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.
Maybe check here: https://linux-hardware.org/
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.
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Reddit post also states its been kept up to date with the last update in October of this year. Good find.
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
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.
Neat, didn’t think of that!
I would like to connect Bluetooth headphones and a DualShock controller to my PC for gaming purposes. Cables are annoying
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.
Would this give latency comparable to wired?
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/
Thanks !
This is super helpful, thanks!
No clue about Bluetooth 5.x, but your no hassle bet is always to start at ThinkPenguin. https://www.thinkpenguin.com/category/catalog/networking-gear-gnu-linux
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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/
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.
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.
