Arch Linux

Dinth

Member

From: London

Registered: 2009-03-02

Posts: 238

Bluetooth headset in Pulseaudio - works with ALSA

I finally success with getting my Nokia BH-102 bluetooth headset work with Archlinux.

mplayer -ao alsa:device=bluetooth film.avi plays audio in my bluetooth headset and it is completly independent of what is played on normal speakers.
One thing which i need now is to get Pulseaudio to work with this headset. Unfortunately PA doesnt see it (hal module is on). ALSA also doesnt see it (aplay -l doesnt say anything about bluetooth, also i cannot control it with alsamixer -c X)

My asound.conf looks like:

pcm.bluetooth { 
   type bluetooth 
   device 00:1D:82:45:43:20 
   profile "voice" 
} 
 
pcm.pulse { 
    type pulse 
} 
ctl.pulse { 
    type pulse 
} 
 
pcm.!default { 
    type pulse 
} 
ctl.!default { 
    type pulse 
}

Last edited by Dinth (2009-07-18 20:19:14)

Dinth

Member

From: London

Registered: 2009-03-02

Posts: 238

Re: Bluetooth headset in Pulseaudio - works with ALSA

I have another PA related problem described here - http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=76169 . Today ive noticed that after boot - when i have no audio on my speakers, PA sees my bluetooth headset, and it is working. Unfortunately after PA restart, when my Intel HD starts working, PA doesnt detect bluetooth headset.

Garret

Member

From: Palermo, Italy

Registered: 2006-07-09

Posts: 172

Re: Bluetooth headset in Pulseaudio - works with ALSA

I have your same bluetooth headset and I can't get it working with ALSA. Please can you explain how did you do.

The headset works out of the box with ubuntu, but doesn't with arch.

I have these installed packages: bluez gnome-user-share gnome-bluetooth bluez-gnome

Then the headset seems paired with my pc...

This is my ~/.asound.rc

pcm.bluetooth { 
   type bluetooth 
   device 00:1D:82:26:CB:D0
   profile "auto" 
}

Giving mplayer -ao alsa:device=bluetooth video.avi

[garret@desktop ~]$ mplayer -ao alsa:device=bluetooth video.avi 
MPlayer SVN-r29411-4.4.0 (C) 2000-2009 MPlayer Team
137 audio & 299 video codecs
mplayer: could not connect to socket
mplayer: No such file or directory
Failed to open LIRC support. You will not be able to use your remote control.

Playing video.avi.
AVI file format detected.
[aviheader] Video stream found, -vid 0
[aviheader] Audio stream found, -aid 1
VIDEO:  [XVID]  512x384  12bpp  23.976 fps  1078.1 kbps (131.6 kbyte/s)
Clip info:
 Software: VirtualDubMod 1.5.10.2 (build 2540/release)
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffodivx] vfm: ffmpeg (FFmpeg MPEG-4)
==========================================================================
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [mp3lib] MPEG layer-2, layer-3
AUDIO: 48000 Hz, 2 ch, s16le, 128.0 kbit/8.33% (ratio: 16000->192000)
Selected audio codec: [mp3] afm: mp3lib (mp3lib MPEG layer-2, layer-3)
==========================================================================
[AO_ALSA] alsa-lib: pcm.c:2211:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM bluetooth
[AO_ALSA] Playback open error: No such file or directory
Failed to initialize audio driver 'alsa:device=bluetooth'
Could not open/initialize audio device -> no sound.
Audio: no sound
Starting playback...
VDec: vo config request - 512 x 384 (preferred colorspace: Planar YV12)
VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0)
Movie-Aspect is 1.33:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
VO: [xv] 512x384 => 512x384 Planar YV12

Last edited by Garret (2009-09-25 17:15:36)

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,356

Re: Bluetooth headset in Pulseaudio - works with ALSA

Looks like both of you are following some conflicting advise. Pulseaudio's bluetooth device support comes through bluez, not through alsa. I have not tried this yet (my headset is still on the way), but if you don't use the bluetooth device in your asoundconf/.asoundrc, you should be able to pair with bluez and pulseaudio will auto-configure for it.

