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On Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:56:56 +0100 Neil Winchurst wrote: > Up to now I have always ignored bluetooth. However I have noticed that > it is enabled on my new smartphone and I am wondering what it is all > about. (On my computer I am using Mint KDE Maverick.) > > I know that it is for connecting devices over small distances. On my > phone a scan does not find anything. In system settings on the > computer I get the message 'No bluetooth adapters have been found'. > In the menu, under Internet I see bluedevil as a choice but it has no > effect. > > I have done some Googling only to finish up more confused than ever. > So can anyone point me in the right direction please? > > Thanks > > Neil I have used Bluetooth for a number of things over the past few years. Most recently I bought a set of Bluetooth headphones (which, it turns out, also has a microphone and can act as a headset too). This I have used with my mobile phone and with my laptop (although it was a bit awkward getting it to work *nicely* with the laptop as a headset). I have also bought and used a Bluetooth mouse. In my experience these tend to work better at 10m away than the cheap "wireless" mice (and keyboards). It would seem that the cheap wireless mice and keyboards seem to cut out and become somewhat unresponsive over anything more than about 2-3m whereas my Bluetooth mouse works absolutely fine from the other side of the room! (It's connected to my media centre computer). I have also used Bluetooth to send/receive data between my phone and my laptop. The normal stuff like files (using OBEX) is pretty easy. Using your phone as a modem over Bluetooth is also relatively trivial these days. I had fun a few years back using my laptop as a modem over Bluetooth... rather than the laptop getting the phone to connect to the Internet I had the phone asking the laptop for the connection. Was good fun if a little pointless. ;) As has been mentioned previously, there are a number of things you need: 1. Both devices need to have a Bluetooth adapter (the phone will have one built-in but the computer may not have). 2. Both devices need to have Bluetooth enabled (it may be turned off on the phone to conserve battery). 3. Both devices need to be able to connect to each other. Initially it is likely that they will both need to be "visible" or "discoverable", but once they've been "paired" together they should be able to talk to eachother even if they are both set to "invisible" of "undiscoverable". 4. One essentially runs a "service" to which the other will connect, so you must make sure they have the correct things running. With stuff like Bluetooth mice, obviously you have no control over what software the mouse is running so it is the computer end that must have the correct "service" (HID, in this case). For file transfer you are likely to be looking at the OBEX (OBject EXchange) service. It is a little odd to begin with, but the more you read into how Bluetooth works the more it makes sense. There's some really nice stuff on how SDP (Service Discovery Protocol) works under Linux. I wouldn't recommend it as your first foray into the world of Bluetooth on Linux, but it's certainly comprehensive. Grant. -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq