Two months ago, I wrote about bluetooth pairing in Ubuntu Hardy, specifically using a Nokia N95 and eeePC 900. Actually, the process I described could be applied generally with any supported bluetooth devices and Ubuntu Hardy PC.
Since installing Intrepid Ibex beta, I have been testing various functionalities for possible regression. This will help me decide whether I am ready to upgrade fully to Intrepid. In this post, I will write about bluetooth pairing in Intrepid Ibex.
Bluetooth hardware
I used the same hardware as before:
- eeePC 900 running Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex beta (fully updated as of 14th October 2008)
- Nokia N95 8GB
- Chronos USB2.0 Bluetooth V2.1 mini dongle
New bluetooth GUI in Intrepid
Plug in the bluetooth dongle. The device is recognised automatically and ready for use. An icon (the bluetooth logo) appeared in the notification area.
The bluetooth applet has been updated with a new GUI. When you left-click on the applet, you get a “Setup new device” menu.
This will launch a bluetooth pairing wizard, which I will describe later.
When you right-click on the applet, you get a another menu.
The “Preferences” dialogbox has also been through a make over.
As you can see, the GUI has been rationalised to be more consistent and easier to use (though I am sure there is still room for improvement).
Bluetooth pairing in Intrepid
It is now simpler to establish a bluetooth pairing using the “Setup new device” wizard. Left-click on the applet and select “Setup new device”.
Enabled bluetooth on your device (in my case, a Nokia N95 mobile phone), and set temporarily to “visible mode”. Then, click the “Forward” button on the wizard.
After a short period of scanning, your bluetooth device should appear in the list. Select it and click the “Forward” button.
As shown, the wizard would provide you with a random PIN code. Your device should now prompt you for this code. Once you entered the code into the device, you should get the “Success” message on the wizard. Click “Close” and the bluetooth pairing is now completed.
Before continuing any further, you could set the PC as “authorised” in your device. This would avoid the authorisation prompt whenever you make a connection in the future. It might also be advisable to set your device to “hidden mode” again.
File transfer
To transfer files to/from the device, right-click on the bluetooth applet, and select “Browse file on device”.
A simple dialogbox will appear.
Select the device, and click “Connect” button. A nautilus file manager window should appear with the device’s folders. From here, you should be able to copy file to/from the device.
You should also see an icon on the desktop for the device.
Conclusion
Previously in Hardy, I was very happy by the improvement in bluetooth support. Instead of fiddling in command line, it has became plug-n-play. Now, the GUI has become even better in Intrepid. This is surely another good reason to upgrade to Intrepid.
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