Features/BluetoothFedora9

Bluetooth enhancements (Fedora 9)

Summary

Bluetooth enhancements support the following use cases. Additional use cases can be found on O'Reilly's website .

Owner

• Name: BastienNocera

Current status

• Targeted release: Fedora 9
• Last updated: 2008-03-26
• Percentage of completion: 100%

Those enhancements are Fedora 9 specific. See the master page for more details on the future plans for Bluetooth support.

Usage cases/rationale, Scope and Implementation details

Sending files to a mobile phone/Palm

• Earl downloaded a ringtone on a website, and wants to use it as the default ring on his mobile.
• Catalina received an e-mail from her boyfriend with a picture attachment and wants to set the background picture on her phone.
• Darnell browsed the web to find a map of that office he has an appointment at and wants to send the map to his Palm.

Possible solutions:

• gnome-obex-send (needs to use services exported by bluez's HCID, needs integration in bluez-gnome )
• nautilus-sendto (needs GUI love)
• an evolution extension that would allow sending some (restricted) file types to remote devices
• an epiphany/firefox extension or a screenshooter enhancement to allow image web clippings

Pre-Fedora 9 solution: gnome-obex-send

gnome-obex-send was deprecated in favour of bluez-gnome's bluetooth-sendto.

Receiving files from remote Bluetooth devices

• Randy received some funny movie from his friend on his mobile and wants to watch it on his computer.
• Somebody sent Darnel a vCard via Bluetooth, and he wants to have it added to his address book automatically

Possible solutions:

• gnome-obex-server (needs to use services exported by bluez's HCID, needs integration in bluez-gnome )
• Evolution-provided vCard importer

Pre-Fedora 9 solution: gnome-obex-server (ObexPush, none for ObexFTP)

gnome-user-share 0.22 now has ObexFTP and ObexPush support. gnome-obex-server is deprecated.

Browsing files on a remote device

• Catalina took loads of pictures with her mobile phone on an evening out, and wants to see the pictures on her computer, removing the bad-looking ones, and uploading the ones she likes on flickr.

Possible solutions:

• Browse device menu item is in Fedora 8

Pre-Fedora 9 solution: gnome-vfs2-obexftp

Rawhide's nautilus uses GVFS, support is in gvfs.

PIM (appointments, contacts) synchronisation (Palm)

• Darnell's Palm has all his details, but he wants to synchronise the data with his computer and phones, in case he loses one of them while travelling.

Possible solutions:

• gnome-pilot

Pre-Fedora 9 solution: None

gnome-pilot 2.0.16 has Bluetooth synchronisation builtin.

Documentation

This is documentation for features/use cases where the process differs from previous releases.

Browsing files on a remote device

Prerequisites:

• gnome-vfs2-obexftp (Fedora 8) or gvfs 0.1.9 (Fedora 9)
• nautilus
• bluez-gnome

In your panel, right-click on the Bluetooth icon, and select the Browse device... menu item. This will bring up a list of devices in the vicinity, as well as known devices. Select the one you want to browse, and click Connect.

Sending files via Obex Push

Prerequisites:

• bluez-gnome
• nautilus-sendto

Right-click on a file or files in nautilus and click "Send to...", and select a destination device.

Receiving/Sharing files via ObexFTP and ObexPush

Prerequisites:

• gnome-user-share

Select Share Public files over Bluetooth (ObexFTP) or Receive files in Downloads folder over Bluetooth (ObexPush) in the Personal File Sharing preferences.

PIM (appointments, contacts) synchronisation (Palm only)

Prerequisites:

• gnome-pilot 2.0.16 or newer

To setup your Palm/PC synchronisation: 1. Setup your PC as the BT hotsync device on your Palm: Bluetooth → Setup Devices → PC Setup → Bluetooth Hotsync, and select your computer in the list (make sure it's made visible in the Bluetooth applet's preferences)

1. Add the Palm to the gnome-pilot setup: Preferences → Hardware → PalmOS Devices and enable some of the conduits

1. Ready to Sync! Go to Hotsync on the Palm, select your computer in the drop-down, and click the sync icon.

You can use a tool like BTSync to automate synchronisation.

Remote controls (PS3 Blu-Ray remote)

Prerequisites:

• bluez-utils 3.29

To use the remote control with your computer: 1. Make the remote discoverable by pressing the Enter and Start buttons at the same time 1. Right-click on the Bluetooth icon in your panel and select Preferences. In the Services tab, select the input service, and make sure it is started. Click on Add below. Select the device you want to add, and click Connect.

Release Notes

The bluetooth feature in Fedora 9 has several enhancements specific to this release. The future of this feature is covered with greater detail at:

Features/Bluetooth

File sending to a Bluetooth device is now handled with the bluetooth-sendto))) program from the bluez-gnome package, which replaces gnome-obex-send. Send a file in Nautilus from the Send to... function in the right-click context menu.

Receiving files from a Bluetooth device is now included in gnome-user-share, which has ObexFTP and ObexPush support built-in. Share files via System > Preferences > Internet and Network > Personal File Sharing > Share Public files over Bluetooth (ObexFTP support), or receive files using ObexPush with Personal File Sharing > Receive files in Downloads folter over Bluetooth.

Synchronizing a Bluetooth Palm device with Evolution is done using gnome-pilot

Files on the remote Bluetooth device can be viewed directly in Nautilus through GVFS, which supports Bluetooth devices. Browsing of Bluetooth devices is done via the right-click context menu from the Bluetooth icon on the desktop panel.

PS3 Blu-ray remotes are also supported in the same manner as other Bluetooth input devices.

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