Ubuntu Linux has excellent support for bluetooth devices which can greatly ease you in transferring files between your bluetooth mobile handset/pda/any bluetooth device and computer. So lets give it a shot.
Pairing your Ubuntu System and mobile phone
- Switch on the bluetooth dongle of your laptop/computer . Also turn on the bluetooth of your mobile device . Make sure that visibility is set to true in your mobile phone.
- Now to configure bluetooth settings for your ubuntu system , start the terminal and type the following command.
leisurehours@wordpress-laptop:~$ bluetooth-properties
This will bring a gui configuration window for bluetooth.
- Set the visibility setting to Always Visible or Temporary Visible depending upon your usage.You can also set a name for your ubuntu system which other devices will see.
- Next step is to pair your mobile phone with ubuntu system. When two bluetooth devices are paired , they do not need confirmation for transferring files between each other.In the bluetooth preferences window as shown in earlier point, click on the plus sign button to add a new device .
- Bluetooth Device Wizard window will appear. Click on Forward button.
- Bluetooth Device Wizard will search for bluetooth devices and display a list of all the devices.
- With mouse select the device which you want to pair . In my case it is a Nokia 6500 mobile phone with name 6500. Select any option for the pin code. But remember that you will be require d to enter the same pin code in your mobile phone.I am using Automatic Pin Code Selection here.
Click on forward button.
- Pairing with the mobile phone will be initiated . In the next window , a pass code is generated .A prompt also appears in mobile phone which asks for confirmation for pairing. Accept the pairing invitation and in mobile phone ,it will ask for pass code which was generated in Bluetooth Device Setup window in ubuntu. Enter that pass code here.
- If everything happens fine , a window appears that indicates successful pairing.
Transferring files between ubuntu system and mobile phone
There are two methods of accessing files b/w mobile phone and ubuntu system.
Method 1
- If you want to transfer multiple files , then you should use bluetooth-browse method . In this method , you access your mobile phone like any other storage media like memory card , flash drive through nautilus.Start terminal and type the following command.
leisurehours@wordpress-laptop:~$ bluetooth-browseSelect Device dialog box will appear which will display a list of all the bluetooth devices in range.
Select your mobile phone ( in my case 6500) and click connect.
- Your mobile phone will be displayed in file browser ( nautilus) and now you can move , cut , copy , paste whatever files you like.
- An icon will be also shown on desktop for your mobile phone .You can also access your phone through this icon. When you are done with transfer, Right Click this icon for mobile phone and select ‘Unmount’.
Method 2
- To transfer individual files from your ubuntu system, select that file with mouse , right-click and select Send To option.
- Or start the terminal and type the following command.leisurehours@wordpress-laptop:~$ bluetooth-sendto .
A file chooser dialog box will appear and select the file which you want to send.
Send To dialog box will appear showing a list of mobile devices in range. Select the device and click Send and it is done.
You can also access each of this function through a bluetooth icon in the notification area. If you do not see this icon in your notification area , it can be enabled by following command.
leisurehours@wordpress-laptop:~$ bluetooth-applet
A blue coloured icon for bluetooth will appear in notification area.You can access each of the above function through this icon.
Was not it really easy to access your mobile phones through ubuntu . No PC suite and driver woes as in windows. Happy Ubuntuing.
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I just came across this guide. It’s helpful, but in Ubuntu 10.10 I had to download an extra package called “personal file sharing preferences.” I made some notes here.
Cheers,
Matt
bluetooth-browse is not working in my system. I’m using Ubuntu 10.04. Isn’t that command supported? Is there an alternative?