RPi USB Bluetooth adapters

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Working Bluetooth adapters

  • Asus USBIA-EG (paired with Asus Blutooth Keyboard/Media Center Remote)
    • Verified works error-free in Multiple Distros (Openelec, Raspbian, RaspBMC, Xbian) Latest builds eliminate text echo problems.
  • Asus BT211 (USB ID 0cf3:3005), works with firmware-atheros package.
  • Asus BT400 works out of the box (Openelec) - didn't work for me, I needed this - works out of the box (Recalbox + PS3 controller)
  • Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode) - (USB ID 0a12:0001)
  • Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle, CNet CBD-120, USB ID 0a12:0001. Tested in HCI mode with Raspbian Wheezy. Works with mouse and keyboard. Audio not tested.
    • Example of above is; TOPDIGI UA01 Bluetooth USB Dongle Plug and Play (install bluez package from std repos)
    • Tesco own brand 'Technika' Nano Bluetooth Adapter has the Cambridge Silicon Radio chipset and works fine, cost £5.97 at time of posting.
    • Hama USB Bluetooth 3.0 adapter (Class 1) ~£10 on amazon.co.uk.
    • Another sample: Product ID: 0a12:0001, pictured here: http://www.element14.com/community/message/58288
    • RiiTek RT-MWK02+ - comes with a USB Bluetooth adapter that works perfectly for both the RiiTek mini Bluetooth keyboard/mouse and other Bluetooth devices. Tested both on builtin USB and on powered USB hub. There are other RiiTek Bluetooth (and non-Bluetooth wireless) devices on the working list. Bluetooth adapter shows up in lsusb as "0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio" - this is notable as most other sources of this chipset do not seem to be available in the US.
    • ICIDU USB Bluetooth Adapter Class II (Not the mini version) - Works out of the box with Raspbian and RaspBMC. Hot-plugging causes Pi restarts, however leaving it plugged in directly into the pi works fine. Powered USB Hub is advised if hotplugging. ~5 Euro in the Netherlands.
    • Cirago BTA8000
    • Sabrent BT-USBT. CSR radio, bluetooth 2.0. Tested with Raspbian
    • Azio BTD211. CSR radio, bluetooth 2.1 + EDR. Tested with Raspbian
    • Azio BTD-V400. CSR BC8 radio, bluetooth 4.0. Tested with Raspbian using powered USB hub
    • Sitecom CN-524. CSR 8510 a10, USB ID 0a12:0001. Not out of the box on Raspbian or Lubuntu, only after changing the initial bootmode to HCI using Bluesuite on a Windows machine (http://blog.ruecker.fi/2013/10/06/adventures-in-bluetooth-4-0-part-i/).
  • D-Link DBT-120, works OK in Raspian. Tested with Sony PS3 keypad.
  • D-Link DBT-122, with ID 07d1:f101, using a Broadcom chip
  • Inateck BTA-CSR4B2 USB Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter
    • Used to connect to NAP.
  • Inateck BTA-CSR4B3 USB Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter
    • Used to connect to NAP.
  • Inateck BTA-CSR4B5 USB Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter
    • Works OK in raspbian/pimame. Tested with wiimotes.
  • IOGear GBU321 (Broadcom BCM2045 Chipset)
    • Works with Raspbian Wheezy directly attached to Raspberry Pi and via powered USB hub.
    • Note that some Raspberry Pi users are reporting problems with this device; see section below.
  • IOGear GBU521 - Bluetooth 4.0 Micro adaptor
    • works out of the box with OpenElec 3.2.2
    • works out of the box with Occidentalis v0.2
    • works out of the box with Raspbian (tested up to kernel 3.18)
    • works out of the box with OSMC 0.9.9
  • JVC KS-UBT1
    • had an old jvc car stereo with an external dongle in the shed so decided to try it
    • worked out of the box so to speak have tested with sixaxis, acer a3-a10 (serial com with DroidScript app), jawbone/ps3 headset, ebay keyboard trackpad combo, and pc(serial com through .Net
  • ORICO Bluetooth 4.0 Adapter
  • Plugable USB-BT4LE Bluetooth 4.0 USB Adapter
    • Used to connect to NAP.
  • Trust BT-2400p
    • Working well with Raspbian Wheezy directly attached to Raspberry Pi. Using with sma-Bluetooth (SMA Solar Inverter reading software). -- But a lot of people have trouble with this on the standard software so best avoided.
  • TRENDnet TBW-106UB
    • Works on 2014-01-07-wheezy-raspbian, plugged directly in Raspberry Pi, with Lenovo Thinkpad Compact Bluetooth Keyboard with TrackPoint(kt1255), (using this guide)
  • Lifetech Bluetooth BlueConnect Nano
    • Works on 2014-01-07-wheezy-raspbian, plugged directly in Raspberry Pi B+, with Mini Bluetooth Keyboard.
      • sudo apt-get install bluez blueman
      • Run the Preferences\Bluetooth manager on the GUI environment to add the BT keyboard.

Working Bluetooth/Wifi Combo adapters

  • PLANEX 2 in 1 Micro Size USB Bluetooth3.0 WiFi Combo Adapter - Model number: BT-Micro3H2X[1]
  • Cirago Bluetooth 3.0 High Speed & Wi-Fi Combo USB Mini Adapter, Class 2 (BTA7300)[2]
  • Lindy USB Bluetooth 3.0 HS + WLAN Adapter, Class 2 (Lindy No.52213)[3] [4]

Problem Bluetooth adapters

  • Belkin
    • Belkin F8T017. Tested with Raspbian 2012-07-15 and bluez installed with apt-get. When dongle is inserted into Pluscom powered USB hub, my remote PuTTY session scrolls incredibly slowly (testing with ls -R to generate text). Suspect network issue. Lots of errors on dmesg too. Raspberry Pi itself is responsive when using directly. On removal of the device everything goes back to normal.
  • Generic
    • Bluetooth "3.0" Dongle. Doesn't work reliably - eg. after some time it will hang and the device will need to be reset using fcntl. The device id is 1131:1004 Integrated System Solution Corp. Bluetooth Device.
    • Super Mini Bluetooth 2.0 Dongle. The device is recognized and after installing bluez-firmware you can bring it up with hcitool hci0 up. However whenever you try to pair with any device it will cause kernel panic and lock up the system. Confirmed on Raspbian, RaspBMC. The device is a counterfeit Cambridge Silicon Radio device, probably with several bugs in it causing lockups.
  • Broadcom chipset Based Devices, e.g. BCM92045B3
    • This is includes the IOGear GBU321 (listed above as working) among others. The device will show up via hciconfig, but reports as "down". The device will timeout after attempting to mount via hciconfig hci0 up". Workarounds linked below have worked for some, but are spotty at best, and may cause side effects:
    • Bluetooth with Broadcom chip a no go?,
    • Bluetooth TX Timeout Issue,
    • Bluetooth dongle only works on usb 1.0 ....
    • The best solution for these devices seems to be to return them or throw them away, and go with the ones with a genuine Cambridge Silicon Radio chipset.

References