Bluetooth headset support past and future

First, sorry for not posting about gbtsco and Ubuntu Hardy or answering your comments.

As some of you may know I wrote a software called gbtsco a while ago (feisty or gutsy) that was acting as a frontend to a binary (btsco) which connected to alsa’s snd-bt-sco to connect to a Bluetooth headset.

With Hardy, btsco is now officially deprecated upstream and alsa’s own implementation of it is to be preferred. To have my Logitech headset to work with Ubuntu, all I had to do was to create a .asoundrc file in my home directory with the following content :


pcm.bluetooth {
type bluetooth
device XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
profile "headset"
}

Then put my headset into pairing mode and start a software (twinkle in my case) and select the Bluetooth soundcard in the settings. I hope that we’ll soon have a way to do that graphically (ideally through the gnome-bluetooth applet).

I won’t continue working on gbtsco as it doesn’t have much work to do now and I don’t myself have the time to make it work with .asoundrc. I do really hope to see an upstream effort in implementing that in gnome-bluetooth or any other easy to use configuration tool.

About Stéphane Graber

Project leader of Linux Containers, Linux hacker, Ubuntu core developer, conference organizer and speaker.
This entry was posted in gbtsco, Planet Ubuntu. Bookmark the permalink.

5 Responses to Bluetooth headset support past and future

  1. Karel Demeyer says:

    From a user interface standpoint, it would be ideal, IMHO, to have these settings in the gnome sound settings capplet rather then in the bluetooth applet as it’s about sound settings and a user shouldn’t be bothered with what protocol it uses (although most know).

    1. stgraber says:

      Right, I though of gnome-bluetooth as there already is a “Browse device…” menu option that let you scan and select devices, see what are the paired devices and find a specific service.
      Having that also present in the softwares would be interesting too (Nautilus for OBEX, gnome-sound-settings for SCO/A2DP, …).

  2. philidox says:

    First off, let me say thank you for your support to Ubuntu and open
    source software. I have become really dependent upon bluetooth
    technology lately and your software contribution has been lovely.
    However, outside of file transfer the default bluetooth software is very
    difficult to use. To do anything such as pairing it with a bluetooth
    headset or syncing has been a struggle and seemingly impossible. I
    figured that even the lowest grade phone with bluetooth technology can
    pair with any regular headset then surely ubuntu’s bluetooth applet can
    be made to do the same with even less effort. Syncing with pda’s and
    smartphone on windows all use a virtual port so I am confident that
    bluetooth applet can do that as well. I am not one to complain without
    offering my time and energy to help resolved this programming issue. I
    am now in the process of learning programming language to see if I can
    help in this project but from what I have read it always better to join
    a team then to try and start your own project so I would like to join
    yours. I’m a fast learner and I was hoping you could guide me in the
    right direction. My end goal with bluetooth applett is to make pairing a
    ubuntu computer and a bt headset as easy as it is for any modern phone
    and to make syncing with pda/smartphone as easy as it is for windows.

    1. dofus kamas says:

      Thanks for sharing your experience Phil. It’s good to know I’m not alone with these issues.

  3. Nadeem says:

    I am already using NokiaBH 503 with Hp Pavilion dv6000 Ubuntu 10.10
    Simply Rocks my Muzik n Moviez,…..
    Cheers!

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