Support #810
Updated by Daniel Curtis almost 8 years ago
This is a guide on how I setup a bluetooth keyboard on Arch Linux.
h2. Prepare the Environment
* Make sure the system is up to date:
<pre>
sudo pacman -Syu
</pre>
h2. Install Bluetooth
* Install the bluez packages:
<pre>
sudo pacman -S bluez bluez-utils
</pre>
* Start and enable the bluetooth service at boot:
<pre>
sudo systemctl enable bluetooth
sudo systemctl start bluetooth
</pre>
* Use @bluetoothctl@ for the pairing process:
<pre>
bluetoothctl -a
</pre>
#* While in bluetoothctl power up the controller:
<pre>
power on
</pre>
#* Next, tell bluetoothctl to look only for keyboards, and make that the default agent:
<pre>
agent KeyboardOnly
default-agent
</pre>
#* Next, put the controller (the local dongle) in pairable mode:
<pre>
pairable on
</pre>
#* 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:
<pre>
scan on
</pre>
#* Next, actually do the pairing. The address used is the BT-MAC address of the keyboard:
<pre>
pair 01:02:03:04:05:06
</pre>
#* 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:
<pre>
trust 01:02:03:04:05:06
</pre>
#* Finally connect to the device (keyboard). Again, the BT-MAC address is the address of the keyboard device:
<pre>
connect 01:02:03:04:05:06
</pre>
#* Leave the bluetoothctl utility:
<pre>
quit
</pre>
h2. 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:
<pre>
sudo vi /etc/btkbd.conf
</pre>
#* And add the following:
<pre>
# 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"
</pre>
* Next, create a new bluetooth keyboard service file:
<pre>
sudo vi /etc/systemd/system/btkbd.service
</pre>
#* And add the following:
<pre>
[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
And then enable this service with systemd's tools.
</pre>
* Then reload systemd and enable the service at boot:
<pre>
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable btkbd
sudo systemctl start btkbd
</pre>
h2. Resources
* https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/bluetooth
* https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/bluetooth_keyboard