Need help choosing Bluetooth card for linux mint desktop pc

[redx87]

Hello,
I'm currently using an Asus Bluetooth Adapter usb dongle on my Linux Mint 18.1 desktop pc, and although it does work ok, and Linux finds the adapter and connects my Bose QC35ii headphones ok, the bluetooth signal randomly drops out and the O/S can't find the adapter any more. I have to keep doing a remove and re-install of the adapter in Linux to get it working again.

I was thinking perhaps a dedicated internal Bluetooth card might work better than a usb dongle, but I am limited to where I can fit it in my computer. I have a couple of spare pci-e x1 slots available on my motherboard but when I did a search for Bluetooth pci-e x1 cards there were too many to choose from, and most seem to be a dual setup with Bluetooth and Wireless.

My motherboard is a Gigabyte (LGA1156 socket) GA-P55-USB3 with Intel Core I7 Processor.

So I guess my question is - Which Bluetooth pci-e x1 card should I buy that would work best with Linux Mint?

I've searched the Mint forum for Bluetooth information but can't find anything that helps, so I
really would appreciate some advice on this because I can't afford to waste money on the wrong card.

Thanks.

[ugly]

I've tried a few different USB dongles and they all kind of suck.

I was actually curious about the Asus dongle. Could you do me a favour and provide the output of:

Code: Select all

hciconfig -a

and:

Code: Select all

lsusb | grep -i 'blue'

In my experience, dongles that use the Broadcom chipset don't work well. They have poor range, and the audio often goes out of sync.

I have a USB dongle that uses the Cambridge Silicon Radio chipset and for audio that one is quite reliable, and would recommend it if you're only doing audio. Unfortunately, for me, it has trouble connecting with the XBox One S bluetooth gamepad (it works after connecting, but it is difficult to connect in the first place). The Broadcom controller connects to the XBox gamepad, but is laggy and drops some inputs.

I've been considering getting an internal card too. It looks like they are usually PCIe cards that combine Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. But the Bluetooth functionality connects via a USB header on your motherboard. So I'm a bit hesitant to try one because if the problem really isn't with the dongles, and possibly has to do with power coming from USB, then if the internal card connects to USB, I might have the same issues.

Most of the bluetooth-only cards look like they connect using Mini-PCIe, which I don't have on my motherboard. There is a PCIe adapter, but that's another $30-$40. It seems like Intel makes most of the Mini-PCIe cards. I have a Zotac ZBOX that has one of the Intel mini-PCIe cards, but I haven't tested it thoroughly to see if it works better than the dongles.

[redx87]

Hi ugly, thanks for the reply, and information.

Here is the result of the commands you posted -

xxxxxx@xxxxxx ~ $ hciconfig -a
hci0: Type: BR/EDR Bus: USB
BD Address: 5C:F3:70:90:9C:14 ACL MTU: 1021:8 SCO MTU: 64:1
UP RUNNING PSCAN ISCAN
RX bytes:1270182 acl:119 sco:0 events:181077 errors:0
TX bytes:306810037 acl:359364 sco:1 commands:593 errors:0
Features: 0xbf 0xfe 0xcf 0xfe 0xdb 0xff 0x7b 0x87
Packet type: DM1 DM3 DM5 DH1 DH3 DH5 HV1 HV2 HV3
Link policy: RSWITCH SNIFF
Link mode: SLAVE ACCEPT
Name: 'xxxxxxx'
Class: 0x1c0104
Service Classes: Rendering, Capturing, Object Transfer
Device Class: Computer, Desktop workstation
HCI Version: 4.0 (0x6) Revision: 0x1000
LMP Version: 4.0 (0x6) Subversion: 0x220e
Manufacturer: Broadcom Corporation (15)
xxxxxx@xxxxxx ~ $ lsusb | grep -i 'blue'
Bus 007 Device 003: ID 0b05:17cb ASUSTek Computer, Inc. Broadcom BCM20702A0 Bluetooth

I'd be interested to know what these command result tell you because not being a tech wizard I don't understand much of it.

I'm using an Asus USB BT-400 bluetooth dongle. It's ok in Linux but as I said my pc randomly loses sight of the dongle. Not frequently, but enough to be annoying.

I only need the Bluetooth to run my Bose qc35ii headphones . The headphones can use voice commands and that kind of thing but I only need them for audio, for when watching movies and youtube videos etc.

Cheers.

[redx87]

In my experience, dongles that use the Broadcom chipset don't work well............ and the audio often goes out of sync.

Yes, this is something I noticed with my Asus dongle when streaming movies, the audio seems to go way out of synch after pausing the movie a few times.

[Kendoori]

I have had good luck with the Sennheiser BTD 800. It's expensive but in my experience very high quality and rock solid on Mint 19.1 but also Windows 10. I didn't need any special drivers for Mint.

[ugly]

I'd be interested to know what these command result tell you because not being a tech wizard I don't understand much of it.

I'm using an Asus USB BT-400 bluetooth dongle. It's ok in Linux but as I said my pc randomly loses sight of the dongle. Not frequently, but enough to be annoying.

I only need the Bluetooth to run my Bose qc35ii headphones . The headphones can use voice commands and that kind of thing but I only need them for audio, for when watching movies and youtube videos etc.

Cheers.

Thanks. There are all kinds of different brands of USB Bluetooth dongles (usually brands nobody has ever heard of). But what really makes the dongle work is the chipset it is using. ASUS is one of the few brand names that I've heard of, so I wanted to see what chipset it is using.

