[gentoo-user] Bluetooth compatibility

[gentoo-user] Bluetooth compatibility

[Grant]

I need a wireless headset to use with my softphone.  My laptop doesn't
have bluetooth built-in so I need a USB bluetooth adapter and
bluetooth headset.  Has anyone used bluetooth with Gentoo?  Should I
be researching both devices' Linux compatibility, or just the adapter?

- Grant
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Re: [gentoo-user] Bluetooth compatibility

[Raymond Lewis Rebbeck]

On Thursday 02 November 2006 11:57, Grant wrote:
> I need a wireless headset to use with my softphone.  My laptop doesn't
> have bluetooth built-in so I need a USB bluetooth adapter and
> bluetooth headset.  Has anyone used bluetooth with Gentoo?  Should I
> be researching both devices' Linux compatibility, or just the adapter?
>
> - Grant

Most USB bluetooth devices are pretty generic and will work with the USB HCI 
bluetooth driver in the kernel. I don't know about the headset, but you 
should not have any issues with the adapter itself.

-- 
Raymond Lewis Rebbeck
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Re: [gentoo-user] Bluetooth compatibility

[Grant]

> > I need a wireless headset to use with my softphone.  My laptop doesn't
> > have bluetooth built-in so I need a USB bluetooth adapter and
> > bluetooth headset.  Has anyone used bluetooth with Gentoo?  Should I
> > be researching both devices' Linux compatibility, or just the adapter?
> >
> > - Grant
>
> Most USB bluetooth devices are pretty generic and will work with the USB HCI
> bluetooth driver in the kernel. I don't know about the headset, but you
> should not have any issues with the adapter itself.

I'm reading now that bluetooth uses the 2.4Ghz band which is just
about tapped out around here.  My wireless keyboard and wireless
network use it, and since I'm in an apartment there's no telling how
many other people are doing the same, along with their microwaves and
phones.  Has anyone used a bluetooth headset in an environment with
other devices utilizing the 2.4Ghz band?

- Grant
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gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] Bluetooth compatibility

[Iain Buchanan]

On Wed, 2006-11-01 at 17:56 -0800, Grant wrote:

> I'm reading now that bluetooth uses the 2.4Ghz band which is just
> about tapped out around here.

tapped? do you mean people tap into it?  It is fairly easy to "tap" into
a bluetooth headset - the standard passwords for simple devices are
usually 0000, 1111, and that sort of thing.

>   My wireless keyboard and wireless
> network use it, and since I'm in an apartment there's no telling how
> many other people are doing the same, along with their microwaves and
> phones.  Has anyone used a bluetooth headset in an environment with
> other devices utilizing the 2.4Ghz band?

I use bluetooth in our office, with 2 802.11 b/g access points, and a
handful of laptops / pda's and I haven't noticed any interference.  I
doubt the bandwidth is "throttled" though...

YMMV!
-- 
Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au>

Hate is like acid.  It can damage the vessel in which it is stored as well
as destroy the object on which it is poured.

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Re: [gentoo-user] Bluetooth compatibility

[Alan McKinnon]

On Thursday 02 November 2006 07:41, Iain Buchanan wrote:
> On Wed, 2006-11-01 at 17:56 -0800, Grant wrote:
> > I'm reading now that bluetooth uses the 2.4Ghz band which is just
> > about tapped out around here.
>
> tapped? do you mean people tap into it?  It is fairly easy to "tap"
> into a bluetooth headset - the standard passwords for simple devices
> are usually 0000, 1111, and that sort of thing.

I think he means "maxed out". And he apparently doesn't realise how much 
bandwidth is available around 2.4Ghz: for example between 2.4 and 2.5 
there's 5 times more bandwidth than the *entire* FM radio spectrum, or 
enough space for about 20 TV stations

> >   My wireless keyboard and wireless
> > network use it, and since I'm in an apartment there's no telling
> > how many other people are doing the same, along with their
> > microwaves and phones.  Has anyone used a bluetooth headset in an
> > environment with other devices utilizing the 2.4Ghz band?
>
> I use bluetooth in our office, with 2 802.11 b/g access points, and a
> handful of laptops / pda's and I haven't noticed any interference.  I
> doubt the bandwidth is "throttled" though...

Similar around here. With an effective range of about 2m, it will take a 
lot more than a typical office or apartment building to cause 
consistent interference over bluetooth

alan
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Re: [gentoo-user] Bluetooth compatibility

[Grant]

> > > I'm reading now that bluetooth uses the 2.4Ghz band which is just
> > > about tapped out around here.
> >
> > tapped? do you mean people tap into it?  It is fairly easy to "tap"
> > into a bluetooth headset - the standard passwords for simple devices
> > are usually 0000, 1111, and that sort of thing.
>
> I think he means "maxed out". And he apparently doesn't realise how much
> bandwidth is available around 2.4Ghz: for example between 2.4 and 2.5
> there's 5 times more bandwidth than the *entire* FM radio spectrum, or
> enough space for about 20 TV stations

I did mean maxed out, and I said that because I seem to be having
interference problems currently.  One of the two systems that connects
to my 802.11g router stops the services that depend on net.ath0 after
awhile, and I can't connect reliably at all on some channels.  Also,
when I'm transferring a big file across the network, my (2.4Ghz)
wireless keyboard really struggles.  The keyboard and three systems
are all within an 8 foot radius of each other.

