GNet Solutions » GNU/Linux Administration

This is a guide on how I setup a bluetooth keyboard on Arch Linux.

Prepare the Environment¶

• Make sure the system is up to date:
  

  sudo pacman -Syu
  

Install Bluetooth¶

• Install the bluez packages:
  

  sudo pacman -S bluez bluez-utils
  

• Start and enable the bluetooth service at boot:
  

  sudo systemctl enable bluetooth
  sudo systemctl start bluetooth
  

• Use bluetoothctl for the pairing process:
  

  bluetoothctl -a
  

  • While in bluetoothctl power up the controller:
    

    power on
    

  • Next, tell bluetoothctl to look only for keyboards, and make that the default agent:
    

    agent KeyboardOnly
    default-agent
    

  • Next, put the controller (the local dongle) in pairable mode:
    

    pairable on
    

  • Next, put the keyboard in an active mode, where it is discoverable, i.e. pairable.
  • Then, let the controller scan the BT frequencies for a suitable device:
    

    scan on
    

  • Next, actually do the pairing. The address used is the BT-MAC address of the keyboard:
    

    pair 01:02:03:04:05:06
    

  • Next, make this a trusted device (this allows the device to establish the connection on itself). Again, the BT-MAC address is the address of the keyboard device:
    

    trust 01:02:03:04:05:06
    

  • Finally connect to the device (keyboard). Again, the BT-MAC address is the address of the keyboard device:
    

    connect 01:02:03:04:05:06
    

  • Leave the bluetoothctl utility:
    

    quit
    

Automatically enabling a Bluetooth Keyboard¶

NOTE: Remember that you have to pair and trust your device in bluetoothctl to cause autoconnect.

Custom systemd service file:

• Create a bluetooth keyboard config file:
  

  sudo vi /etc/btkbd.conf
  

  • And add the following:
    

    # Config file for btkbd.service
    # change when required (e.g. keyboard hardware changes, more hci devices are connected)
    BTKBDMAC = "01:02:03:04:05:06" 
    HCIDEVICE = "hci0" 
    

• Next, create a new bluetooth keyboard service file:
  

  sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/btkbd.service
  

  • And add the following:
    

    [Unit]
    Description=systemd Unit to automatically start a Bluetooth keyboard
    Documentation=https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Bluetooth_Keyboard
    Requires=dbus-org.bluez.service
    After=dbus-bluez.org.service
    ConditionPathExists=/etc/btkbd.conf
    ConditionPathExists=/usr/bin/hcitool
    ConditionPathExists=/usr/bin/hciconfig
    
    [Service]
    Type=oneshot
    EnvironmentFile=/etc/btkbd.conf
    ExecStart=
    ExecStart=/usr/bin/hciconfig ${HCIDEVICE} up
    # ignore errors on connect, spurious problems with bt? so start next command with -
    ExecStart=-/usr/bin/hcitool cc ${BTKBDMAC}
    
    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target
    

• Then reload systemd and enable the service at boot:
  

  sudo systemctl daemon-reload
  sudo systemctl enable btkbd
  sudo systemctl start btkbd
  

Resources¶

• https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/bluetooth
• https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/bluetooth_keyboard