Bluetooth Connections

Configure Bluetooth

Before attempting to use Bluetooth, ensure that the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth switch is set to the ON position on the board.

To enable Bluetooth you must first make sure the relevant module is loaded:

modprobe rsi_sdio

It should then be possible to query the Bluetooth device:

hcitool dev

This should produce output like this:

Devices:
        hci0    88:DA:1A:9E:BA:95

The exact device address will be different for your board.

Finding Another Device

Once you have configured Bluetooth for the development board, you can check that it can be paired with other devices and used for data transfer with the following instructions.

Ensure that the Wi-Fi/Bluetooth switch is set to the ON position on the board.

From a workstation, log in to the development board using either ssh or picocom. Ensure that the Bluetooth module is enabled then enter the following command:

purism@pureos:~$ sudo bluetoothctl

You should see output like this:

Agent registered
[bluetooth]

At the prompt, enter this command to start scanning for devices:

[bluetooth]# scan on

You should see a Discovery started message and a list of devices should begin to appear. When the device you want to connect to, stop the scan with this command:

[bluetooth]# scan off

Make a note of the address of the device you want to access. This takes the form of six comma-separated hexadecimal numbers, such as 88:DA:1A:9E:BA:95.

Pairing with a Device

At the prompt, initiate a pairing request with the device, replacing 88:DA:1A:9E:BA:95 with the address you want to use:

[bluetooth]# pair 88:DA:1A:9E:BA:95

You should see output like this:

Attempting to pair with 88:DA:1A:9E:BA:95
[CHG] Device 88:DA:1A:9E:BA:95 Connected: yes
Request confirmation
[agent] Confirm passkey 936222 (yes/no):

The last line is a question that requires you to type yes or no to verify that the passkey shown has been presented to you by the other device. This passkey will be different to the one you see. The other device will also expect you to confirm the pairing request, typically using the notification it used to present the passkey.

If the passkey is the same then confirm the pairing request on the other device and enter yes at the prompt. Otherwise enter no.

If you completed the pairing request, you should see this output:

Pairing successful

You can test this by using the paired-devices command at the prompt.

It should now be possible to use the device for data transfers without needing to enter a passkey again for the current session. You can exit the tool by entering this command:

[bluetooth]# quit

When you have finished with the data connection, start bluetoothctl again and unpair the device:

[bluetooth]# remove 88:DA:1A:9E:BA:95

You should see the following output:

Device has been removed

If you want to access the device again you will need to perform another pairing request.