Re: BT dongle Q

[rhkramer]

On Friday, March 02, 2018 10:17:57 PM Gene Heskett wrote:
> On Friday 02 March 2018 21:40:18 rhkra...@gmail.com wrote:
> > The first 2 (VSN V.45) run Android 4.4.  The newer one (Blu Studio G)
> > runs Android 6.0 (bought when I had trouble getting FreedomPop running
> > on my phone in parallel with T-Mobile, but turned out not to be needed
> > but I would have incurred a $35 restocking fee at Best Buy.)
> > 
> > (All 3 are dual SIM machines.)

Oh, I should have mentioned that all 3 of the phones were unlocked (when 
purchased).

Re: BT dongle Q

[Gene Heskett]

On Friday 02 March 2018 21:40:18 rhkra...@gmail.com wrote:

> On Friday, March 02, 2018 08:19:54 PM Gene Heskett wrote:
> > 2; They don't supply the dongle since they assume everyone has a
> > $500 smartphone.
>
> Not picking on you, Gene, but I hope no one is buying $500 smartphones
> (even though I know they do).  The last 3 I've bought (1 for myself, 1
> for my son, 1 as a spare) cost me about $50 each, and I'm not aware of
> missing any significant functionality.
>
That $500 was POOMA, to illustrate the point. It could have been less 
since the competition is best described as cut-throat. Meaning the 
street price is more determined by the market than what it costs to make 
the phones. 

> The first 2 (VSN V.45) run Android 4.4.  The newer one (Blu Studio G)
> runs Android 6.0 (bought when I had trouble getting FreedomPop running
> on my phone in parallel with T-Mobile, but turned out not to be needed
> but I would have incurred a $35 restocking fee at Best Buy.)
>
> (All 3 are dual SIM machines.)



-- 
Cheers, Gene Heskett
--
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
Genes Web page 

Re: BT dongle Q

[rhkramer]

On Friday, March 02, 2018 08:19:54 PM Gene Heskett wrote:
> 2; They don't supply the dongle since they assume everyone has a $500
> smartphone.

Not picking on you, Gene, but I hope no one is buying $500 smartphones (even 
though I know they do).  The last 3 I've bought (1 for myself, 1 for my son, 1 
as a spare) cost me about $50 each, and I'm not aware of missing any 
significant functionality.  

The first 2 (VSN V.45) run Android 4.4.  The newer one (Blu Studio G) runs 
Android 6.0 (bought when I had trouble getting FreedomPop running on my phone 
in parallel with T-Mobile, but turned out not to be needed but I would have 
incurred a $35 restocking fee at Best Buy.)

(All 3 are dual SIM machines.)

Re: BT dongle Q

[Gene Heskett]

On Friday 02 March 2018 13:38:47 Don Armstrong wrote:

> On Fri, 02 Mar 2018, Gene Heskett wrote:
> > I have an old bt dongle that is apparently paired with a now
> > non-existent A7 device.
> >
> > What is the command (I think I have all the tools installed) that
> > will unpair it so that I can at least scan for a fitbit BTLE device
> > 6" away?
>
> You should be able to pair BT dongles with multiple devices. I suspect
> that your issue might be lack of support for BTLE from an old dongle.
>
Which I have independently confirmed, only V4 and up bt will work with a 
fitbit.

It may be the cats meow, but until I hear it meow, its going back for a 
refund tomorrow. The whole thing is way too shady to suit me. 

1; they don't tell you up front that theres no linux support, you have to 
unpack it and charge it to see the instructions to goto 
www.fitbit.com/setup. Which doesn't take you to the setup page at all, 
but gives one a choice of winderz or mac, drivers, no linux. And 
finally, there's no driver choice called a "Charge 2", the model this 
one is, in the software selector at that site.

2; They don't supply the dongle since they assume everyone has a $500 
smartphone.

3; your data is possibly held for ransom as it goes to their servers 
before it can be decoded and sent back, to a browser I assume.  Reading 
up on galileo shows that is exactly how it also works.

4; There are no compatible dongles for sale in the area centered in 
Harrison County WV. Staples in Bridgeport had an empty peg, marked 
$38.99 while wallie's has one for $7.99 in their online store but 
shipping is from China, 2+ weeks delivery.

5; I'm now 2 days putzing with this, and everytime I find a new tidbit of 
info on it, that exposes yet another roadblock to be bulldozed to get to 
the next barricade. Screw it, if they want to sell me one, it will be a 
full kit, working standalone with any network connected computer or 
device, and OOTB.

So thank you all who tried to help, I do appreciate it. Its been quite an 
educational 2 days.

> But just in case:
>
> bluetoothctl;
> devices
> remove 12:34:56:78:9A:BC
> exit
>
> should do the trick, where the hex bits match the device that you want
> to remove. [You can also pair and scan from bluetoothctl as well.]



-- 
Cheers, Gene Heskett
--
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
Genes Web page 

Re: BT dongle Q

[Reco]

Hi.

On Fri, Mar 02, 2018 at 12:32:05PM -0500, Gene Heskett wrote:
> Greetings Bluetooth guru's;
> 
> I have an old bt dongle that is apparently paired with a now non-existent 
> A7 device.
> 
> What is the command (I think I have all the tools installed) that will 
> unpair it so that I can at least scan for a fitbit BTLE device 6" away?
> 
> Thanks.

Assuming Bluez5, bluetoothctl should print a list of paired devices.

$ bluetoothctl
[NEW] Controller 00:18:E4:XX:XX:XX xxx [default]
[NEW] Device D8:2A:7E:XX:XX:XX YY

To unpair a device, use remove [MAC], i.e.

[bluetooth]# remove D8:2A:7E:XX:XX:XX
[DEL] Device D8:2A:7E:XX:XX:XX YYY
Device has been removed


BTLE devices require Bluetooth 4.0, so if your BT dongle is really old
(mine serves me 10 years or so), it won't be able to see BTLE:

[bluetooth]# show
Controller 00:18:E4:XX:XX:XX
Name: BlueZ 5.43
Alias: xxx
Class: 0x000104
Powered: yes
Discoverable: no
Pairable: yes
UUID: Generic Attribute Profile (1801--1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
UUID: A/V Remote Control (110e--1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
UUID: PnP Information (1200--1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
UUID: Generic Access Profile (1800--1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
UUID: A/V Remote Control Target (110c--1000-8000-00805f9b34fb)
Modalias: usb:zzz
Discovering: no

Reco

Re: BT dongle Q

[Don Armstrong]

On Fri, 02 Mar 2018, Gene Heskett wrote:
> I have an old bt dongle that is apparently paired with a now non-existent 
> A7 device.
> 
> What is the command (I think I have all the tools installed) that will 
> unpair it so that I can at least scan for a fitbit BTLE device 6" away?

You should be able to pair BT dongles with multiple devices. I suspect
that your issue might be lack of support for BTLE from an old dongle.

But just in case:

bluetoothctl;
devices
remove 12:34:56:78:9A:BC
exit

should do the trick, where the hex bits match the device that you want
to remove. [You can also pair and scan from bluetoothctl as well.]

-- 
Don Armstrong  https://www.donarmstrong.com

Who is thinking this?
I am.
 -- Greg Egan _Diaspora_ p38