webalizer-gt / ubuntu-bluetooth-headset

How to use Bluetooth Headsets (headphones AND microphone) in Ubuntu/Mint 20.x

ubuntu-bluetooth-headset

How to use Bluetooth Headsets (headphones AND microphone) in Ubuntu/Mint 20.x

Some earbuds profiles are A2DP, AVRCP and HFP but not HSP. Pulseaudio only supports HSP out-of-the-box. In order to make HSP/HFP work, you have to enable HFP on pulseaudio which needs ofono. This also applies for Apple Airpods. Here is how to do it on Ubuntu/Mint 20.x:

1. Install ofono:

sudo apt install ofono

2. Configure pulseaudio to use ofono:

• Goto /etc/pulse/default.pa

• Find the line load-module module-bluetooth-discover and change it in load-module module-bluetooth-discover headset=ofono

• Add the user pulse to group bluetooth to grant the permission:
  sudo usermod -aG bluetooth pulse (probably it's already correct)
  VERY IMPORTANT: To grant the permission, add this to /etc/dbus-1/system.d/ofono.conf (before </busconfig>):

    <policy user="pulse">  
      <allow send_destination="org.ofono"/>  
    </policy>
  

3. Provide phonesim to ofono. In order to make ofono work, you have to provide a modem to it! You can install a modem emulator called phonesim (implemented by ofono) to make it work:

The package was removed from Debian Unstable at 2019-09-13, so it will not be until official port to Qt5.

• You can install it from some third-party PPA:

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:smoser/bluetooth
    sudo apt-get install ofono-phonesim
  

• Configure phonesim by adding the following lines to /etc/ofono/phonesim.conf:

    [phonesim]
    Driver=phonesim
    Address=127.0.0.1
    Port=12345
  

4. Manual mode

Now your system setup is completed for a manual usage. To use it you need to start ofono-phonesim and then restart the Bluetooth stack. To do so:

ofono-phonesim -p 12345 /usr/share/phonesim/default.xml & sudo service ofono restart
/usr/share/ofono/scripts/enable-modem /phonesim
sudo service bluetooth restart

As a test, you can run /usr/share/ofono/scripts/list-modems and should see the phonesim modem initialized.
Now, open your Bluetooth settings, connect your Bluetooth device and switch it to HSP/HFP Profile.

5. Automating setup

If your manual mode works, you are almost done. It is boring to execute the steps above every time, so I decided to tune my system startup since I need this feature every day.

Let’s start with phonesim. Create a systemd unit file /etc/systemd/system/phonesim.service with the following content. This will start phonesim on start of the system.

[Unit]
    Description = Phonesim Control Daemon
    After = network.target network-online.target dbus.service
    Wants = network-online.target
    Requires = dbus.service

[Service]
    Type = simple
    ExecStart = /usr/bin/ofono-phonesim -p 12345 /usr/share/phonesim/default.xml
    Restart = on-abort
    StartLimitInterval = 60
    StartLimitBurst = 10

[Install]
    WantedBy = multi-user.target

If you changed the port in your modem definition, please change it accordingly. Please make sure, the line ExecStart is joined.

The next service is ofono. We need to tell systemd that ofono.service should depend on phonesim.service. To do so create unit file /etc/systemd/system/ofono.service with the following content:

    [Unit]
        Description=Telephony service
        After = phonesim.service
        Requires = phonesim.service


    [Service]
        Type=dbus
        BusName=org.ofono
        ExecStart=/usr/sbin/ofonod -n
        StandardError=null

    [Install]
        WantedBy=multi-user.target

The last step is to enable the phonesim modem. To do so, create a new unit file /etc/systemd/system/ofono-enable-modem.service with the following content:

[Unit]
    Description=Enables Phonesim Modem
    After = ofono.service
    Requires = ofono.service


[Service]
    Type=oneshot
    ExecStart=/usr/share/ofono/scripts/enable-modem /phonesim

[Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target

This service will be run just after the ofono.service and enable our modem on boot.

Now, we need to make sure the provided services are activated on boot. Please reload your systemd and enable them by running:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable phonesim
sudo systemctl enable ofono
sudo systemctl enable ofono-modem

That’s it. Now reboot and check if the modem is connected directly after the boot by running /usr/share/ofono/scripts/list-modems. You should see something like this:

[/phonesim ]
    Online = 0
    Powered = 1
    Lockdown = 0
    Emergency = 0
    Manufacturer = MeeGo
    Model = Synthetic Device
    Revision = REV1
    Serial = 1234567890
    Interfaces = org.ofono.SmartMessaging org.ofono.PushNotification org.ofono.MessageManager org.ofono.Phonebook org.ofono.TextTelephony org.ofono.RadioSettings org.ofono.CallForwarding org.ofono.SimToolkit org.ofono.SimAuthentication org.ofono.AllowedAccessPoints org.ofono.VoiceCallManager org.ofono.SimManager 
    Features = sms tty rat stk sim 
    Type = hardware
...

Happy conferencing…

References:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/831331/failed-to-change-profile-to-headset-head-unit/1236379#1236379
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1242450/when-will-add-ofono-phomesim-to-the-focal-repository-20-04 https://zambrovski.medium.com/using-bluetooth-headset-on-ubuntu-790ce6eecc2
https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/PulseAudio/Documentation/User/Bluetooth/
https://stackoverflow.com/a/51697709/692422
https://docs.plasma-mobile.org/Ofono.html