My name is Rich Jerrido and I am the person behind 
Fedora 11 Preview & why I just had an auditory joygasm
May 28th, 2009 by RichJ received 4 Comments »So tonight after a botched install attempt of Fedora 11 Preview (damn Anaconda bugs), I decided to wipe my workstation and BFU* it to the latest and greatest Beta/RC bits. With a fresh install of Fedora, I decided that I would reconfigure all my hardware, especially my Motorola HT820 headphones. In the past in Fedora 9&10 getting these headphones setup properly took ridiculous amounts of hacking of config files, sacrifices of virgins, and even a few acts of Congress. Additionally, the Advanced Audio (A2DP) profile would only work in applications that used the gstreamer multimedia framework. In F11, I was able to setup my headphones completely using the GNOME Bluetooth wizard. Initially, the headphones were using the Headset/Handsfree (HSP/HFP) profile. A quick change in a dropbox to change the profile to A2DP & another checkbox to tell PulseAudio (the sound server) to use the headphones as the default audio sink was all that was needed to get up and running. Next, off for some functionality testing:
- Advanced Audio Profile (A2DP) – Can I hear clear, non-crackly stereo audio? – Check
- Audio Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP) – Can I control my AV applications volume up/down and track forward/back from my headphones? Works in Rhythmbox, Banshee, Totem. No go in VLC. 3 out of 4 ain’t bad – Check
- Proper Audio/Video Synchronization – A2DP headsets generally introduce a small (0.25-0.50sec) delay which makes audio in movies and other video files seem out-of-sync. In the past, I would have to figure out via trial and error what the correct value was to offset this via PulseAudio. I fired up a couple of movies to include a couple of 1080p MKVs with DTS audio streams. Audio was synched with no hiccups. – Check
- Full PulseAudio Support – Do my headphones show up in the PulseAudio control panel (pavucontrol) as a full audio sink? That is, can I route any and all sounds on my system (beeps, music, etc) to the headphones from here without needing to do anything special within specific applications to configure it. – Check
- Multiple Audio Streams – Can I hear audio from multiple applications simultaneously? – Check
- Performance Under Load – Under heavy system load, will my audio skip? I decided to overload the CPUs & I/O schedulers to see if the audio would skip. On my system I issued openssl speed -multi 5 to thrash the CPUs and find / -type f -exec cp {} /dev/null \; to work the disks. Audio played without a hiccup – Check
I think my Sennheiser’s may be nearing obsolescence very quickly now that my bluetooth headphones are working good enough and they give me the mobility to enjoy my music anywhere in the house. All in all, +1 for Fedora 11 Preview on the PulseAudio & Bluetooth front
* – For the record, a BFU is a “Big Fricking Upgrade” – not to be partaken in without verified backups.
Posted under: Linux
How did you switch between headset mode and A2DP? I don’t see a dropdown.
In the PulseAudio Volume Control applet, under the Configuration tab. See the attached link (http://www.outsidaz.org/blog/wp-content/gallery/misc/screenshot-volume-control.png). The drop down won’t appear unless your headphones are connected.
I wish this worked for me in Fedora 11. I have a Plantronics Voyager 855 headset that supports A2DP and AVRCP. I am able to pair it fine. When I choose A2DP in pavucontrol, nothing changes. If I choose off, then choose A2DP, they stay off! The only profile that does anything is HSP/HFP.
I was able to solve my problem using the advice at https://tango.0pointer.de/pipermail/pulseaudio-discuss/2009-April/003698.html
I created /etc/bluetooth/audio.conf with the contents
[Headset]
HFP=true
restarted the blueooth service, and connected my headset. Now I’m able to switch between HFP and A2DP without a problem.
I just wish that either bluetooth-applet or gnome-volume-control-applet allowed me to switch between the two profiles.