Mebster Posted October 4, 2006 Share Posted October 4, 2006 I'm considering trying to get Bluetooth on my hackintosh and was going to buy a Bluetooth dongle from ebay UK. I was just wondering if I could more or less get any or is there something I need to look out for (manufactures/models...)? Does OSX generally work well with them or is tweaking necessary? Anyone had any bad experience? Are there any other advice? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Also when they say 100M, does that mean it will normally go through walls as wifi does and maybe give you 30M or less? Basically I'm hoping to try and get my mobile phone (cell phone for some of you) Bluetooth headset to work with skype or another program which allows VOIP PC-PC. We only have one PC at home to I would like to be able to walk while and talk a certain distance while someone else uses the PC. Thanks for any help Does anyone know if I can use a bluetooth headset somehow with Skype, MSN, iChat,...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
munky Posted October 4, 2006 Share Posted October 4, 2006 i got a 10M dongle off ebay, some hong kong supplier, and it works out of the box. i'll check later when i'm at home to see what make/model it is. afaik most usb bluetooth dongles should work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mebster Posted October 4, 2006 Author Share Posted October 4, 2006 Thanks dude, if you could possibly tell me the sellers name I could possibly buy from him . BTW for usb dongles they are all Hong Kong suppliers lol. Also if your one is a 100M one then will you be able to tell me roughly how far you can walk away through and still pick up a signal. When I mean walk away, I mean from one room to another and still get a decent signal. Actually, does bluetooth work through walls at all like wifi? Once again, Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mebster Posted October 4, 2006 Author Share Posted October 4, 2006 Bluetooth comes in two classes: Class I which has a range of "up to" 100 metres with a power of up to 100mW, and Class II, which has a range of "up to" 10 metres, using a power of 1mW. Of course, you need a Class I unit at both ends to get the increased range: the communication has to be two-way. (so my bluetooth heardset has to also support 100M?) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bluetooth devices can be in 3 different power classes: Class 3 : The lowest power, the max. range of this is 10m (30 feet) Class 2 : Max range is about 50m (150ft) Class 1 : Max range is about 100m (300ft) These ranges can be affected by environmental conditions i.e. furniture, walls, people so ranges can easily be reduced. Bluetooth is not a line of sight connection so it can be used through walls and floors. (nice) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saddam lennon Posted October 5, 2006 Share Posted October 5, 2006 i have a trust dongle. had a hard time to get it working under windows xp several months ago. and under os x.. it was amazing how quickly and smoothly it worked out of the box. plus syncing you mobile phone is incredibly easy - also out of the box. i reckon you should buy a quality dongle, and it will just work. greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonz14 Posted October 5, 2006 Share Posted October 5, 2006 I have a the $20 USB dongle they sell at my local Walmart, I think the brand is IO Gear or somethin like that. It didn't take me any set up at all I just plugged it in and it worked fine. It is easy to set up the devices also, it took me about a minute to set up my Razr. And my Apple Bluetooth keyboard and Bluetooth Mighty Mouse work with it although it says on specifications that you have to have a Mac with internal Bluetooth or a Dlink adapter (the only one supported by Apple) although everything works perfect with my cheap one. P.S. The keyboard and mouse work perfect and have great response, alot better than my old Microsoft wireless desktop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Wang Posted October 5, 2006 Share Posted October 5, 2006 I use Gigabyte GN-BTD02, works great! GN-BTD01 also works. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mebster Posted October 5, 2006 Author Share Posted October 5, 2006 Thanks guys for all your help. Do any of you use a bluetooth headset for ichat/msn/skype....? Also can you give me some idea of how far (how many rooms maybe away) you can go with your USB (mobile, headset, printer) device if you have the 100M range type, and still get a good reception? I would like to be able to talk through skype using my bluetooth headset while someone else uses the pc. ATM we only have 1 pc (until i get another) and so i would like to stand as far away as possible and still talk clearly over bluetooth. Thanks a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichalK Posted October 5, 2006 Share Posted October 5, 2006 Thanks guys for all your help.Do any of you use a bluetooth headset for ichat/msn/skype....? Also can you give me some idea of how far (how many rooms maybe away) you can go with your USB (mobile, headset, printer) device if you have the 100M range type, and still get a good reception? I would like to be able to talk through skype using my bluetooth headset while someone else uses the pc. ATM we only have 1 pc (until i get another) and so i would like to stand as far away as possible and still talk clearly over bluetooth. The first step is to get a proper dongle. True, most of the dongles work with OSX out of the box, however not all of them do support Headset profile (if you try to pair it with a headset it will display "Your hardware does not support headsets"). According to Apple, only apple built-in BT and old D-link DBT120 can provide you headset connectivity with OSX. I've found that Bluetake's BT007sx (100m) and BT009sx (10m) dongles should support headsets, and gave them a try buying BT007sx. Now with the Bluetake I can pair it with my plantronics explorer 320, which is indicated as "Connected" but still no luck - the headset is not listed in AudioOUT/AudioIN devices hence cannot select it for Skype/iChatAV. I don't know if it's the matter of Hackintosh (10.4.6 currently), Bluetake's dongle (seems to be working fine in contrary to my previous Broadcomm based CC&C tech) or Plantronics Explorer 320 (probably if it was called the Finder 320 it could work better, LOL). Maybe someone will guide me on how to proceed further. Michal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
386dx Posted October 5, 2006 Share Posted October 5, 2006 Salam, I am usig a cheap bluetooth calss1 usb device. It works fine with my phone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
