Bluetooth query

[Peter Flynn]

On 27/05/2021 07:12, Phil wrote:
> I have a Bluetooth device that my Android phone will connect to but
> is not even visible to my PC let alone connect. I also have a second 
> Bluetooth device that is visible to both but the PC will not connect
> to it either.

I have many examples of both. Bluetooth is an abysmal protocol, always
was, and its implementation both in hardware and software sucks little
black toads on most platforms.

> I've done some Internet research and found that this is not
> uncommon.

Sadly, yes. But if it can be coded to work on Android, it should not be
beyond the wit of the devs to do the same on Linux, except, of course,
the hardware support on PCs is appalling.

On 27/05/2021 08:55, Oliver Grawert wrote:
> while bluetooth used to be a pain, the bluez has come quite a long
> way the last few years and 20.04 should really be able to connect to
> most devices out there (i personally own quite some input devices
> (mice/kbd) as well as a few audio devices that i use regular with
> Ubuntu and about 10 BLE sensors with Ubuntu Core on RPi's)

Bluez may or may not work, I cannot say (see below). The problems are:

1. device never recognised (scan repeatedly shows no devices)

2. device is listed in a scan but not indentified by name/type

3. device is listed and identified but never pairs

4. device appears to pair, but refuses to connect

5. device pairs and connects, but never appears in applications

6. device appears in applications, but does nothing

I have already identified from earlier posts that #5 is a major bug (eg
headphone is connected but pulseaudio doesn't list it).

I have 83 packages installed whose names contain the string 'blue'.
If I remove those which obviously relate to colour or unconnected
packages, I'm left with the list of 66 below.

It's like every module of everything has reinvented the BT wheel for
their own purposes, presumably because whatever the default is, is
unable to connect properly. I have no doubt that these all interfere
with each other, but as an end-user, I have no way to tell what should
be removed without damage.

It's important for devs to understand that *I* did not install any of
these by request: they are all dependencies of other things I installed.

bluedevil (2)
blueman (2)
bluemon (2)
bluetooth (1)
bluez (15)
gammaray-plugin-bluetooth (2)
gir1.2-gnomebluetooth (1)
gnome-bluetooth (3)
indicator-bluetooth (2)
libbluetooth (2)
libbluetooth3 (4)
libgnome-bluetooth (3)
libkf5bluez (5)
libnet-bluetooth (2)
libpam-blue (2)
libqt5bluetooth5 (4)
libspa-bluetooth (2)
pulseaudio-module-bluetooth (4)
python-bluez (2)
python3-bluez (2)
qml-module-org-kde-bluezqt (2)
qml-module-qtbluetooth (2)

If anyone knows what to rip out, I'd be glad to hear.

Peter