4 ms·

I’ve had similar experiences across multiple different Bluetooth chipsets in several different motherboards. I’ve never been able to get AirPods to work and it

I’ve had similar experiences across multiple different Bluetooth chipsets in several different motherboards. I’ve never been able to get AirPods to work and it took several hours and some custom code to get my Bose headphones to work. It’s not what I would consider to be even close to similar to macOS/Windows

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
istingray 5y ago
^ this. Custom code to get headphones to work is exactly the type of thing that is only viable for developers. Linux needs to move beyond this "for mechanics only" mindset for it to succeed. Same, could not get Airpods to connect AT ALL. They would show up, "connect" for a second then disconnect.
- sho_hn 5y ago
  I've done nothing special to use Bluetooth headphones with my Linux computers (a Dell laptop, a Lenovo workstation and a Lenovo laptop, running either Fedora or Ubuntu) and I use a variety of them regularly: - Samsung Galaxy Buds Live that came with my last smartphone - Some fancy Jabra-brand headset we get from work - My wife's Sennheiser Momentum Wireless when I don't bring my own - Not headphones per-se, but in the office meeting rooms we have Logitech desk mics I connect to all the time No config or installing additional software needed beyond pairing. Based on my own samples the above makes me suspect "AirPods don't comply well with standards" or something along those lines.
  - istingray 5y ago
    Does your mic work in the headphones? These were Sony XM3 in particular. After installing a bunch of software through the CLI I got them to play sound. But the mic never worked. I saw similar stories online of everyone just saying "stick with wired mics".
    - sho_hn 5y ago
      Yep, mic works for me. My main mic is actually wired, too (a RODE NT-USB), but just for audio quality reasons. I use the Galaxy Buds Live for meetings when I'm in the living room because my wife needs our office room for something, and I use the Logitech desk mics in the office, and those work. I can't remember about the Jabra off-hand.
      - istingray 5y ago
        Thanks I'll check those Galaxy Buds out.
- stackbutterflow 5y ago
  Blame manufacturers.
- gunapologist99 5y ago
  I have Airpods as well as Jabra Elite 65t, Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro, and various Plantronics. The Apple are the only ones that are wonky. There seems to be some other protocol for them that needs to be enabled, but I didn't bother and just switched to the Galaxy Buds Pro (the Jabras are excellent as well.) The very first DDG result for "airpods linux bluetooth" is this one: https://askubuntu.com/questions/922860/pairing-apple-airpods-as-headset https://askubuntu.com/questions/922860/pairing-apple-airpods...
  - istingray 5y ago
    Does the mic work in any of these? I found it to be impossible Re: airpods linux bluetooth -- CLI commands to get bluetooth headphones just to play sound is not viable for Linux to take off.
    - gunapologist99 5y ago
      You have to change the profile from "headphones" (high quality audio) to "headset" to have a microphone. It's a matter of a few clicks. I'm just pointing out that Apple was doing something different. As far as that being not viable for Linux to take off... well, I respect your opinion.
      - istingray 5y ago
        The instructions you linked state that to connect Airpods one needs to: Set ControllerMode = bredr or ControllerMode = dual by editing /etc/bluetooth/main.conf file using sudo nano /etc/bluetooth/main.conf command (or another text editor of your choice) sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart Try to pair again.
resfirestar 5y ago
Of course it's not as good as MacOS + Apple headphones but I think more recent Linux distros that use PipeWire as the audio backend are ahead of Windows. On Windows, A2DP support is so limited that headsets like the Sony XM4s suffer from worse latency and sound quality, particularly terrible mic quality, while on Kubuntu everything works out of the box with the same quality you get when paired with a phone. There's still the issue of unstable drivers that break out of nowhere and require rebooting for Bluetooth to work again, but Windows has the same problem on my laptop.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

istingray 5y ago

^ this. Custom code to get headphones to work is exactly the type of thing that is only viable for developers. Linux needs to move beyond this "for mechanics only" mindset for it to succeed. Same, could not get Airpods to connect AT ALL. They would show up, "connect" for a second then disconnect.

sho_hn 5y ago
I've done nothing special to use Bluetooth headphones with my Linux computers (a Dell laptop, a Lenovo workstation and a Lenovo laptop, running either Fedora or Ubuntu) and I use a variety of them regularly: - Samsung Galaxy Buds Live that came with my last smartphone - Some fancy Jabra-brand headset we get from work - My wife's Sennheiser Momentum Wireless when I don't bring my own - Not headphones per-se, but in the office meeting rooms we have Logitech desk mics I connect to all the time No config or installing additional software needed beyond pairing. Based on my own samples the above makes me suspect "AirPods don't comply well with standards" or something along those lines.
- istingray 5y ago
  Does your mic work in the headphones? These were Sony XM3 in particular. After installing a bunch of software through the CLI I got them to play sound. But the mic never worked. I saw similar stories online of everyone just saying "stick with wired mics".
  - sho_hn 5y ago
    Yep, mic works for me. My main mic is actually wired, too (a RODE NT-USB), but just for audio quality reasons. I use the Galaxy Buds Live for meetings when I'm in the living room because my wife needs our office room for something, and I use the Logitech desk mics in the office, and those work. I can't remember about the Jabra off-hand.
    - istingray 5y ago
      Thanks I'll check those Galaxy Buds out.
stackbutterflow 5y ago
Blame manufacturers.
gunapologist99 5y ago
I have Airpods as well as Jabra Elite 65t, Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro, and various Plantronics. The Apple are the only ones that are wonky. There seems to be some other protocol for them that needs to be enabled, but I didn't bother and just switched to the Galaxy Buds Pro (the Jabras are excellent as well.) The very first DDG result for "airpods linux bluetooth" is this one: https://askubuntu.com/questions/922860/pairing-apple-airpods-as-headset https://askubuntu.com/questions/922860/pairing-apple-airpods...
- istingray 5y ago
  Does the mic work in any of these? I found it to be impossible Re: airpods linux bluetooth -- CLI commands to get bluetooth headphones just to play sound is not viable for Linux to take off.
  - gunapologist99 5y ago
    You have to change the profile from "headphones" (high quality audio) to "headset" to have a microphone. It's a matter of a few clicks. I'm just pointing out that Apple was doing something different. As far as that being not viable for Linux to take off... well, I respect your opinion.
    - istingray 5y ago
      The instructions you linked state that to connect Airpods one needs to: Set ControllerMode = bredr or ControllerMode = dual by editing /etc/bluetooth/main.conf file using sudo nano /etc/bluetooth/main.conf command (or another text editor of your choice) sudo /etc/init.d/bluetooth restart Try to pair again.

resfirestar 5y ago

Of course it's not as good as MacOS + Apple headphones but I think more recent Linux distros that use PipeWire as the audio backend are ahead of Windows. On Windows, A2DP support is so limited that headsets like the Sony XM4s suffer from worse latency and sound quality, particularly terrible mic quality, while on Kubuntu everything works out of the box with the same quality you get when paired with a phone. There's still the issue of unstable drivers that break out of nowhere and require rebooting for Bluetooth to work again, but Windows has the same problem on my laptop.