To make my PC talk over bluetooth I need a wee USB adapter, aka ‘dongle’. It sits on a USB port and does its job in utter silence. Until it just stops working. Usually without any prior warning, and it only happens on my computer, not on the other ones in our house. Well, time to replace.
First: buy a new one. This time I got me a LogiLink, but I have had Belkin, Trust or Sitecom thingies before. They are all the same. Now it should simply be a matter of plug ’n play, right? Well, that depends. Let me explain how to do that on a Windows machine, or on a Linux box.
Windows installation
- Warning! DO NOT insert your dongle before you installed the software.
- First insert the CD into your CDROM drive.
- Click ‘Utility installation’ and go through 7 dialog windows. Of course you first agree to the manufacturer’s EULA.
- Then restart your computer.
- Now insert your bluetooth adapter. Windows will automatically find this new hardware.
- Wait until the new hardware has been installed.
- Now start the bluetooth utility by double-clicking the icon on your desktop.
- The bluetooth utility will automatically find any connected bluetooth devices. Follow the steps through the wizard to pair and connect.
- And there you go!
Linux installation
- Insert your bluetooth adapter.
- Open your bluetooth manager to pair the device. Set it as ’trusted’, so next time it will connect automatically.
- Open you file manager and go to the connected device to send or receive files; open your media player to access music or video; plug in & use your headset; etc.
- That’s it!
Conclusion
Some big software companies are able to make big things out of basically tiny devices.
Linux has just built in all necessary USB and bluetooth support into its kernel, and also installs the utilities you need by default.
Now, which system has the real bluetooth simplicity?