Getting Bluetooth to work in Arch Linux

Question

I recently installed BBQLinux on USB flash drive. The wireless is working fine, but I can't figure out how to get bluetooth to work to connect my keyboard. Here is the list of modules loaded:

mmc_block              34914  0 
cdc_acm                30362  0 
fuse                   87590  3 
ctr                    12927  3 
ccm                    17534  3 
rtsx_usb_ms            16899  0 
memstick               13696  1 rtsx_usb_ms
nls_iso8859_1          12461  1 
nls_cp437              16553  1 
vfat                   21231  1 
fat                    62032  1 vfat
ecb                    12737  1 
iTCO_wdt               12831  0 
coretemp               12820  0 
ath3k                  12685  0 
hwmon                  12930  1 coretemp
intel_rapl             17605  0 
iTCO_vendor_support    12649  1 iTCO_wdt
btusb                  30036  0 
intel_powerclamp       17122  0 
bluetooth             433830  3 ath3k,btusb
joydev                 17063  0 
mousedev               17272  0 
kvm_intel             143417  0 
arc4                   12536  2 
kvm                   435299  1 kvm_intel
r8169                  76869  0 
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     49263  1 
crct10dif_pclmul       13394  0 
ath9k                 129093  0 
crc32_pclmul           12915  0 
crc32c_intel           21809  0 
ath9k_common           26722  1 ath9k
ath9k_hw              428874  2 ath9k_common,ath9k
ghash_clmulni_intel    12978  0 
cryptd                 18553  1 ghash_clmulni_intel
ath                    26067  3 ath9k_common,ath9k,ath9k_hw
evdev                  21544  13 
mac_hid                12633  0 
mac80211              648753  1 ath9k
pcspkr                 12595  0 
psmouse               107442  0 
serio_raw              12849  0 
mii                    12675  1 r8169
snd_hda_codec_realtek    67322  1 
cfg80211              476584  4 ath,ath9k_common,ath9k,mac80211
snd_hda_codec_generic    63087  1 snd_hda_codec_realtek
i2c_i801               16965  0 
i915                 1002472  2 
rfkill_gpio            12531  0 
toshiba_bluetooth      12641  0 
snd_hda_intel          26387  3 
snd_hda_controller     26857  1 snd_hda_intel
toshiba_acpi           27156  0 
sparse_keymap          12818  1 toshiba_acpi
thermal                17559  0 
ac                     12715  0 
fan                    12726  0 
battery                17452  0 
dw_dmac                12610  0 
dw_dmac_core           21699  1 dw_dmac
spi_pxa2xx_platform    22562  0 
rfkill                 18867  5 cfg80211,toshiba_acpi,bluetooth,rfkill_gpio
8250_dw                13067  0 
snd_hda_codec         112621  5 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_controller
snd_hwdep              17244  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                88779  4 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_controller
snd_timer              26614  1 snd_pcm
wmi                    17339  1 toshiba_acpi
video                  22205  1 i915
drm_kms_helper         98881  1 i915
i2c_hid                17403  0 
intel_gtt              17848  1 i915
snd                    73436  14 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
i2c_designware_platform    12645  0 
i2c_designware_core    12813  1 i2c_designware_platform
button                 12953  1 i915
iosf_mbi               12682  1 intel_rapl
i2c_algo_bit           12744  1 i915
shpchp                 35210  0 
mei_txe                18098  0 
mei                    75468  1 mei_txe
lpc_ich                20768  0 
soundcore              13031  2 snd,snd_hda_codec
processor              27777  0 
sch_fq_codel           17343  6 
vboxvideo              12437  0 
drm                   273125  5 i915,drm_kms_helper,vboxvideo
i2c_core               50240  7 drm,i915,i2c_i801,i2c_hid,i2c_designware_platform,drm_kms_helper,i2c_algo_bit
nfs                   208487  0 
lockd                  87230  1 nfs
grace                  12586  1 lockd
sunrpc                275966  2 nfs,lockd
fscache                53701  1 nfs
ext4                  514390  1 
crc16                  12343  2 ext4,bluetooth
mbcache                17171  1 ext4
jbd2                   86379  1 ext4
rtsx_usb_sdmmc         25280  0 
rtsx_usb               17487  2 rtsx_usb_sdmmc,rtsx_usb_ms
uas                    21817  0 
usb_storage            60311  3 uas
hid_generic            12393  0 
usbhid                 48596  0 
hid                   110513  4 i2c_hid,hid_generic,usbhid
sr_mod                 21903  0 
cdrom                  47479  1 sr_mod
sd_mod                 43575  3 
atkbd                  22254  0 
libps2                 12739  2 atkbd,psmouse
xhci_pci               12675  0 
xhci_hcd              152471  1 xhci_pci
ahci                   33248  0 
libahci                27215  1 ahci
usbcore               199382  9 uas,ath3k,btusb,rtsx_usb,usb_storage,usbhid,cdc_acm,xhci_hcd,xhci_pci
libata                181461  2 ahci,libahci
usb_common             12561  1 usbcore
scsi_mod              147395  5 uas,usb_storage,libata,sd_mod,sr_mod
i8042                  18002  2 toshiba_acpi,libps2
serio                  18282  6 serio_raw,atkbd,i8042,psmouse
sdhci_acpi             12961  0 
sdhci                  39102  1 sdhci_acpi
led_class              12855  4 ath9k,toshiba_acpi,sdhci,rtsx_usb_sdmmc
mmc_core              110613  4 mmc_block,sdhci,sdhci_acpi,rtsx_usb_sdmmc

I noticed there are couple bluetooth modules loaded:

   bluetooth             433830  3 ath3k,btusb 
   toshiba_bluetooth      12641  0 
   rfkill                 18867  5 cfg80211,toshiba_acpi,bluetooth,rfkill_gpio
   crc16                  12343  2 ext4,bluetooth

In Kubuntu I had bluedevil which set everything up, on here I'm not sure where to go from here. Any suggestions please? Thanks!

Solution

If you're running Arch you'll want to install bluez and bluez-utils. Both are available from the official repositories. So just execute:

sudo pacman -S bluez bluez-utils

Then start the bluetooth service with:

sudo systemctl start bluetooth

And if you'd also like bluetooth to start at boot:

sudo systemctl enable bluetooth

Follow the full instructions on the Arch wiki here. For help using the bluetoothctl command.

Comments

[user3578847]

For whatever reason, immediately after my keyboard got paired, it gets disconnected, but I managed to solve the problem simply by connecting to it using connect my:keyboard:mac. Thank you very much!!