Impossible to run bluez5/pulseaudio audio (bluetooth speakr)

[arnolap]

Hi all,
I now bluetooth on linux is always a complex topic, but I've spend more than 20 hours trying to make bluetooth audio work on my goflex net, so far no good.
I'm not a specialist of linux, so please excuse me if I made some beginner's mistakes.

Hardware
- Goflex net
- usb hub
- bluetooth dongle : Plugable USB Bluetooth 4.0 (Broadcom BCM20702 chipset)
- Audio : card 0: M2496 [Musical Fidelity V-DAC 24/96], device 0: USB Audio subdevice #0 at usb-orion-ehci.0-1.2, full speed)
- Bluetooth speaker : RYGHT Bt mictro speaker (working well with macbook source, for example).

Os
- 3.12.8-1-ARCH

Software
- Packages:
-- nss-mdns
-- avahi
-- dbus
-- alsa-utils
-- mpd
-- shairport
-- alsa
-- alsa-plugins

- bluez
- bluez-utils

Steps:
- aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Left.wav => works fine.
- mpd works fine
- bluetoothctl :
* controller ok
* device detected
* device paired
* device connected

* pacmd list
sinks:
bluez_sink.00_25_DB_89_89_66/#1: RYGHT Bt
sources:
bluez_sink.00_25_DB_89_89_66.monitor/#1: Monitor of RYGHT Bt

* etc/asound.conf
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'pcm.!default {
type pulse
fallback "sysdefault"
hint {
show on
description "HW Default ALSA Output"
}
}


pcm.VDAC {
type hw
card 0
device 0
hint {
show on
description "HW Default ALSA Output"
}
}

pcm.VDAC_CD {
type plug
slave {
pcm "plughw:0,0"
format S16_LE
}
}

pcm.bluetooth {
type plug
slave {
pcm {
type bluetooth
device 00:25:DB:89:89:66
profile "voice"
}
}
hint {
show on
description "BT Headset"
}
}')

but :
aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Left.wav -D bluetooth
ALSA lib dlmisc.c:252:(snd1_dlobj_cache_get) Cannot open shared library /usr/lib/alsa-lib/libasound_module_pcm_bluetooth.so
aplay: main:722: audio open error: No such device or address

and indeed, there are no module /usr/lib/alsa-lib/libasound_module_pcm_bluetooth.so
and I can't find any package matching this.

I feel I'm close to having something working, but I can"t understand what's happening :
I was supposing PA was transmitting only audio signal to alsa device, so I can't understand why alsa is looking for a bluetooth module (that doesn't exist)

From what I understand, I reckon pulseaudio needs to be installed to work with bluez5, making alsa working standalone doen't seems to be possible .
Still, I'm stucked, and I've read each and every internet thread and help page regarding this topic, I've exhausted all the options,
I really hope you can help !

thx a lot

- Arno

[Daimusou]

I am in the same boat trying to get this working on both x86 and ARM.

I have learned from the bluez-users IRC channel that nobody stepped forward to support the Alsa/Bluetooth interface for the latest bluez revisions, so currently Pulseaudio is the only way to proceed.

This is not limited to the ARM version.

[arnolap]

Well, I have nothing against pulseaudio.. if it works ! which is not the case for me.
Any clue would be welcome

thx for the infos, will cross-post on archlinux forums as soon as they fix their registration captcha

- Arno

[pepedog]

Don't think you need pa
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'pcm.!default {
type plug
slave.pcm "bluetooth"
}

ctl.mixer0 {
type hw
card 0
}

pcm.bluetooth {
type bluetooth
device "00:16:8D:01:63:B2"
profile "auto"
}')

[arnolap]

well, I'd wish so, it would be less clutter on system,
but each and every thread on the topic I'm reading tend to converge on the fact that bluez5 needs pulseaudio, and won't work with alsa alone.

I've tried your config,
made sure it was reloaded,
and had same error :

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'aplay /usr/share/sounds/alsa/Front_Left.wav -D bluetooth

ALSA lib dlmisc.c:252:(snd1_dlobj_cache_get) Cannot open shared library /usr/lib/alsalib/libasound_module_pcm_bluetooth.so
aplay: main:722: audio open error: No such device or address
')

[Daimusou]

I have reached the promised land - pulseaudio over bluetooth on Arch ARM. Even the remote server part.
Now to one at a time remove the various things I changed to see which ones are actually essential
and not red herrings, before I write it up. After doing a complete backup of course.

At last my BeagleBone can start doing useful work.

[pepedog]

Look forward to that, tried on utilite, modules loaded, hci0 is up, bluetoothd fails unable to connect to manager

[arnolap]

@Daimusou, that's great news, can't wait to have your final report,
you would be our shepherd in this bluez desert !

[Daimusou]

My long article on my experiences getting this to work is in the ArchLinux Newbie Corner forum section. I have tested this on both x86_64 and ARMv7 architectures, using both a headset and a speaker.

[ciphercast]

Thanks for the writeup! I'm just about to tackle this project, and your detailed post makes this much easier!