Curious: Linux Bluetooth Vs Windows

Garuda Community
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I am curious as to why Windows Bluetooth operated much more smoothly than Linux distros? I find that I often have to fiddle a lot with bluetooth before i can get it working the way I need it to on Linux.

It used to be a deal breaker and sometimes annoys me still but Im curious for those of you that are really knowledgeable about this stuff..why is it that Bluetooth operates much more smoothly on windows?

I can connect almost anything to windows without issue but linux tends to fight me on things or disconnect. Is it a Bluetooth software design issue? Is it hardware (earbuds) issue with linux?

Also is there a way to improve Bluetooth connectivity and functionality on linux or is it really just...earbuds X doesnt play nice with OS XYZ because its not "mainstream" from a consumer perspective?

In short: Who or What is the bottleneck in this process metaphorically speaking?

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BT hardware manufacturers don't concern themselves with supporting Linux.

Seriously, just quit buying BT devicves. Never worked properly for me in Windows either, (way back when I was afflicted with that malady). There's no real need for bluetooth.

Just spring for one of the subcutaneous implants that hooks you up directly to google.

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You can't generalize it.
It actually depends on hardwares. Generally, you will find that cheapest external BT or Wifi cards are much better on Linux than windows. This because most of the times,
all the cheap devices use common drivers, shared by all of them. So, there is nothing to hide at all.
But you might find laggy experience on more expensive cutting edge devices, because they have spent a lot of money on research of new technologies and can't share it with everyone till they not only cover the costs, but also earn heffty margin. So, they prefer to keep there drivers proprietary.
And most of the times, they don't create Linux drivers, because it obviously costs more to develop and maintain 2 different versions of drivers.

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It all depends on the manufacturer and the user doing their own research I personally find Linux connects far better on my desktop as I had to choose the USB adapter, on the laptop Lenavo connection is poor on Linux unless i just plug in a USB adaptor.
Windows 10 is more fussy it literally a pain on the desktop to manually discover Bluetooth every time i use it

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Because Windows is popular, and Linux is one of the last places that a manufacturer can care about. Sound production on Linux is not that common. Also, Bluetooth embraces proprietary implementations by design. This limits our ability to engineer proper drivers that work for every device.

It’s both.

It depends on the device. Sometimes they work out of the box, sometimes they don’t.

The bottleneck is the unpopularity of Linux in both professional and consumer-grade Bluetooth products. The only Linux distro that is extremely popular is Android, but it has its own kernel and it’s own Bluetooth drivers. Most of it doesn’t make it to the Linux kernel.

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Windows or Dell broke my internal BT in Windows. (I fixed it.)

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Because Windows is popular?

I think rather the opposite. I didn’t use M$ before I started working. I was forced into it there. In my private life, too, everything required an M$ computer, from the tax office to the programme with which I read the data from my car.
M$ managed to create a standard in which PCs were delivered with M$ and IntertExplorer. Local politicians let people who have been using Linux for years migrate unnecessarily to M$ for millions of Euros, why?
Not because M$ is better or popular, no, because M$ had a nice big branch built in their city.

All this and much more makes M$ unpopular for me.

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Maybe it's a translation issue, but I define popular as the one who has more widespead audience, not the one who I consider superior.

$ trans popular
popular
/ˈpäpyələr/

adjective
    liked, admired, or enjoyed by many people or by a particular person or group.
        - "she was one of the most popular girls in the school"
    Synonyms: in, cool, big, all the go

    (of cultural activities or products) intended for or suited to the taste, understanding, or means of the general public rather than specialists or intellectuals.
        - "the popular press"
    Synonyms: nonspecialist, nontechnical, nonprofessional, amateur, lay, lay person's, general, middle-of-the-road, accessible, approachable, simplified, plain, simple, easy, straightforward, understandable, readily understood, easy to understand, intelligible, mass-market, middlebrow, lowbrow, pop, bland, cheap

    (of political activity) carried on by the people as a whole rather than restricted to politicians or political parties.
        - "a popular revolt against colonial rule"
    Synonyms: mass, general, communal, collective, social, societal, collaborative, group, civil, public, civic, democratic, representative

Synonyms
    adjective
        - well liked, liked, favored, in favor, well received, approved, admired, accepted, welcome, sought-after, in demand, desired, wanted, commercial, marketable, salable, fashionable, in fashion, in vogue, voguish, all the rage, hot
        - in, cool, big, all the go
        - nonspecialist, nontechnical, nonprofessional, amateur, lay, lay person's, general, middle-of-the-road, accessible, approachable, simplified, plain, simple, easy, straightforward, understandable, readily understood, easy to understand, intelligible, mass-market, middlebrow, lowbrow, pop, bland, cheap
        - widespread, general, common, current, prevalent, prevailing, customary, universal, standard, stock, shared, in circulation, rife, ordinary, usual, accepted, established, acknowledged, recognized, conventional, orthodox, conformist
        - mass, general, communal, collective, social, societal, collaborative, group, civil, public, civic, democratic, representative

Examples
    - she was one of the most popular girls in the school

    - the popular press

    - these cheeses are very popular in Europe

    - a popular revolt against colonial rule

    - many adult cats, contrary to popular opinion, dislike milk
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Absolutely.
Unfortunately, this happens too often.

Widespread is better in translation than popular = be loved = beliebt in German for example.

I believed what you meant but did not write, at least not for my translator. :slight_smile:
I didn’t mean to attack you, it was more about M$ :smiley:

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It took 3 times of reading for me to understand LOL! :joy: :smiley:

But yes, what you said makes sense and 100% true.

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I 100% agree with the statement that some people are just forced to use M$ products, I just didn't mean that it's better to use these :sweat_smile: Also, an interesting insight from Russia - our government agencies regularly state that we should be independent from big tech and have our own infrastructure, some even claim that they want to choose Linux instead of windoze. But in the end, only a small percentage of people know how to reinstall windoze, and even smaller amount care about Linux. So our banks usually only have their apps available for Windoze.

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