DESPERATE HELP NEEDED! HC-06 Bluetooth

Dinsdale

I can explain.

I contacted a guy on YouTube from Ukraine. He nods old Mega Drives. He modded an original 3 button Mega Drive controller. I contacted him and asked him if he’d do a couple for me and he agreed.

So I sent him the controllers and he sent them back (with a nice YouTube video to boot).

So, that’s why I don’t really have a choice as he put an HC-06 in them.

Now, I don’t mind getting another Bluetooth receiver if it’ll plug into my Pi, if that is what you’re suggesting could be more compatible?

mitu

@Dinsdale So why don't you ask the guy that did the mode about this problem ? He should be the one to know how to properly make this work.
You know 8BitDo have a similar modkit ?

steptoe

Maybe he didn't know, but now we know why HC-06 is being used might be able to help a bit more

Dinsdale

The guy didn’t know it wouldn’t be compatible out of the box with Retropie. The only guarantee he gave me was that it would work on Android, which it does. I’ve asked him about it and he couldn’t help unfortunately. The language barrier with Google Translate didn’t help either of us.

It’s picked up and paired no problem with Retropie; it just won’t connect.

Yes, I have the 8BitDo mod kids for the 6 button version. I need the 3 button version which is for my mothers birthday present - she has fond memories of playing the Mega Drive back in the day and she only likes the 3 button controller (I do too!)

Dinsdale

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B009ZIILLI

Just ordered that. Will try it at the weekend as I’m working away this week. Fingers crossed.

On the subject, is this just a case of plugging it in and it’ll override the onboard Bluetooth of the 3B+, or will I need to run some commands?

mitu

@Dinsdale Although I don't think this would be any help, you can disable the onboard BT by modifying the /boot/config.txt file and adding dtoverlay=pi3-disable-bt on a line.

Dinsdale

@mitu Perfect, I’ll try it anyway. Thanks!

Dinsdale

So I disabled onboard Bluetooth, rebooted, and connected the new dongle. It flashes - but no change.

Now this is most likely be because this dongle won’t be Plug n Play. How do I install it? There’s no instructions in the package for Linux.

quicksilver

@Dinsdale I might have a fix for you! It would probably be best to restore things back to default with all the changes you have probably made. This fix should allow you to sync to the built-in bluetooth. (I recently found this fix while trying to help a friend snyc a bluetooth xbox one controller. The things we do for friends and family!)

Create a new file using nano...

 sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/bluetooth.conf

Add a single line to the new file...

options bluetooth disable_ertm=Y

Exit nano, saving the file in the process

This fixed my connection issues with the xbox one bluetooth controller

Dinsdale

Thanks man! Unfortunately it didn’t work.

steptoe

@Dinsdale said in DESPERATE HELP NEEDED! HC-06 Bluetooth:

So I disabled onboard Bluetooth, rebooted, and connected the new dongle. It flashes - but no change.

Now this is most likely be because this dongle won’t be Plug n Play. How do I install it? There’s no instructions in the package for Linux.

There isn't, at least not for the PI. Some work with the PI but some don't. They auto-install or are auto -detected

Dinsdale

Yeah, I think this one is Plug and Play. I see it in lsusb and it works when I search for Bluetooth devices, though to be honest, this could still be the onboard bluetooth that I haven't successfully disabled - because when I take the bluetooth dongle out, and search for new Bluetooth devices, it just hangs on "searching" and doesn't give me an error. Does this mean the Bluetooth is disabled?

Anyway, here's the error in full when I connect via onboard or the dongle. I have typed this out manually. Hope it gives someone a clue.

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/dbud/connection.py", line 604, in msg_reply_handler
reply_handler(*message.get.args_list(**get_args_opts))
File "/home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/scriptmodules/supplementary/bluetooth/bluez-simple-agent", line 118, in pair_reply dev_connect(dev_path)
File "/home/pi/RetroPie-Setup/scriptmodules/supplementary/bluetooth/bluez-simple-agent", line 38, in dev_connect dev.Connect()
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/dbus/proxies.py", line 70, in __call__
return self._proxy_method(*args, **keywords)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/dbus/proxies.py", line 145, in __call__
 **keywords)
File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/dbus/connection.py", line 651, in call_blocking
message, timeout)
dbus.exceptions.DBusException: org.bluez.Error.NotAvailable: Operation currently not available

Dinsdale

I’ve been trying tonight to make some progress. I Google’d the above error and found a reply from @RadBrad87 in this thread: https://retropie.org.uk/forum/topic/1905/retropie-3-8-bluetooth-configure-issue/40

Exact same error... so I tried optimistically to remove the PS3 driver (I didn’t have it installed in the first place) and all associated packages... but still nothing.

I also noticed separately that I could enable the serial interface - and when I’ve Google’d the HC-06 a lot of references where made to this and SPP... but no dice. Same issue.

What the hell is it?!

Dinsdale

Does anyone know why it connects with RFCOMM and why it isn’t recognised as a controller?

Dinsdale

This is now resolved. The guy who did this further did some investigation and found that he needed to convert this to HID to work on Raspberry Pi and other platforms OOTB. He did this using an RN-42 I believe. Finally... works a charm!

So, on the off chance anyone has the same bizarre situation as me, this is what did it!

ByteThis

@Dinsdale What is RN-42 ?

Dinsdale

@ByteThis Diffferent type of Bluetooth module, I believe. Could be wrong...