Post #2588609

2026-05-13 22:04 UTC

More a general musing, but I&#39;ll take specific advice too. Why is Bluetooth such a minefield on #Linux.? I&#39;ve had no issues with mice, and headphones (actually not strictly true, was a little picky on Ubuntu when I first had it, but not too bad), but anything outside of headphones and mice, it&#39;s an absolute crapshoot. I have just rearranged my set up and have Adam Audio Dx3s into a topping DAC. DAC goes usb in to my desktop, and is fine, Want to BT to my linux laptop when I&#39;m at the desk. And it connected once, but then when I came back, it&#39;s never worked again. on #fedora (44), but issue has been same on previous. And I&#39;ve read many an account of BT struggles. Seems a real pain point and I don&#39;t get it.

Replies (4)

@davidmaddock@aus.social 2026-05-15 23:19

An update: Well, different day and it just worked. So yesterday the DAC showed up in the BT GUI, connected, sound working. Quickly made sure that all the background default/trust etc stuff were all on and it's been 100% fine ever since. :shruggingteeth: I also looked up BlueZ on github, and it appears its 1 dude. So on #Linux brand.

Open ##2917559
@buckfiftyseven@mastodon.social 2026-05-13 22:13

@davidmaddock@aus.social I don't know, and would love to hear from someone who has seen the kernel discussion, but I have I guess: It's like WiFi but even worse, many many BT chips, but none supporting Linux directly, and so everything has to be reverse engineered.

Open ##2917560
@brent_bartlett@mas.to 2026-05-13 23:13

@davidmaddock@aus.social My earbuds didn't work until I did some terminal jiujitsu. Once I get home, I can see if I have notes about what I did

Open ##2917561
@brent_bartlett@mas.to 2026-05-18 11:36

@davidmaddock@aus.social Sorry, I totally spaced on this! Okay, I found what I did. First, make sure that your Bluetooth service is running with `sudo systemctl start bluetooth`. Then, do `sudo bluetoothctl`. Once `bluetoothctl` starts running, enter `power on`. Then scan for devices with `scan on`. Put the device you want to pair into pairing mode. You should see the device show up with its MAC address. When you do, copy down the MAC address, then enter the `pair` command with the MAC address.

Open ##2917562