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Is it possible to connect more than two bluetooth dongles(adapters) to the linux machine and use them for read/write/communication with other external bluetooth devices simultaneously? So that there are will be more than one bluetooth device bluez can recognize and work with in parallel.
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We have found out that it is impossible to run 2 adapters at the same time. Windows will disable one (exclamation mark in Device Manager) and state Code 10 "Device cannot start". It's either the USB dongle, or the onboard adapter, depending on if you boot with the USB dongle inserted or not.
Bluetooth multipoint lets your headset connect to two source devices at once. Bluetooth multipoint was introduced with the release of Bluetooth 4.0, over ten years ago. It's a feature that allows a single Bluetooth headset to maintain simultaneous connections to at least two source devices like a laptop and smartphone.
Their Low energy Micro adapter works right out of the box with any of your Linux distros. And not just that, it also supports all of your Windows 7 devices natively and other versions with some additional drivers. It is a certified class 2 Bluetooth dongle that has been approved by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group.
All Bluetooth adapters can support 7 devices, period. Mostly true - the standards only allow up to seven simultaneous connections on a normal device. But you can pair any number of devices. You can hook up 7 devices, but only if they're all different types of devices.
The Bluetooth devices compatible with the dongle are the headsets, speakers, projectors, printers, and PAD/Phone. You can also pair it with keyboard, mouse, and mobiles via multi-pairing. Don’t forget to connect your Bluetooth speaker for listening to the latest hit songs in stereo.
When a device appears, select it with the mouse, then click “setup”. The Blueman tool will take you through the pairing process. Follow the onscreen instructions, and soon your device will be paired. Bluetooth has always been iffy on Linux, and many Linux distributions don’t set it up right away.
Bluetoothctl is an interactive and easy-to-use tool for controlling Bluetooth devices. It is the main utility for managing Bluetooth on Linux-based operating systems. This guide will show you how to easily set up Bluetooth devices and connections on your Linux PC using bluetoothctl.
Kinivo tops our list as the best Linux-compatible Bluetooth USB dongle as of today. It is a simple yet inexpensive piece of hardware that gets the job done well without any hiccups. Plus, it’s also very versatile, as it’s not just compatible with Linux but also with Windows, and Raspberry Pi.
To complete @sam's answer as I was looking at doing the them. Here is the demonstration of two bluetooth adapter in Linux with bluetoothctl:
Without any USB Bluetooth dongle on my laptop I see:
[bluetooth]# list
Controller 84:EF:18:1E:5B:8A olivier-ThinkPad-E460 #1 [default]
After I hotplug the USB Bluetooth dongle, I can see:
[NEW] Controller 5C:F3:70:8A:A6:97 olivier-ThinkPad-E460 #2 [default]
[CHG] Controller 5C:F3:70:8A:A6:97 UUIDs: 00001112-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Controller 5C:F3:70:8A:A6:97 UUIDs: 00001801-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Controller 5C:F3:70:8A:A6:97 UUIDs: 0000110e-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Controller 5C:F3:70:8A:A6:97 UUIDs: 00001800-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Controller 5C:F3:70:8A:A6:97 UUIDs: 00001200-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Controller 5C:F3:70:8A:A6:97 UUIDs: 0000110c-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Controller 5C:F3:70:8A:A6:97 UUIDs: 0000110a-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Controller 5C:F3:70:8A:A6:97 UUIDs: 0000110b-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[bluetooth]# list
Controller 84:EF:18:1E:5B:8A olivier-ThinkPad-E460 #1 [default]
Controller 5C:F3:70:8A:A6:97 olivier-ThinkPad-E460 #2
To select the USB Bluetooth dongle which has for MAC address 5C:F3:70:8A:A6:97:
[bluetooth]# select 5C:F3:70:8A:A6:97
[bluetooth]# list
Controller 84:EF:18:1E:5B:8A olivier-ThinkPad-E460 #1
Controller 5C:F3:70:8A:A6:97 olivier-ThinkPad-E460 #2 [default]
We can see the USB adapter is now marked as [default].
When I scan for bluetooth devices, I can see it use the USB dongle:
[bluetooth]# scan on
Discovery started
[CHG] Controller 5C:F3:70:8A:A6:97 Discovering: yes
[NEW] Device A0:E6:F8:37:AE:94 5AAA=mRwb6qK$v_~xL5O#uK)AqfHK
[NEW] Device 54:E5:F7:BC:4C:D9 54-E5-F7-BC-4C-D9
Same when I want to connect:
[bluetooth]# connect DE:79:A2:A1:E9:FA
Attempting to connect to DE:79:A2:A1:E9:FA
[CHG] Device DE:79:A2:A1:E9:FA Connected: yes
Connection successful
[NEW] Primary Service
/org/bluez/hci1/dev_DE_79_A2_A1_E9_FA/service0008
00001801-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
Generic Attribute Profile
[NEW] Characteristic
/org/bluez/hci1/dev_DE_79_A2_A1_E9_FA/service0008/char0009
00002a05-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
Service Changed
Notice the hci1 in the DBUS path: /org/bluez/hci1/dev_DE_79_A2_A1_E9_FA
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yes its possible. Use bluetoothctl command line tool provided by bluez to select adapter. Each device will recognized with different adapter. You can choose the adapter and give commands
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