In particular, I wanted to see this:

xxxxxx@xxxxxx ~ $ lsusb | grep -i 'blue'
Bus 007 Device 003: ID 0b05:17cb ASUSTek Computer, Inc. Broadcom BCM20702A0 Bluetooth

I have this USB dongle Plugable USB Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy Micro Adapter (Amazon link)
Notice that the output of the same commands is nearly identical:

Code: Select all

	BD Address: 5C:F3:70:8C:99:37  ACL MTU: 1021:8  SCO MTU: 64:1
	UP RUNNING 
	RX bytes:5454 acl:60 sco:0 events:161 errors:0
	TX bytes:4595 acl:41 sco:0 commands:97 errors:0
	Features: 0xbf 0xfe 0xcf 0xfe 0xdb 0xff 0x7b 0x87
	Packet type: DM1 DM3 DM5 DH1 DH3 DH5 HV1 HV2 HV3 
	Link policy: RSWITCH SNIFF 
	Link mode: SLAVE ACCEPT 
	Name: xxxxxxx
	Class: 0x1c0104
	Service Classes: Rendering, Capturing, Object Transfer
	Device Class: Computer, Desktop workstation
	HCI Version: 4.0 (0x6)  Revision: 0x1000
	LMP Version: 4.0 (0x6)  Subversion: 0x220e
	Manufacturer: Broadcom Corporation (15)

Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0a5c:21e8 Broadcom Corp. BCM20702A0 Bluetooth 4.0

So, your ASUS Bluetooth dongle uses the same Bluetooth chipset as the Plugable one I have. And, as you've discovered, it kind of works like shit.

So, one alternate you can try is this USB dongle: Panda Bluetooth 4.0 USB Nano Adapter (Amazon Link)
The same commands with that dongle gives me:

Code: Select all

        Type: Primary  Bus: USB
	BD Address: 00:1A:7D:DA:71:11  ACL MTU: 310:10  SCO MTU: 64:8
	UP RUNNING PSCAN ISCAN 
	RX bytes:1810249 acl:90 sco:0 events:258312 errors:0
	TX bytes:115115063 acl:394622 sco:0 commands:64 errors:0
	Features: 0xff 0xff 0x8f 0xfe 0xdb 0xff 0x5b 0x87
	Packet type: DM1 DM3 DM5 DH1 DH3 DH5 HV1 HV2 HV3 
	Link policy: RSWITCH HOLD SNIFF PARK 
	Link mode: SLAVE ACCEPT 
	Name: xxxxxx
	Class: 0x1c0104
	Service Classes: Rendering, Capturing, Object Transfer
	Device Class: Computer, Desktop workstation
	HCI Version: 4.0 (0x6)  Revision: 0x22bb
	LMP Version: 4.0 (0x6)  Subversion: 0x22bb
	Manufacturer: Cambridge Silicon Radio (10)
	
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode)

You can see that this one uses a Cambridge Silicon Radio chipset.

In my experience, for audio, it's been rock solid. Connects well, has much better range, and the audio stays in sync. The only issue I've had is connecting my XBox One S controller, but that might be a different issue on my end.

But I'd be interested to hear other people's suggestions for internal cards.

[phd21]

Hi redx87,

I just read your post and the good replies to it. Here are my thoughts on this as well.

My low-cost generic USB Bluetooth "csr 4.0" dongle from Amazon.com works great and also uses the "Cambridge Silicon Radio" chipset (csr).

If I were to get a new USB Bluetooth "csr 4.0" dongle adapter I would go with 4.1 (401), or newer (higher) which have been improved (with aptx). Make sure it works with Linux though like CSR v4.0 does. I just read something that recommends using a USB 2 port over USB 3 port as well.

Amazon.com: DAYKIT Mini USB Bluetooth CSR 4.0 Dual Mode Adapter Dongle for Windows 10 8 7 Vista XP 32/64 Bit Raspberry Pi Linux Black: Electronics $7us
https://www.amazon.com/Daykit-Bluetooth ... pter+linux

Amazon.com: usb bluetooth adapter linux: Electronics
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss ... pter+linux

Amazon.com: usb bluetooth adapter 4.2 linux: Electronics
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss ... +4.2+linux

FYI: for anyone with advanced Bluetooth aptX require ffmpeg v4 as well.

What’s the Difference Between Bluetooth A2DP and aptX?
https://www.howtogeek.com/338750/whats- ... -and-aptx/

Better Bluetooth sound quality on Linux | Brno hat
https://eischmann.wordpress.com/2019/02 ... -on-linux/

*** Packages · EHfive/pulseaudio-modules-bt Wiki - install newer Bluetooth with ffmpeg v4
https://github.com/EHfive/pulseaudio-mo ... i/Packages



Hope this helps ...

[redx87]

Many thanks to everyone for the replies and information. I decided to go with ugly's suggestion and get myself a Panda Bluetooth 4.0 USB Nano Adapter, but it seems Amazon won't post it from the US to Australia for some reason, and I can't find any of that brand locally. I'll have to do a bit of hunting around to see if I can come up with an alternative brand using the Cambridge Silicon Radio chipset.

The Senheiser dongle sounds like the 'bee's knees' but it's a bit to costly for my liking.

Thanks again for all the help in this matter.

Cheers.

[frostymusic]

Hello,

I caught your discussion on the Bluetooth dongle. I bought 2 Kinovo brand, one for Windows 10 machine, the other for Linux Mint 19.1 machine. I found their distance to devices such as my sound bar and Bluetooth speaker worked better with no dropouts.

https://www.kinivo.com/collections/acce ... -8-7-vista

[redx87]

Hi frostymusic,

Apparently your Kinovo dongle uses the same Broadcom chipset as my Asus BT400 which is proving to be a problem. I'll try one with a csr chipset as suggested and see how that goes, as soon as I can hold of get one.

Thanks for your help anyway.

[frostymusic]

Cheers then!