Fixing Bluetooth and Wireless (WiFi) Issues

Disclaimer: This blog article is for experienced Linux users who installed Fedora XFCE - my recommendation is to add the full Cinnamon desktop package or better yet, install Fedora Mate.

***Update for June 28, 2015: Removed WICD since I do not want to alter the DHCP client settings. Unblocked wifi using /usr/sbin/rfkill as desktop session setting.

***Update for June 14, 2015: a full Cinnamon, MATE or XFCE4 Desktop install is the alternate to figuring out GNOME and GNOME Classic. Openbox does not show a panel by default. Fedora is definitely for the experienced Linux user.

***Update for June 13, 2015: Adding the Mate Desktop improved everything. For anyone bold enough to make the jump to Fedora or even Mint Linux, the Mate Desktop installation is recommended. If you depend on Bluetooth and WiFi, then please choose Mate Desktop.

In the following article, I have documented my experience installing and using the XFCE4 Desktop version of Fedora 21. Since May, I have upgraded to Fedora 22 and added Mate Desktop.

Despite adding a script (start_dnsmasq) to enable local DNS, it still has to be run in a terminal. My guess is, Fedora considers such a script to violate security policy and will not run it. I have clicked on System: Preferences: Personal: Startup Applications to add it to the startup applications but Fedora does not run my script. Thus, I will continue to run the script from the terminal.

Wicd was installed, replacing wifi-radar. WiFi is currently detected by the system. My guess is, wifi-radar might have "forgotten" wifi when I opted to use a wired connection rather than WiFi. Perhaps Gnome might have "assumed" that WiFi wasn't needed anymore, resulting in no WiFi.

In any case, the Mate Desktop is much more to my liking than Gnome was.

***UPDATE: I have resisted as far as I could, but now am running Chrome browser, but it still isn't fast as the Firefox. In a new post on my blog, I will tell you how much fun it is to work with Fedora!!

XFCE4 is light, so light that they decided to program Fedora to turn off Bluetooth and eventually the WiFi network via rfkill.

According to the developer of Cinnamon, the workaround is to install these bluedevil packages:

bluedevil.i686
bluedevil-autostart.i686
libbluedevil.i686

For details, see: http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showpost.php?p=1685034&postcount=4
Thank you, leigh123linux, for the suggestion of using bluedevil.
Note: Blueooth does not work with XFCE4, LXDE, LxQT, and Cinnamon.

It only works with Gnome. So upgrade to Gnome.

— SHK 20150517.0320 UDT

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After installing Fedora 21 on my EeePC 1000HE last Tuesday (May 5), I could not get Bluetooth to work. By Wednesday, I had lost wireless and only had a LAN connection.

On Sunday (yesterday), I decided to tackle the problem since the only time Fedora would detect WiFi was by plugging in a WiFi USB adapter.

After checking /var/log/messages and /var/log/messages-20150510, I discovered that only the ethernet network adapter worked:

lshw is run showing the Class "network" entry for the Ethernet interface. Even though the Atheros is a Gigabit or Fast Ethernet, my LAN cable is CAT.5E, and thus limits the speed to 100 Mbit/s.

I also discovered that the netbook's WiFi adapter uses the ath9k module for the Qualcomm Atheros AR9280 WiFi chipset:

So I found the solution here: http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showpost.php?p=1729572&postcount=5

> I installed rfkill and lshw
...
> prompted rfkill list = Soft blocked = no and Hard blocked = no

In my case I got the following:

$ rfkill list
0: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no
1: asus-wlan: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no
2: asus-bluetooth: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no
3: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no


and here: http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showpost.php?p=1489711&postcount=2

> rfkill unblock all

Similarly, I unblocked all the soft blocked interfaces (bluetooth and wireless):
$ rfkill unblock all && rfkill list

$ rfkill list
0: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
1: asus-wlan: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
2: asus-bluetooth: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
3: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no

After unblocking the netbook's wireless and Bluetooth interfaces, I then used modprobe to install the ath9k module:

$ sudo modprobe ath9k

This loads all the ath9k-related modules - ath, ath9k, ath9k_common and ath9k_hw with the associated 802.11-related modules, cfg80211 and mac80211:

$ lsmod|grep ath
ath9k 112655 0
ath9k_common 29490 1 ath9k
ath9k_hw 433891 2 ath9k_common,ath9k
ath 23507 3 ath9k_common,ath9k,ath9k_hw
mac80211 597573 1 ath9k
cfg80211 461788 4 ath,ath9k_common,ath9k,mac80211

Once the Atheros modules are installed, it is trivial to set up the WiFi network using the NetworkManager-applet.

