Bluetooth devices via a GUI

nixinator · July 27, 2022, 1:13pm

I’m trying to set up a system for a user who doesn’t like the the CLI much and has a few bluetooth devices.

What are my options for configuring, pairing and controlling bluetooth devices via Kde or Gnome for users who are affraid of the command line

The nixos wiki seems to focus on CLI only tools.

Any idea’s welcomed.

NobbZ · July 27, 2022, 1:21pm

Afair plasma has its own BT widget, not sure about Gnome though.

Personally I use blueman-applet started by my WM.

jtojnar · July 27, 2022, 10:15pm

Almost any desktop environment will have some graphical interface for connecting to Bluetooth devices. GNOME has a dedicated panel in the Control Center. Pantheon and MATE have something similar IIRC. And yeah, you can fallback on Blueman if you do not use a DE.

nixinator · July 28, 2022, 10:10am

I think my stumbing block is i’m using KDE… so unless missed , i can’t see any bluetooth setting in a default nixos KDE derivation.

Georges · July 28, 2022, 1:07pm

Dumb question, but did you enable bluetooth support?

jtojnar · July 28, 2022, 2:54pm

Hmm, it indeed appears that unlike GNOME and Pantheon,

github.com

NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/c8c8b2593f9d75ce2abee6cd722f97d3da2aa3b4/nixos/modules/services/x11/desktop-managers/gnome.nix#L348

    
      
              gnome-flashback
            ] ++ map gnome-flashback.mkSystemdTargetForWm flashbackWms;
          
          
  # gnome-panel needs these for menu applet
            environment.sessionVariables.XDG_DATA_DIRS = [ "${pkgs.gnome.gnome-flashback}/share" ];
            # TODO: switch to sessionVariables (resolve conflict)
            environment.variables.XDG_CONFIG_DIRS = [ "${pkgs.gnome.gnome-flashback}/etc/xdg" ];
          })
          
          
(mkIf serviceCfg.core-os-services.enable {
            hardware.bluetooth.enable = mkDefault true;
            hardware.pulseaudio.enable = mkDefault true;
            programs.dconf.enable = true;
            security.polkit.enable = true;
            services.accounts-daemon.enable = true;
            services.dleyna-renderer.enable = mkDefault true;
            services.dleyna-server.enable = mkDefault true;
            services.power-profiles-daemon.enable = mkDefault true;
            services.gnome.at-spi2-core.enable = true;
            services.gnome.evolution-data-server.enable = true;
            services.gnome.gnome-keyring.enable = true;

github.com

NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/c8c8b2593f9d75ce2abee6cd722f97d3da2aa3b4/nixos/modules/services/x11/desktop-managers/pantheon.nix#L130

    
      
          
          
        if [ -d "${p}/lib/girepository-1.0" ]; then
                    export GI_TYPELIB_PATH=$GI_TYPELIB_PATH''${GI_TYPELIB_PATH:+:}${p}/lib/girepository-1.0
                    export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH''${LD_LIBRARY_PATH:+:}${p}/lib
                  fi
                '') cfg.sessionPath}
            fi
          '';
          
          
# Default services
          hardware.bluetooth.enable = mkDefault true;
          hardware.pulseaudio.enable = mkDefault true;
          security.polkit.enable = true;
          services.accounts-daemon.enable = true;
          services.bamf.enable = true;
          services.colord.enable = mkDefault true;
          services.fwupd.enable = mkDefault true;
          services.packagekit.enable = mkDefault true;
          services.power-profiles-daemon.enable = mkDefault true;
          services.touchegg.enable = mkDefault true;
          services.touchegg.package = pkgs.pantheon.touchegg;

non-mobile Plasma does not enable Bluetooth support by default:

github.com

NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/2dbeac492b60f753de48a1d2830091610cc601f9/nixos/modules/services/x11/desktop-managers/plasma5.nix#L368

    
      
              ];
            in
            requiredPackages
            ++ utils.removePackagesByName optionalPackages cfg.excludePackages
          
          
  # Phonon audio backend
            ++ lib.optional (cfg.phononBackend == "gstreamer") libsForQt5.phonon-backend-gstreamer
            ++ lib.optional (cfg.phononBackend == "vlc") libsForQt5.phonon-backend-vlc
          
          
  # Optional hardware support features
            ++ lib.optionals config.hardware.bluetooth.enable [ bluedevil bluez-qt pkgs.openobex pkgs.obexftp ]
            ++ lib.optional config.networking.networkmanager.enable plasma-nm
            ++ lib.optional config.hardware.pulseaudio.enable plasma-pa
            ++ lib.optional config.services.pipewire.pulse.enable plasma-pa
            ++ lib.optional config.powerManagement.enable powerdevil
            ++ lib.optional config.services.colord.enable pkgs.colord-kde
            ++ lib.optional config.services.hardware.bolt.enable pkgs.plasma5Packages.plasma-thunderbolt
            ++ lib.optionals config.services.samba.enable [ kdenetwork-filesharing pkgs.samba ]
            ++ lib.optional config.services.xserver.wacom.enable pkgs.wacomtablet;
          
          
environment.pathsToLink = [