this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2024
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Bluetooth dongle working without propietary firmware (lemmy.ml)
submitted 2 weeks ago by corvus@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml
13 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I'm having trouble to find a bluetooth dongle at least 3.0 that needs no propietary firmware. It's easy to find dongles advertised as linux compatible or users that claim that an specific brand works fine in linux, but the problem is that many of them are using propietary firmware without their users being aware because their distributions have already installed propietary drivers or firmwares, or ask users to install them and they just do it. I use debian main repository (without non-free software) in which I failed to make work a couple of linux compatible advertised dongles because debian ask me to install a propietary firmware. So if anyone knows for certain that some brand that needs no such a software in linux I'll apreciate your help.

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[–] Grass@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (5 children)

what kind of computer? does it have wifi already? Its not usb but the ones I always get are the intel wifi+bt units. I bought a few wifi6e + bt5.2 recently each in different form factor for my laptop, desktop, and steam deck. apart from the deck which is soldered on and I don't have time for yet, the pcie and m.2 wifi and bt combo cards work out of the box on bazzite.

If its a laptop or desktop that has antenna on the motherboard io panel then it probably has an m.2 card that can be swapped for a bt integrated one and you could jump to wifi 6e at the same time. or wait for wifi7 and whatever bt version will exist then I guess.

[–] corvus@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It's a mini PC, no PCI or m.2 extension, it's connected to the internet through cable, but I also have WiFi dongle and a Bluetooth dongle that don't require proprietary firmware, but the Bluetooth version is only 1.1 which its limitations and I want to upgrade.

[–] Grass@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That's too bad. From what I can find online there are a bunch that have in kernel drivers but I can't personally vouch for any of them. I haven't seen any reports of linux compatible usb bt dongles above 5.0 so far but that might just be Google's fault for making internet searching garbage.

[–] Strit@lemmy.linuxuserspace.show 2 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Just to clarify. In-kernel drivers is not the same as open source firmware. Most bluetooth dongles use the in-kernel driver, but require proprietary firmware to be loaded before they work. Most of that firmware is present in the linux-firmware packages/repository, but the setup would no longer be FOSS only.

[–] Grass@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

Oh I didn't know about this. Is there an easy way to check if the current setup has proprietary firmware in use?

[–] corvus@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, that's exactly the problem, thanks for the better wording.

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