Otherwise, try "pactl list" and check if module-bluetooth is loaded in Pulseaudio. If its not, load it.

---

Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

Garret

Member

From: Palermo, Italy

Registered: 2006-07-09

Posts: 172

Re: Bluetooth headset in Pulseaudio - works with ALSA

Looks like both of you are following some conflicting advise. Pulseaudio's bluetooth device support comes through bluez, not through alsa. I have not tried this yet (my headset is still on the way), but if you don't use the bluetooth device in your asoundconf/.asoundrc, you should be able to pair with bluez and pulseaudio will auto-configure for it.

Otherwise, try "pactl list" and check if module-bluetooth is loaded in Pulseaudio. If its not, load it.

I don't care about pulseaudio. I want to get my bluetooth headset working with ALSA and it seems Dinth succeed in this venture...

As I said my headset is paired with my pc:

It seems more an alsa issue. Infact I don't see any "bluetooth" alsa device on skype or other applications.

EDIT: I finally managed how to get my headset working: I had to put my asound.conf in /etc
Now the command arecord -D bluetooth -f S16_LE | aplay -D bluetooth -f S16_LE works.
But some applications (like Mumble) don't see the "bluetooth" device, instead others (like Skype) see it but they don't play anithing.

Last edited by Garret (2009-09-26 07:10:44)

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,356

Re: Bluetooth headset in Pulseaudio - works with ALSA

Considering that Skype has been in communication with Pulse devs on making sure they work well together, you may want to consider using Pulse if your objective is to use Skype.

---

Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

Garret

Member

From: Palermo, Italy

Registered: 2006-07-09

Posts: 172

Re: Bluetooth headset in Pulseaudio - works with ALSA

Considering that Skype has been in communication with Pulse devs on making sure they work well together, you may want to consider using Pulse if your objective is to use Skype.

Today I installed pulseaudio but in some applications audio didn't work (like Skype).
So I returned to ALSA, I would prefer use only it and see applications as mumble recognizing my bluetooth headset

lefallen

Member

From: Melbourne, Australia

Registered: 2006-07-06

Posts: 36

Website

Re: Bluetooth headset in Pulseaudio - works with ALSA

So I returned to ALSA, I would prefer use only it and see applications as mumble recognizing my bluetooth headset

If you just want to use Alsa, and have it "recognized", this might help.  I got mine to show up in mumble (awesome open source VoIP thingy) by putting "stuff" in my alsa config (I'm using /etc/asound.conf).  Part of this makes it work, I suspect it's the "hint" bit:

pcm.btheadset {
    type plug
    slave {
        pcm {
            type bluetooth
            device 00:07:A4:02:D7:DD
            profile "auto"
        }   
    }   

    hint {
        show on
        description "BT Headset"
    }   
}

ctl.btheadset {
  type bluetooth
}

Then, it shows up as "btheadset (BT Headset)"

---

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Cosmin

Member

Registered: 2008-10-06

Posts: 248

Re: Bluetooth headset in Pulseaudio - works with ALSA

does anyone knows a good howto for bluetooth headset? (with alsa preferably)

steve___

Member

Registered: 2008-02-24

Posts: 452

Re: Bluetooth headset in Pulseaudio - works with ALSA

@Garret - did you succeed in getting your GT headset to work with alsa?

Garret

Member

From: Palermo, Italy

Registered: 2006-07-09

Posts: 172

Re: Bluetooth headset in Pulseaudio - works with ALSA

@steve___ sorry but I have no more tried

steve___

Member

Registered: 2008-02-24

Posts: 452

Re: Bluetooth headset in Pulseaudio - works with ALSA

@Garret - In /etc/asound.conf or $HOME/.asoundrc change:

profile "auto"

to

profile "voice"

and test.

Last edited by steve___ (2010-12-13 23:38:50)