After bluetooth is unblocked and enabled, the solution to enable bluetooth for the plain vanilla Fedora 21 XFCE is to install Cinnamon and its related packages:

cinnamon.i686
cinnamon-control-center.i686
cinnamon-screensaver.i686
cinnamon-session.i686
cinnamon-desktop.i686
cinnamon-menus.i686

Here's a screenshot from my netbook showing the configuration menu in Cinnamon:

By clicking on the Bluetooth and/or Networking icons, the configuration menu may be viewed and can be edited.

Specifically the networking area consists of Wired (LAN), Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The Nexus 4 entry refers to my smartphone which is a paired device which can be used to provide internet via the phone's data service. The Bluetooth entry shows a connected device (the smartphone) which uses the netbook as an audio device.

After reflection on my original Bluetooth issue with the XFCE version of Fedora 21, I could have saved myself the hassle of this issue by installing Fedora 21 Gnome.

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This article would not have happened without the help of Google Search - "Google is your friend!"

Kudos to two members of Fedora Forums:

1. feihuhotain for providing the tip for installing lshw and rfkill, and using rfkill to list the wireless interface (Bluetooth and WiFi), and
2. aks for providing the tip for using rfkill to unblock all the software blocks of wireless interfaces.

Fedora Forums: http://forums.fedoraforum.org/

My Next Music Album (satire)

In this article, I am going to write about the creation of my next music album. With the help of two Android apps on my Nexus 4 smartphone and four Linux programs on my PC, a song is created using two source audio tracks derived from two video files created by one of the apps.

Please note that I have used javascript code to hide and show text depending on the familiarity of my followers with the Android apps and Linux programs mentioned in the rest of this article.

None of the links in the main text of this article will crash your computer and the link at the very end of the references points to the author of the code.

My reason for calling this article satire is that I could have written it without hiding any text at all. Then it would have only made sense to a fellow Linux hobbyist who also owns a smartphone with the same specifications as a Nexus 4, and wants to use the Android apps and Linux programs mentioned in the main text to create song too.

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Currently I am using my smartphone to create my next album, Sound of Colors Remixes with the help of the Android app, Color Sounds.

Using the Camera option of Color Sounds, I can create two Flash videos in which the video stream is used to create the audio stream of each video.

Once the videos are made, they are transferred to my PC using Bluetooth.

The following instructions assumes familiarity with Linux and with Blueman applet and familiarity with Nautilus and the Android app Color Sounds. It also assumes the user has Bluetooth File Transfer app on his Android phone and familiarity with using Blueman to pair and trust a phone with his PC.

For Bluetooth connectivity, my phone is paired with and trusted by my PC.

On my phone (a Nexus 4) I use the Bluetooth File Transfer app to turn on Bluetooth

On the PC, I use the Blueman applet to mount the phone's storage folder and use the file manager Nautilus.

After left clicking on the Blueman applet on the PC to bring up the Bluetooth Device window, I then highlight my smartphone and left clicking on the Browse button to access the smartphone.

(The alternative to the previous action is to right click on the Blueman applet on the PC to bring up the menu and left clicking on the Browse Files on Device option.)

After the previous action, the Nautilus window will appear showing storage folder contents on the phone labelled as a mount with the name of the Bluetooth identity of the phone e.g. Nexus4.

In the "Color Sounds" folder are the two video files.

Each file is named in the format of "camera_YYYYNNNN_HHMMSS.flv" where YYYY is the four-digit number corresponding to the year (e.g. 2014), NNNN is the session number which may be from 0001 to 9999 (e.g. 0004), and HHMMSS is the time from 00000 to 235959 (e.g. 190824). E.g. camera_20140004_190824.

Both files are cut from the "Color Sounds" folder on the phone and pasted into an appropriate subdirectory (e.g. nexus4/color_sounds) in the "video" folder of the user's home directory (e.g. ~/video) on the Linux PC.

