Debian Jessie and Bluetooth
The bluetooth utils under Debian Jessie is different to previous releases. Most of the guides floating about no longer appear to apply - at least some of the key utils are no longer available. So here’s a simple guide to bluetooth on Debian Jessie. I will be using a Logitech mouse as the target device and will be pairing it with a laptop.
Oh! This is all going to be via the commandline (naturally).
Install some Packages and Start some Services
We just need one package as far a I am aware…
-
The main bluetooth CLI package
$ apt-get install bluez -
Start up the bluetooth daemon
$ /etc/init.d/bluetooth start -
Set the bluetooth service to start at boot
$ update-rc.d bluetooth enable
Find your bluetooth
Next we go and find our devices.
-
Enter the bluetoothctl shell, as root
$ bluetoothctl [bluetooth]# help Available commands: list List available controllers show [ctrl] Controller information select <ctrl> Select default controller devices List available devices paired-devices List paired devices power <on/off> Set controller power pairable <on/off> Set controller pairable mode discoverable <on/off> Set controller discoverable mode agent <on/off/capability> Enable/disable agent with given capability default-agent Set agent as the default one scan <on/off> Scan for devices info <dev> Device information pair <dev> Pair with device trust <dev> Trust device untrust <dev> Untrust device block <dev> Block device unblock <dev> Unblock device remove <dev> Remove device connect <dev> Connect device disconnect <dev> Disconnect device version Display version quit Quit program -
Make sure you actually have a visible bluetooth controllor, the below is for my laptop
[bluetooth]# list Controller 20:16:D8:98:67:38 MYLAPTOP-0 [default] -
Start scanning for available devices to pair with. You may or may not see multiple devices depending on people nearby. Not the MAC address which is used to identify your device, which in this case is 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 You may need to press some magic buttons on your target device to get it to actually broadcast itself out so we can see it. My mouse has a CONNECT button on the bottom that does just that.
[bluetooth]# scan on Discovery started [CHG] Controller 20:16:D8:98:67:38 Discovering: yes ... [NEW] Device 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 00-1F-20-D4-DF-58 [CHG] Device 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 LegacyPairing: no [CHG] Device 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 Name: Bluetooth Mouse M558 [CHG] Device 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 Alias: Bluetooth Mouse M558 -
So 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 appears to be my mouse, lets trust it!
[bluetooth]# trust 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 [CHG] Device 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 Trusted: yes Changing 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 trust succeeded [CHG] Device 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 LegacyPairing: yes [CHG] Device 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 RSSI: -69 -
Lets pair the mouse with my laptop
[bluetooth]# pair 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 Attempting to pair with 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 [CHG] Device 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 Connected: yes [CHG] Device 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 Modalias: usb:v046DpB011d1010 [CHG] Device 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 UUIDs: 00001000-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb 00001124-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb 00001200-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb [CHG] Device 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 Paired: yes Pairing successful [CHG] Device 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 Connected: no -
At this point wiggling the mouse didn’t do much. Still more to do - we apparently need to connect it next (hints as much above)
[bluetooth]# connect 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 Attempting to connect to 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 [CHG] Device 00:1F:20:D4:DF:58 Connected: yes Connection successful -
Success! Mouse wiggle causes cursor to move. Quit and enjoy!
[bluetooth]# quit