Bluetooth on Debian

This howto will help you using the now well-known Bluetooth (from here simply Blu) on a distro (Debian or Debian-based) in a minute, and then using the graphical tools available on Gnome and KDE.

Let's start:

Install the basic packages, that is bluez-utils and bluz-libs.
Type this command on the console

$ apt-get install bluez-utils

to make sure all is alright it's suggested to install also packages like bluez-firmware e bluez-hcidump which can be found HERE (the same packages could be installed through apt or its graphical front-end synaptic)

Install the graphical tools accordingly to the DE used, respectively: The KDE Bluetooth Framework for KDE users.

For GnomeBluetooth's users, install the front-end by SID repository.

Now plug the Blu drive in to the PC through USB and by root execute the recognizing command

$ hciconfig

you will get an output like this:

hciconfig
hci0: Type: USB
BD Address: 00:0E:8E:00:C0:2E ACL MTU: 377:10 SCO MTU: 16:0
UP RUNNING PSCAN ISCAN
RX bytes:163 acl:0 sco:0 events:22 errors:0
TX bytes:596 acl:0 sco:0 commands:22 errors:0

where the BD address is the hardware address of your drive (or integrated card in the laptop)

Enable your mobile phone's Blu and execute this by root:

$ hcitool scan

you will get:

Scanning ...
00:12:EE:F9:15:20 Debian

this address is fundamental, write it because you will need it (of course this is my mobile's).

Open with an editor /etc/bluetooth/rfcomm.conf and modify it:

# # Bluetooth address of the device
# device 00:12:EE:F9:15:20;
# # RFCOMM channel for the connection
# channel 10;
# # Description of the connection
# comment "Sony_Ericsson V_800";

execute

$ sdptool add --channel=10 OPUSH

with a text editor create a little script named cellpin.sh and save it into /etc/bluetooth

#! /bin/bash
echo PIN: 1234

then type

$ chmod 700 /etc/bluetooth/cellpin.sh

open the hcid.conf file in /etc/bluetooth and modify it this way:

#PIN helper
pin_helper /etc/bluetooth/cellpin.sh;
#pin_helper /usr/bin/bluez-pin;

just execute:

$ hcid -f /etc/bluetooth/hcid.conf

Now when you plug the blu drive in and you enable your mobile's Blu you can exchange files :)
To the Gnome users who wants to send a file through bluetooth simply by clicking on the file with the right mouse key, select: Send to...open a text editor and write these lines

#!/bin/sh
# send file to bluetooth
filepath=$NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_SELECTED_FILE_PATHS
obexftp -b 00:12:EE:F9:15:20 -p $filepath

Save it with the name send_to_bluetooth, give it the right permissions to execute is as an user and move it into /home/vostronomeutente/.gnome2/nautilus-scripts


Some problems

If your mobile doesn't see the BT drive (so the files can't be transferred between phone and PC) execute this command on the console

$ dbus-send --system --dest=org.bluez /org/bluez/hci0 \

and then

$ org.bluez.Adapter.SetMode string:discoverable

Have fun ;)

Troubleshooting

An useful report from Gica78R: I followed this howto on Sarge but I had some problems, and the same on Etch. In particular, although in /etc/bluetooth/hcid.conf the iscan enable option was enabled, my computer kept on being invisible from the other devices. I hadn't any problem moving files from the Debian pc to the other devices, or viceversa if those devices knew in some way the PC's Bluetooth address. But if I tried to perform a device search, my pc wasn't visible.

Eventually it's a common bug so, through hcdi.conf settings, the hcin daemon enables only the PSCAN option instead of both PSCAN an ISCAN.
A sort of workaround to solve this:

1) Delete all the content of /var/lib/bluetooth/ (usually it contains a subdirectory for each Bluetooth device detected). ATTENTION: delete only the /var/lib/bluetooth/ content, NOT the directory itself!

2) add in the device section into /etc/bluetooth/hcid.conf this option: discovto 0;

3) reboot the Bluetooth service with this command as root: /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart

When is this necessary? When, although the /etc/bluetooth/hcid.conf contains the iscan enable; option, the output of hciconfig looks like this:

hci0:   Type: USB
      BD Address: 00:10:60:D1:4D:C0 ACL MTU: 384:8 SCO MTU: 64:8
      UP RUNNING PSCAN
      RX bytes:455 acl:0 sco:0 events:27 errors:0
      TX bytes:358 acl:0 sco:0 commands:24 errors:0

that is the ISCAN option isn't showed as enabled.

After have followed the istructions above, this output should look like:

hci0:   Type: USB
      BD Address: 00:10:60:D1:4D:C0 ACL MTU: 384:8 SCO MTU: 64:8
      UP RUNNING PSCAN ISCAN
      RX bytes:455 acl:0 sco:0 events:27 errors:0
      TX bytes:358 acl:0 sco:0 commands:24 errors:0

you can note ISCAN is enabled!