Debian, T61, and bluetooth

[John Jason Jordan-2]

I have used Ubuntu x86_64 for a long time. When I got my T61 a couple
years ago I tried other distros, but ended up with Ubuntu again.
Recently I decided to give Debian testing a serious trial.

I bought a new 320 GB Hitachi drive and installed Debian on it as the
only OS. I put the 160 GB drive that came with the T61 into my Ultrabay
adapter so I could move data and configs from my old Ubuntu
installation.

So far everything is working OK except bluetooth devices. I have a
mouse, headphones, and cell phone. All worked in Ubuntu, but I can't
get any of them paired in Debian. From the command line "hhcitool dev"
finds the T61's bluetooth adapter, but finds no other devices, even
when they are in pairing mode.

I have queried on the Debian forums and on the Debian user e-list, but
after two days no responses. In desperation I ask here. Does anyone
have bluetooth devices working on Debian testing?
--
The linux-thinkpad mailing list home page is at:
http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-thinkpad

[Marcus Better]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

John Jason Jordan wrote:
> So far everything is working OK except bluetooth devices. I have a
> mouse, headphones, and cell phone. All worked in Ubuntu, but I can't
> get any of them paired in Debian. From the command line "hhcitool dev"
> finds the T61's bluetooth adapter, but finds no other devices,

It's not supposed to. Use "hcitool scan" for that.

> I have queried on the Debian forums and on the Debian user e-list, but
> after two days no responses. In desperation I ask here. Does anyone
> have bluetooth devices working on Debian testing?

Yes, also on a T61. Kernel is 2.6.31.4 (self-compiled x86_64), bluez 4.56-2,
kdebluetooth 1:0.4~rc1-1.

What does "hciconfig" say? Mine says:

hci0:   Type: USB
        BD Address: 00:1E:4C:FC:73:B3 ACL MTU: 1017:8 SCO MTU: 64:8
        UP RUNNING PSCAN ISCAN
        RX bytes:1583 acl:0 sco:0 events:52 errors:0
        TX bytes:388 acl:0 sco:0 commands:30 errors:0

I had problems previously with the "ISCAN" option not appearing until I set
it manually ("hciconfig hci0 piscan"), it is needed fof making the device
discoverable by other devices. It seems to be fixed now though.

Non-root users need to be in the "bluetooth" group to use bluetooth.

Cheers,

Marcus
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.10 (GNU/Linux)

iEYEARECAAYFAkrz3rYACgkQXjXn6TzcAQk6AQCgrmsBA7GBT3Zsx1GanTDukKf2
ARwAoPBEdGRkQbQLu1cDqw95Y/bjjqQs
=AOSY
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----


--
The linux-thinkpad mailing list home page is at:
http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-thinkpad

[John Jason Jordan-2]

On Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:30:46 +0100
Marcus Better <marcus@...> dijo:

> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> John Jason Jordan wrote:
> > So far everything is working OK except bluetooth devices. I have a
> > mouse, headphones, and cell phone. All worked in Ubuntu, but I can't
> > get any of them paired in Debian. From the command line "hhcitool dev"
> > finds the T61's bluetooth adapter, but finds no other devices,
>
> It's not supposed to. Use "hcitool scan" for that.
>
> > I have queried on the Debian forums and on the Debian user e-list, but
> > after two days no responses. In desperation I ask here. Does anyone
> > have bluetooth devices working on Debian testing?
>
> Yes, also on a T61. Kernel is 2.6.31.4 (self-compiled x86_64), bluez 4.56-2,
> kdebluetooth 1:0.4~rc1-1.
>
> What does "hciconfig" say? Mine says:
>
> hci0:   Type: USB
>         BD Address: 00:1E:4C:FC:73:B3 ACL MTU: 1017:8 SCO MTU: 64:8
>         UP RUNNING PSCAN ISCAN
>         RX bytes:1583 acl:0 sco:0 events:52 errors:0
>         TX bytes:388 acl:0 sco:0 commands:30 errors:0

I can't find hciconfig:

jjj@Devil8:~$ hciconfig
bash: hciconfig: command not found
jjj@Devil8:~$ sudo apt-get install hciconfig
[sudo] password for jjj:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree      
Reading state information... Done
E: Couldn't find package hciconfig

Did you mean "hcitool config"?

jjj@Devil8:~$ hcitool config
Connections:
        > ACL 00:0F:F6:6C:6C:DB handle 11 state 1 lm MASTER

> I had problems previously with the "ISCAN" option not appearing until I set
> it manually ("hciconfig hci0 piscan"), it is needed fof making the device
> discoverable by other devices. It seems to be fixed now though.
>
> Non-root users need to be in the "bluetooth" group to use bluetooth.

I just checked and I am in the bluetooth group, although root was not.
I added root, just in case I ever log in as root.

I did manage to get the bluetooth mouse working, but in the process
broke gnome-panel, metacity, and probably a couple other things
(detailed in another thread here). I am currently functional by running
gnome-panel and metacity from a terminal window. Later today I will
spend some time trying to figure out why they suddenly stopped getting
loaded at login and how to restore that funtionality.
--
The linux-thinkpad mailing list home page is at:
http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-thinkpad

[gregor herrmann-2]

On Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:39:38 -0800, John Jason Jordan wrote:

> I can't find hciconfig:

gregoa@belanna:~$ ls /usr/sbin/hciconfig
/usr/sbin/hciconfig
gregoa@belanna:~$ dpkg -S /usr/sbin/hciconfig
bluez: /usr/sbin/hciconfig
 
Cheers,
gregor
--
 .''`.   http://info.comodo.priv.at/ -- GPG Key IDs: 0x00F3CFE4, 0x8649AA06
 : :' :  Debian GNU/Linux user, admin, & developer - http://www.debian.org/
 `. `'   Member of VIBE!AT, SPI Inc., fellow of FSFE | http://got.to/quote/
   `-    NP: R.E.M.: Orange Crush