this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2023
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44
Bluetooth dongle recommendation (linux.community)
submitted 11 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
20 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Can you recommend a Bluetooth dongle that support s version 5.3, not too terribly expensive and available in Europe? Preferably works out of the box on Ubuntu LTS, but compiling my own kernel is also acceptable.

For context my last attempt ended with one that only works with Windows 10, when no other Bluetooth receiver is connected. Cherry on top it needs troubleshooting wizard after each reboot.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Actually I haven't been able to get Bluetooth 5 dongles to work on Linux. I only have success with Bluetooth 4 dongles.

What are you going to use the Bluetooth dongle for? Connecting Bluetooth peripherals, or headphones? If it's exclusively for Bluetooth headphones, using a Bluetooth audio dongle (which is detected as a USB audio device in Linux) works much better than using the Bluetooth 4.0 usb dongle for audio purpose because you can use low latency aptx codex and Bluetooth 5 without messing with random drivers from some github repos

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

This is super helpful, thanks!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Neat, didn't think of that!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Would this give latency comparable to wired?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

No but it's way better than the standard SBC codex. The latency is supposed to be ~32ms: https://soundsightheadphones.com/guides/bluetooth-5-0-codecs-and-other-bluetooth-formats/

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Thanks !

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

The Asus BT500 dongle works quite well in my experience as long as you're running a kernel from the last 1-2 years, it's only BT 5.0 though.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I would like to connect Bluetooth headphones and a DualShock controller to my PC for gaming purposes. Cables are annoying

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I'm pretty sure you can use aptx codecs using a Bluetooth 4.0 dongle and pipewire/bluez5. Just be aware when using them for gaming, if the game is cpu-bound and starved the system out of CPU time, the bluetooth audio might start to stutter. A Bluetooth audio dongle never stutter because they have their own independent Bluetooth stack, but they're about 10x more expensive than a Bluetooth 4.0 dongle (~$50) and can only be used for audio only.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Maybe check here: https://linux-hardware.org/

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

This seems like a good resource for main components, I’ll definitely use it when I upgrade. Seems like for dongles I should need to know the chipset which is not listed on store pages.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

I don't know what's available in Europe, but I've used Pluggable and StarTech dongles. They both work fine with Ubuntu without configuration. One of them is a Class 1 device, the other one Class 2. The Class 1 receiver has much better range and better connection stability. So the only useful thing I have to say is - look for a Class 1 receiver if you want the best range possible.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Does your laptop have a replaceable wireless card by chance? Could get a combo board with wifi and bluetooth like the intel ax series of boards if you can. I use a m.2 ax200 in my desktop.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (2 children)

It’s a desktop and it’s too old to have m.2. However thanks for the suggestion, it’s something I’ll consider when I upgrade

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

If your system has a free PCIe slot you should be able to find a wifi card that will work. I personally am using an intel wifi board for bluetooth and have not had any problems with bluetooth. Their driver seems to be really stable on linux and in kernel and should be stable on windows as well. I got my m.2 card for about $20(usd) and wouldn’t expect that big of a difference for a standard PCIe card.

Good luck in whatever you end up doing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I believe there are m.2 to pcie adapter boards. It'll feel weird putting laptop components in a desktop, but the important thing will be that it works.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

You know what is weird selling desktop components which are laptop components with an adapter https://www.asus.com/networking-iot-servers/adapters/all-series/pce-ax1800/

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I can really recommend those cards! They come in several sizes for laptop and desktop. I am not sure about USB. Just make sure you get the regular PCIe version and not the CNVio version (unless you have a compatible Intel Mainboard and somewhat recent processor). They differ in the naming, e.g. AX210/AX211 if I remember that right.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

It seems that BT 5.3 in USB format is a challenge to find, let alone support under Linux. If 5.0 is acceptable, the TP Link UB500 uses an RTL8761B chipset which has been supported since around kernel 5.16.

I have a few UB500 and UB400 adapters and both have worked OOTB without issue under Fedora.