Bluetooth support is already available in the Redhat 9 kernel. To get Bluetooth up and running you'll need to download the following packages:
bluez-libs-2.7-1.i386.rpm
bluez-utils-2.7-1.i386.rpm
They are available from http://www.bluez.org, the official Bluez site.
Depending on your Bluetooth dongle, you might also need the bluefw package. Find out at:
http://www.holtmann.org/linux/bluetooth/devices.html.
Install the RPMs. If you have a directory containing only these packages, as root, cd to it an install with:
rpm -Uvh *
On Redhat 9 modules will be dynamically loaded by the kernel. To make the kernel aware of the new modules you must add the following lines to your
/etc/modules.conf
alias net-pf-31 bluez
alias bt-proto-0 l2cap
alias bt-proto-2 sco
alias bt-proto-3 rfcomm
alias bt-proto-4 bnep
alias tty-ldisc-15 hci_uart
Now you're almost there! Edit /etc/bluetooth/hcid.conf. Here you can change your device's friendly name. Then it's time to startup the Bluetooth service!
service bluetooth start
Check local devices with:
hcitool dev
If no devices show up, check the Bluefw section below.
Scan for nearby devices:
hcitool scan
Browse all available services on nearby devices:
sdptool browse
You now have a working minimum install of Bluez! Have fun!
If no device showed up after starting the Bluetooth service, you may have a Bluetooth dongle with an odd firmware. To get everything working the bluefw package may help.
To get the Keyspan dongle working (which I reported to http://www.holtmann.org/linux/bluetooth/devices.html)
I needed the bluefw package. You'll have to find the BUS/DEVICE number of the Bluetooth dongle. Listing all your usb-devices should give you this information:
lsusb
For the keyspan dongle I get:
Bus 004 Device 003: ID 0a5c:2033 Broadcom Corp. BCM2033 Bluetooth
Make sure the Bluetooth service is not running:
service bluetooth stop
To get it running I had to do:
bluefw usb 004/003;service bluetooth start
The reason for running both commands on one line is that the bluefw command will make the kernel dynamically load a module. If you do not start the bluetooth service within a few
seconds, the kernel will unload the module since it's not in use. If this command gives you anything near:
bluefw[23382]: Loading firmware to usb device 0a5c:2033
bluefw[23382]: FW loaded
Starting Bluetooth: [ OK ]
Then you are good to go.
hcitool dev
Should then list your Bluetooth device.
The official bluez website offers downloads and several how-to's.
http://bluez.sourceforge.net
Marcel Holtmann has a great collection of links to how-to's on his website.
http://www.holtmann.org/linux/bluetooth/
This page was last updated 14. Jul. 2006
Comments and feedback are highly appreciated.
You can reach me at: klings (at) nowires (dot) org