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Does it fix the Bluetooth audio mess? Ubuntu 21.04 still can't do videoconferencing properly via Bluetooth as only ancient 'string on a tin can' codecs are supp

Does it fix the Bluetooth audio mess? Ubuntu 21.04 still can't do videoconferencing properly via Bluetooth as only ancient 'string on a tin can' codecs are supported. And getting it to just stick to unidirectional audio (relying on the internal mic for input, which seems like the only practical option) took some serious trial and error. It still occasionally sends a stream to my headphones when nothing is playing, which prevents other devices from using them (my headphones let you connect two devices but only play audio from one of them). If it does address these issues, I hope Ubuntu will soon officially support it (I've learned better than to use non-defaults, it just invites pain).

capableweb 5y ago
> Does it fix the Bluetooth audio mess? Ubuntu 21.04 still can't do videoconferencing properly via Bluetooth as only ancient 'string on a tin can' codecs are supported. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PipeWire https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PipeWire > 4 Troubleshooting > 4.8 Low audio quality on Bluetooth > I've learned better than to use non-defaults, it just invites pain Funny, after using Ubuntu for many years I switched to Arch, just because I got hit by so many upgrade issues when "things should just work". With Arch I can only blame myself, which is refreshing.
hmry 5y ago
It did for me. I switched from Pulse to PipeWire and my bluetooth headphones started working right away. Quite the experience.
- corty 5y ago
  Agreed. The latest Debian upgrade installed pipewire for me, and I didn't even notice, everything just worked fine! And that after years and years of fiddling with alsa and pulseaudio configs, uninstalling pulseaudio, hacks upon hacks to get stuff working with either, etc.
  - glandium 5y ago
    Debian 11 doesn't make pipewire replace pulseaudio, alsa or jack.
    - corty 5y ago
      Should have mentioned, I'm running testing/unstable. After the stable release, all the new experimental stuff for the next release floods into unstable.
      - marco_craveiro 5y ago
        oh, how exciting! time for a dist-upgrade tonight then!! :-)
heavyset_go 5y ago
> Does it fix the Bluetooth audio mess Yes, one of the biggest features of Pipewire is proper Bluetooth headset support. It's the reason I switched to it.
- throwdbaaway 5y ago
  It actually does more than fixing the mess now. With pipewire >=0.3.34, there is now support for a2dp duplex with both faststream and aptx-ll codecs (if the headset also supports them, of course). No more hsp/hfp crap. I think linux + bluez + pipewire is the first ever software-only stack that can achieve this, as a USB dongle would be required on other platforms. We shall declare 2021 as the year of linux on the desktop!
collegeburner 5y ago
It supports bidirectional audio if the headphones do and mSBC for better-than-tin-can audio if they don't.
lathiat 5y ago
Seems that Pipewire and PulseAudio have both just recently fixed this. So yes, but it may not technically matter anymore. But it will be upcoming in a future Ubuntu it's not in the current shipping releases and I'm not sure it will make it into 21.10.

capableweb 5y ago

> Does it fix the Bluetooth audio mess? Ubuntu 21.04 still can't do videoconferencing properly via Bluetooth as only ancient 'string on a tin can' codecs are supported. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PipeWire https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PipeWire > 4 Troubleshooting > 4.8 Low audio quality on Bluetooth > I've learned better than to use non-defaults, it just invites pain Funny, after using Ubuntu for many years I switched to Arch, just because I got hit by so many upgrade issues when "things should just work". With Arch I can only blame myself, which is refreshing.

hmry 5y ago

It did for me. I switched from Pulse to PipeWire and my bluetooth headphones started working right away. Quite the experience.

corty 5y ago
Agreed. The latest Debian upgrade installed pipewire for me, and I didn't even notice, everything just worked fine! And that after years and years of fiddling with alsa and pulseaudio configs, uninstalling pulseaudio, hacks upon hacks to get stuff working with either, etc.
- glandium 5y ago
  Debian 11 doesn't make pipewire replace pulseaudio, alsa or jack.
  - corty 5y ago
    Should have mentioned, I'm running testing/unstable. After the stable release, all the new experimental stuff for the next release floods into unstable.
    - marco_craveiro 5y ago
      oh, how exciting! time for a dist-upgrade tonight then!! :-)

heavyset_go 5y ago

> Does it fix the Bluetooth audio mess Yes, one of the biggest features of Pipewire is proper Bluetooth headset support. It's the reason I switched to it.

throwdbaaway 5y ago
It actually does more than fixing the mess now. With pipewire >=0.3.34, there is now support for a2dp duplex with both faststream and aptx-ll codecs (if the headset also supports them, of course). No more hsp/hfp crap. I think linux + bluez + pipewire is the first ever software-only stack that can achieve this, as a USB dongle would be required on other platforms. We shall declare 2021 as the year of linux on the desktop!

collegeburner 5y ago

It supports bidirectional audio if the headphones do and mSBC for better-than-tin-can audio if they don't.

lathiat 5y ago

Seems that Pipewire and PulseAudio have both just recently fixed this. So yes, but it may not technically matter anymore. But it will be upcoming in a future Ubuntu it's not in the current shipping releases and I'm not sure it will make it into 21.10.