device and request files doesn't seem to work.  I'm still looking for some kind of file server to run on Linux.  There is an obexftp client but only works with an older, broken BT driver.  I may get it working at some point.  I don't know.  I'd rather get a BT "FTP server" running on Linux though.

So a few of the above programs plus the BlueZ apps you'll find on portage and you should be set.  Load up the bluetooth kernel modules: bluez, hci_usb, l2cap, rfcomm, and bnep.  Fix bluepin to echo the right PIN, edit hcid.conf to show a real BT name, and change lm accept to lm accept,master.  Start hcid, pand, sdpd, and opd.  

Well, that's about where I am now.  Sync'ing and running a file server on Linux are my main objectives right now but that's for tomorrow.  If anyone knows anything about this, please reply.

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## thesnowman

I've successfully used multisync to sync between my BT phone (T68i and Z600) and Evolution.  It's not perfect, but it works 90% of the time.  I've found that it works better if I use manual syncing, this way I can ensure bluetooth is turned on on the phone before initiating the sync.  Multisync doesn't like it when it trys to sync and can't see the phone.

The multisync ebuild has some custom USE flags that you must enable to get Evolution/Bluetooth IRMC/OPIE/LDAP support.  Did you use these when you emerged multisync?

Do an 

```
emerge -pv multisync
```

 to see what the custom USE flags are.

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## Pergamon

The kdebluetooth package adds filetransfer via Bluetooth to Konqueror. This is still a bit buggy (sometimes it is necessary to repeat actions in order to succed), but it is quite easy to copy files between bluetooth devices and Konqueror.

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## ticho

 *Steltek wrote:*   

> What works after some effort:
> 
> pairing a BT device
> 
> pushing files to/from Linux
> ...

 

Could you possibly explain how did you get this filetransfer done? I got it working via kdebluetooth, but only one-way (linux -> phone).

I'd also prefer to have it done via commandline, since it would allow me to do some scripting later. obexftp (0.10.4) doesn't seem to work, it can't get past "Connecting..." phase.

Thanks for your time.

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## ticho

Ok, nevermind the one-way question, odp handles that quite nicely.  :Smile:  Yay, atleast phone->linux works in commandline now.

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## gmichels

kdebluetooth is awesome, use it (if you use kde, of course)

I am looking for a way to use a BT headset with linux (mainly for chatting with Skype). There is one project on SF called bluetooth-alsa which is trying to do that, but they haven't gone much far yet.

Apart from that, all my BT needs are fulfilled by kdebluetooth.

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## ticho

The thing is, I don't use KDE.

What I dream of now though, is read-write mountable obexfs  :Smile: 

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## mattjgalloway

Hey all,

I've just got myself a nice new phone - the Sony Ericsson K700i. I use Gentoo and so I want to be able to sync my stuff on the phone with Evolution if possible. You all seem to be getting along with Bluetooth just nicely - if not for a few teething issues!

I've bought myself a sync cradle because I need that to update the firmware on my phone. I'm about to get a bluetooth usb dongle though which I'll have in my Gentoo box to allow me to sync and push files to the phone, etc.

What I'd like to know is - is there a recommended USB dongle to get? Or is it simply a case of "they all work". I want to find the cheapest one which will work!

Any ideas?

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## thesnowman

Any of the ones listed as "working" in this document should do the trick:

http://www.holtmann.org/linux/bluetooth/devices.html

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## mattjgalloway

Thanks!

Have ordered myself a nice MSI USB dongle. So should hopefully work well!

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