> > >   My wireless keyboard and wireless
> > > network use it, and since I'm in an apartment there's no telling
> > > how many other people are doing the same, along with their
> > > microwaves and phones.  Has anyone used a bluetooth headset in an
> > > environment with other devices utilizing the 2.4Ghz band?
> >
> > I use bluetooth in our office, with 2 802.11 b/g access points, and a
> > handful of laptops / pda's and I haven't noticed any interference.  I
> > doubt the bandwidth is "throttled" though...
>
> Similar around here. With an effective range of about 2m, it will take a
> lot more than a typical office or apartment building to cause
> consistent interference over bluetooth

2 meters?  So you're pretty much at your computer.

- Grant
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Re: [gentoo-user] Bluetooth compatibility

[Alan McKinnon]

On Thursday 02 November 2006 16:48, Grant wrote:

[snip]

> I did mean maxed out, and I said that because I seem to be having
> interference problems currently.  One of the two systems that
> connects to my 802.11g router stops the services that depend on
> net.ath0 after awhile, and I can't connect reliably at all on some
> channels.  Also, when I'm transferring a big file across the network,
> my (2.4Ghz) wireless keyboard really struggles.  The keyboard and
> three systems are all within an 8 foot radius of each other.

That sounds more like of the bazillion possible frequencies to use, all 
your devices are trying to use the same one or two. So your problem is 
with the hardware vendor and their stunning lack of foresight. If there 
isn't a setting to change frequencies of the devices then I suppose you 
are up a creek. Sorry :-)

> > Similar around here. With an effective range of about 2m, it will
> > take a lot more than a typical office or apartment building to
> > cause consistent interference over bluetooth
>
> 2 meters?  So you're pretty much at your computer.

Bluetooth's designed use case is a range of about 8 feet or so, so you 
can connect one of your personal devices (like the dongle in your ear) 
to another personal device (like the phone in your pocket). If you get 
more than that, you are in luck but don't rely on it.

alan
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gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] Bluetooth compatibility

[Grant]

> > I did mean maxed out, and I said that because I seem to be having
> > interference problems currently.  One of the two systems that
> > connects to my 802.11g router stops the services that depend on
> > net.ath0 after awhile, and I can't connect reliably at all on some
> > channels.  Also, when I'm transferring a big file across the network,
> > my (2.4Ghz) wireless keyboard really struggles.  The keyboard and
> > three systems are all within an 8 foot radius of each other.
>
> That sounds more like of the bazillion possible frequencies to use, all
> your devices are trying to use the same one or two. So your problem is
> with the hardware vendor and their stunning lack of foresight. If there
> isn't a setting to change frequencies of the devices then I suppose you
> are up a creek. Sorry :-)

The wireless keyboard's frequency can't be changed, but I've changed
the channel the wireless network operates on.  Some are definitely
better than others, but I can't seem to find one that's totally
reliable here.  A large file transfer over the network seems to
interfere with the keyboard no matter which channel the network it on.

> > > Similar around here. With an effective range of about 2m, it will
> > > take a lot more than a typical office or apartment building to
> > > cause consistent interference over bluetooth
> >
> > 2 meters?  So you're pretty much at your computer.
>
> Bluetooth's designed use case is a range of about 8 feet or so, so you
> can connect one of your personal devices (like the dongle in your ear)
> to another personal device (like the phone in your pocket). If you get
> more than that, you are in luck but don't rely on it.

I see.  I guess it's the phone that makes it useful.  I was hoping to
plug in the USB transciever, strap on the headset, and walk around my
apartment.  Without a phone that has bluetooth capabilities and a lot
of minutes, I'm probably better off sticking with the line-out/mic-in
headset.

- Grant
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gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list

Re: [gentoo-user] Bluetooth compatibility

[Thomas Kear]

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On Thursday 02 November 2006 2:27 pm, Grant wrote:
> I need a wireless headset to use with my softphone.  My laptop doesn't
> have bluetooth built-in so I need a USB bluetooth adapter and
> bluetooth headset.  Has anyone used bluetooth with Gentoo?  Should I
> be researching both devices' Linux compatibility, or just the adapter?
>
> - Grant

Well as already mentioned, just about any adapter should be fine.  If you feel 
like doing some research, find something with a Camridge Silicon Radio (CSR) 
chipset, they are the most common and consequently the best supported.

As far as the headset goes, you should be fine.  I use a Sony Ericsson 
HBH-IV835 with my gentoo/amd64 pc without too many issues.  The driver that 
couples the headset to an alsa audio device is at 
http://bluetooth-alsa.sf.net

As far as ebuilds go, they are in Liquidx's dev overlay (layman -a liquidx), 
called btsco and btsco-kernel.  There is a marginally outdated but still 
useful howto at http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_use_a_bluetooth_headset

Note: you will probably want to install bluez-libs and bluez-utils 2.25, 3.7 
opens up a whole new set of problems with the dbus pin authentication, you 
really just don't want to go there.  Your life will also be made a lot easier 
if you install kdebluetooth or gnome-bluetooth to get a frontend for 
configuration, device searches, file transfer (if you have a bluetooth phone 
also), etc.

--Thomas

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