After transferring both files from the phone to the PC, unmount the phone's storage folder and disconnect the phone using the Blueman applet.

Bluetooth is disconnected by accessing the Bluetooth Devices window which may still be on the desktop. If not, then right click on the Blueman applet to bring up the menu and left clicking on "Devices...".

At the top of the Bluetooth Devices window that appears is a tool list labelled Adapter, Device, View and Help. Left-click on Device:Disconnect.

Once the video files are on my PC, I convert them into MP3 audio files using the audio conversion program Gnac.

The following instructions assumes familiarity with the file manager Thunar. Actions used in Thunar assume each directory is displayed as Icons. It also assumes familiarity with Gnac. See Gnac manual for more instructions on use and how to select MP3.

Highlight both video files "camera_20140004_190824.flv" and "camera_201400004_191004.flv".

While mouse pointer is hovering over the highlighted files, right click and pick Rename...

The "Rename Multiple Files" window appears. It consists of an action area headlined with "Name" and "New Name".

Below the action area are the left action button and the right action button.

When the left action button is left clicked, a pick list consisting of seven actions (Audio Tags, Insert Date/Time, Insert/Overwrite, Numbering, Remove Characters, Search & Replace, Uppercase/Lowercase) appear.

When the right action button is left clicked, the pick list of Name only, Suffix only, and Name and Suffix appear.

A file-name consists of a file Name ("camera_20140004_190824") and a Suffix ("flv"). If you choose Name only, then the action described in the left action button only affects the name "camera_20140004_190824". If you choose Suffix only, then the action described in the left action button only affects the suffix "flv". If you only choose Name and Suffix, then the action described in the left action button affects the name and suffix ""camera_20140004_190824.flv".

Below the left and right action buttons is the options area which provides entry areas in context with the action chosen for the left action button.

In context with Search & Replace, there are two entry areas, Search For: and Replace With:.

After the "Rename Multiple Files" window appears, below the Name | New Name action area, choose "Search & Replace" from the left action button.

Check and make sure the right action button is set to "Name only".

First we change "0004" to "0110" in both video files, "camera_20140004_190824.flv" and "camera_201400004_191004.flv".

In the Search For: entry area enter "0004" and in the Replace With: entry area "0110"

Then left click on the Rename Files button.

The action area under New Name should list the files with the new filenames "camera_20140110_190824.flv" and "camera_20140110_191004.flv"

After renaming both files, close the Rename Multiple Files window.

Run Gnac.

Add "camera_20140110_190824.flv" and "camera_20140110_191004.flv" by left clicking on the plus button.

Choose the files in the subdirectory "videos/nexus4/color_sounds" of the user's home directory and left click on the Add button.

Then the audio files "camera_20140110_190824.mp3" and "camera_20140110_191004.mp3" are created by selecting MP3 and clicking on the Convert button.

At this point I move the two MP3 files to the appropriate subdirectory in the "music" folder of the user's home directory (e.g. ~/music/colorsounds) using the file manager Thunar.

In the "color_sounds" subfolder, highlight both audio files "camera_20140110_190824.mp3" and "camera_20140110_191004.mp3".

Right click on the highlighted files to bring up the menu action list and left click on Cut.

Create the subdirectory "colorsounds" in the "music" subdirectory of the user's home directory.

Then go to the subdirectory "colorsounds".

Right click to bring the menu action list and left click on Paste.

Highlight and right click on each audio files. Choose "Rename" from the pick list.

Rename file name in numerical sequence such as "Colorsounds001".

Click on "Rename" button to rename.

Repeat previous action on the remaining audio file.

You should have two audio files named "colorsounds001.mp3" and "colorsounds002.mp3".

After the audio files are created on my PC, I note the time length for each video using the sound editor Audacity.

Assumes familiarity with Audacity.

Run Audacity

Import the first file into Audacity and note the time length for that file on a piece of paper. Then undo the import.

Repeat import for the second audio file.

Then pick one of the audio files to be the main source track and adjust the time length of the remaining file to match the main source track. Next import the remaining audio file and perform "Mix and Render" on both tracks.

Asssumes familiarity with Audacity.
Assumes Audacity was not closed since previous action.
Assumes the audio files "colorsounds001.mp3" and "colorsounds002.mp3".
Assumes that "colorsounds001.mp3" has a time length of 34.725 seconds and "colorsounds002.mp3" has a time length of 40.125 seconds. The audio file chosen is "colorsounds002.mp3".

