79 lines
3.5 KiB
HTML
79 lines
3.5 KiB
HTML
---
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layout: post
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title: "Get a Bluetooth keyboard work with Arch Linux"
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date: 2016-07-07 14:49:18 +0200
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categories: linux
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---
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<p>
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I've recently got a Rapoo E6100. This is a minimal and space saving Bluetooth
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3.0 keyboard. If you pair it with Windows 10, it will remain paired after
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reboot, giving the possibility to use it since the login screen. After
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installing the Bluetooth stack on my Arch via the <code>bluez</code> and
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<code>bluez-utils</code> packages I thought the pairing process would be as
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simple as Windows if I used the KDE GUI menus for Bluetooth management. That's
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not true. The keyboard, once paired, will reconnect automatically just after
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<code>plasmashell</code> loaded, leaving me without keyboard during the SDDM
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login screen and, of course, during a non-graphical session.
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</p>
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<p>
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As usual, i've searched help in the ArchWiki, founding
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<a href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Bluetooth_keyboard">this</a>
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article. With that, i've succesfully reconnected my Bluetooth keyboard using
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the <code>bluetoothctl</code> utility. The next step was configuring the
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service for auto connection during boot. I've created the
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<code>btkbd.conf</code> and the <code>btkbd.service</code> files, enabling the
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last one with systemd. Let's give a look to the service file:
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</p>
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<p>
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{% highlight bash linenos %} [Unit] Description=systemd Unit to automatically
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start a Bluetooth keyboard
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Documentation=https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Bluetooth_Keyboard
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Requires=dbus-org.bluez.service After=dbus-org.bluez.service
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ConditionPathExists=/etc/btkbd.conf ConditionPathExists=/usr/bin/hcitool
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ConditionPathExists=/usr/bin/hciconfig [Service] Type=oneshot
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EnvironmentFile=/etc/btkbd.conf ExecStart=/usr/bin/hciconfig ${HCIDEVICE} up #
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ignore errors on connect, spurious problems with bt? # so start next command
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with - ExecStart=-/usr/bin/hcitool cc ${BTKBDMAC} [Install]
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WantedBy=multi-user.target {% endhighlight %}
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</p>
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<p>
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Line 13 enables the Bluetooth dongle, and line 16 connects it to the keyboard
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we gave the mac address in <code>/etc/btkbd.conf</code>. This should work
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flawlessly, right? Of course it doesn't. The service starts before the
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<code>dbus-org.bluez.service</code> is loaded and fails. However, if the
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service is started manually after login the Bluetooth keyboard works. After
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hours of trying figuring out what was wrong I've almost asked for a return on
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Amazon! The last attempt I made was with sddm disabled and involved built from
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scratch service:
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</p>
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<p>
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{% highlight bash linenos %} [Unit] Description=systemd Unit to automatically
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start a Bluetooth keyboard [Service] Type=oneshot ExecStart=/bin/hciconfig
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hci0 up ExecStart=/bin/hcitool cc 00:11:22:33:44:55 [Install]
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WantedBy=bluetooth.target {% endhighlight %}
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</p>
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<p>
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This incredibly worked. I think the problem was that
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<code>multi-user.target</code> that needs to be reached earlier than
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<code>bluetooth.target</code>. I got rid of all the tidiness of the ArchWiki
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solution just to be sure that was not the problem, but I think you can use all
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of that just correcting <code>WantedBy=</code>. Currently I haven't an
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ArchWiki account nor a forum one, but as soon as I'll register I'll correct
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the article.
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</p>
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<p>
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Last thing: I discovered that my Bluetooth dongle is CSR 8510 A10 based so
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expect some ramblings about
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<a
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href="http://www.0xf8.org/2014/02/the-crux-of-finding-a-hid-proxy-capable-usb-bluetooth-adapter/"
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>hid proxy</a
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>.
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</p>
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