386dx Posted October 5, 2006 Share Posted October 5, 2006 USB bluetooth device working great with mobil phone @ 20 m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichalK Posted October 6, 2006 Share Posted October 6, 2006 I am usig a cheap bluetooth calss1 usb device. It works fine with my phone. Hi, What about the headset? Most of the dongles off ebay will provide bluetooth connectivity with the phone; however, headset support seem to be quite limited... Michal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichalK Posted October 6, 2006 Share Posted October 6, 2006 Finally i've managed to solve my bluetooth headset problem (headset paired but not indicated in AudioIN / AudioOUT ). The solution was to update the IOAudioFamily.kext from 1.5.6 (installed with JaS 10.4.6 DVD) to 1.5.8 (which can be found there: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...mp;#entry140433 ). Copy the IOAudiofamily.kext over the old one, repair permissions, clear kext cache and you're done. Yuppii!!!! Michal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mebster Posted October 6, 2006 Author Share Posted October 6, 2006 The first step is to get a proper dongle. True, most of the dongles work with OSX out of the box, however not all of them do support Headset profile (if you try to pair it with a headset it will display "Your hardware does not support headsets"). According to Apple, only apple built-in BT and old D-link DBT120 can provide you headset connectivity with OSX. I've found that Bluetake's BT007sx (100m) and BT009sx (10m) dongles should support headsets, and gave them a try buying BT007sx. Now with the Bluetake I can pair it with my plantronics explorer 320, which is indicated as "Connected" but still no luck - the headset is not listed in AudioOUT/AudioIN devices hence cannot select it for Skype/iChatAV. I don't know if it's the matter of Hackintosh (10.4.6 currently), Bluetake's dongle (seems to be working fine in contrary to my previous Broadcomm based CC&C tech) or Plantronics Explorer 320 (probably if it was called the Finder 320 it could work better, LOL). Maybe someone will guide me on how to proceed further. Michal Thanks a lot for the information mate. I honestly had no idea and now am better prepared. Appreciate it. Salam, I am usig a cheap bluetooth calss1 usb device. It works fine with my phone. Wa alaikum assalam brother/sister emmmmm... can’t really tell with your user name. Then again mine isn’t to clear either. Thanks for the info. 20M isn't bad at all. Finally i've managed to solve my bluetooth headset problem (headset paired but not indicated in AudioIN / AudioOUT ). The solution was to update the IOAudioFamily.kext from 1.5.6 (installed with JaS 10.4.6 DVD) to 1.5.8 (which can be found there: http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?sho...mp;#entry140433 ). Copy the IOAudiofamily.kext over the old one, repair permissions, clear kext cache and you're done. Yuppii!!!! Michal Nice!!! Thanks for sharing the solution. Hope when I get my bluetooth dongle it works flawlessly with my headset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zedzed Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 Has anyone tried this BT adapter? IOGEAR GBU321 http://www.iogear.com/main.php?loc=product&Item=GBU321 It is BT v2.0 and Class 1 Their page says "This Bluetooth Class 1 adapter is compatible with both PC and Mac, and offers a wireless range of 330 feet (100 meter). " - Wirelessly communicate with Bluetooth-enabled computers, printers, PDAs cell phones, headsets and more - Supports the following services: Serial Port, Network Access, Dial Up Networking, headset, AV, File Transfer, Audio Gateway, HID Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macgirl Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 I have the IOGear old one 100M (Class 1 only) but it worked fineon my PC when I didn't have an Airport on my PowerBook and I used to share my Internet connection then. I tested with my Hackintosh, it enables the Bluetooth Menu and Preference Panel but it didn't detect any of my devices. But my MS BT Dongle (Class 2) but only 10M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unkwntech Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 Asalam Alakum- Does anyone know if there is a solution to the lack of support for headsets... I have a Belkin F8T012 and I would like to use my headset... preticularly since the MIC on my sound card doesn't work. I am using 10.4.5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeSuKuN Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 (edited) I've just bought a Conceptronic 200m BT USB dongle priced at 12€ (less than 10$) and works perfectly, slightly faster than in windows and perfect signal all over my home (>80square meters) haven't tried audio yet but my wiimote, my laptops and my cellphone connected properly. Supports OSX officially(It's written on the box) Edited March 13, 2007 by NeSuKuN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mebster Posted April 7, 2007 Author Share Posted April 7, 2007 Does anyone know if I can use a bluetooth headset somehow with Skype, MSN, iChat,...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macgirl Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 I add that to my I'll try it later list Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vipersfate Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 My friend handed me a Bluetooth dongle one day, and I decided, hey, lets try it. It works! as stated before Mac has a lot of support for BT, it's popular! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedna Posted April 7, 2007 Share Posted April 7, 2007 I have an MMTek USB bluetooth dongle with Broadcom chipset, and works like a charm. I'm starting to think that ALL USB bluetooth dongles work with Mac OS X but don't quote me on that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mebster Posted April 7, 2007 Author Share Posted April 7, 2007 I think we all agree bluetooths work on mac very easily so can we move on to the other question. Has anyone got any to work with a bluetooth headset to work with MSN, Skype, ....? What distances do you got with your bluetooth (state what distance it's listed to be able to reach)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vipersfate Posted April 8, 2007 Share Posted April 8, 2007 Anything further than about 5 feet for me, the connected started to fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
InsanelyOne Posted April 13, 2007 Share Posted April 13, 2007 I think we all agree bluetooths work on mac very easily so can we move on to the other question. Has anyone got any to work with a bluetooth headset to work with MSN, Skype, ....? Agreed!! Has anybody gotten a bluetooth headset (I have a Plantronics Pulsar 590A) working? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts