Category:How to - bluetooth

High-fidelity Bluetooth audio

You can use A2DP with either the internal bluetooth adapter (model 08 or newer) or (for a vx board) a USB adapter.

Install the packages you'll need:

ipkg install bluez-utils bluez-utils-alsa alsa-utils-aplay alsa-utils-arecord madplay

You'll likely need the passkey agent running, at least the first time you connect:

passkey-agent --default 0000 &

put your headset in pairing mode. Usually this means starting from off and holding the power button down until it flashes. Then find the headset's address:

hcitool scan

edit your /etc/asound.conf with an adapter for bluetooth with the address you just found. My headset is made by itech, so I name the adapter after it:

pcm.itech {
 type bluetooth
 device "00:0D:3C:8A:13:06"
}

now try playing something to it:

madplay song.mp3 -r 44100 --output=wave:- | aplay -D itech

you can also live-encode the line in source to a2dp:

arecord -c 2 -f s16 -r 44100 | aplay -D itech

unfortunately for live encoding, the delay is pretty bad and for some reason I can never get stereo audio from the line-in source.

Debugging connection problems

The best way to figure out what is happening is to use hcidump.

ipkg install bluez-hcidump

In a separate window, or in the background, start the dump:

hcidump -XV

And then in another window, try out your bluetooth command that isn't working. hcidump output is very verbose, but you'll probably be able to zero in on the issue by studying it a little.