Import "colorsounds001.mp3" into Audacity.
Set Tempo so that the new time length will be 40.125 seconds.

Import "colorsounds002.mp3" into Audacity.

Select "Mix and Render" and commit to this action.

You should have one stereo track.

Create your song with a time length of between three and six minutes long.

Assumes Audacity is still running

With the stereo track just created, select all of the track by left clicking on the left information area of the track.

Mark and copy the whole track. Then paste the copy at the end of the current track.

Repeat the previous two instructions until you obtain a track greater than three minutes and less than six minutes.

Using the audio plugins Stereo Reverb, adjust Stereo Reverb for a large room, and click on OK button to confirm. Normalize the track. Check sound quality.

Use the Echo Delay Line or Feedback Delay Line as needed and click on OK button to confirm. Normalize the track. Check sound quality.

While the sound quality is not to your tastes do the following three steps until Step 4 is met:

1) Use Equalize set to RIAA. Click on OK button to confirm

2) Use C * Scape: Stereo delay & filters. Set bpm (beats per minute) to either 124.5 or 144.5 - I would suggest 144.5 for a fast rhythm. Set divider to 2, 3 or 4. I suggest 4. Set feedback to 0.75, dry to 0.25 and leave blend at 0.75 - note that you may change these settings according to your tastes. Click on OK button to confirm.

3) Normalize the track and check sound quality.

4) If the sound quality of the whole track is to your liking, then save the song to your album wherever on your disk you keep your new album and songs.

It is feasible to use Color Sounds on your smartphone to create a three to six minute movie if you have the room on your smartphone.

Just be aware that a 18 second video is approximately 33 megabytes (MB) long while a 34 second video is approximately 43 MB and a 40 second video is approximately 52 MB.

So total file size may vary from 1.26 to 1.83 times the time length, depending on the audio and video streams.

This implies that a three minute (180 second) video could vary from 227 MB to 330 MB in size or perhaps larger.

Then you could just convert the videos made to an MP3 audio file and use that as the source audio stream for your song.

However, the larger size of the video file would result in long wait times for the resulting audio file.

Therefore it is recommended to create video files of no longer than a minute at the most. Then convert to audio files, and use them to create your songs.

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Reference:

Android Apps at Google Play:

Both apps work on a Nexus 4 smartphone running Android version 4.4.3. Please test them out and see if they work on your smartphone.

Color Sounds: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.androidideas.colorsounds
See also at Android Ideas: http://androidideas.org/colorsounds/

Bluetooth File Transfer: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=it.medieval.blueftp
See also at Medieval Software: http://www.medieval.it/blueftp-android/menu-id-68.html


Linux Programs:

I currently use the waldorf version of Crunch Bang Linux. Most of the programs listed below works best on a Debian-based Linux. However, I have not tested any of them on any other system. Windows versions of the follow programs may or may not work as described.

Audacity: fast, cross-platform audio editor; http://audacity.sourceforge.net

Gnac: audio converter for GNOME; http://gnac.sf.net/

Nautilus: file manager and graphical shell for GNOME; http://www.gnome.org/projects/nautilus/

Thunar: File Manager for Xfce; http://www.xfce.org/

Show/hide text code used in this article is from: http://webtechnote.blogspot.ca/2012/09/showhide-text-in-blogger-with-javascript.html - Thank you, Garoner Geoffrey for providing this code.

Review of Rockfish RF-SPX15-T

Apologies about the poor quality of the video. I was playing around lo-fi special effects, handmade with loving care. :)

Today's review is the Rockfish RF-SPX15-T, a Bluetooth speaker that I got free in a smartphone deal with my Best Buy Mobile dealer.

Here is the speaker bonded to the iPhone 4. I make no money for this video as it has copyrighted content, so Youtube will get its 100%.

It's a great speaker and has some audio distortion at maximum volume due to the form factor. Though, distortion is relative to the environment. A bunch of party-goers won't care about the sound as much as a sober audiophile.

Though I tend to think audiophiles who think good audio can be objectively evaluated forget that psychoacoustic properties are mostly subjective.

YMMV