No way to tell which Bluetooth devices are active, nearby, or otherwise valid.

[tz]

I have three Jawbone model headsets, two version 1 and one version 2.

When I do "browse device" to try to find my new unpaired jawbone, it shows three "Jawbone" entries, two are miles away, but I can't tell which is which. There is no way of displaying the BT address, or just showing ones it sees in a current scan.

I also have two identical GRays-1 GPS units. Same problem.

The Bluetooth manager should have a way of displaying active devices and pairing with them.

It seems like current behaviour is to display every device it has ever seen.

[Gabriel Bauman (gabrielbauman)]

Thanks for your report. I've updated the title of your report to be more specific.

Which release of Ubuntu are you using?

Please attach the output of `apt-cache policy gnome-bluetooth` and `lsb_release -r`to this report.

Also, please be aware that the next release of Ubuntu (Intrepid) has a reworked Bluetooth subsystem with a new user interface. You may wish to consider upgrading.

Also, I'm envious of your Jawbone hardware.

[Onkar Shinde (onkarshinde)]

'Browse Device ...' is for bluetooth devices with file systems not for headsets.

[tz (thomas-mich)]

Having a bunch of packages with blue*-gnome/gnome-blue* that launch pieces from each other makes things confusing. There is "bluetooth-properties" program that shows it, and the other one displays EVERY bluetooth device when you select Browse Device, not just those which have any possibility of file transfer.

There is nothing quite like the Nokia N810 Maemo bluetooth applet which actually manages bluetooth devices, lets me find, rename, organize, and pair them. Perhaps that should be ported, but the fragmented support under Ubuntu (Hardy and earlier) is what I have and must use for now. I hope Intrepid is better as it sounds like it, but I'm waiting for the official release next week (DVD so I can do three plus computers) and wasn't aware the BT UI was going to be redone.

Here is the apt-cache policy output and lsb release

gnome-bluetooth:
  Installed: 0.11.0-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 0.11.0-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 0.11.0-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy/universe Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

bluez-gnome:
  Installed: 0.25-0ubuntu1
  Candidate: 0.25-0ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 0.25-0ubuntu1 0
        500 http://archive.ubuntu.com hardy/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

# lsb_release -r
Release: 8.04

[tz (thomas-mich)]

Intrepid doesn't work yet due to a different bug (284994), but technically my report is not a bug with this particular package so I'm changing the status to invalid, and moving to the other bug (where I already submitted a patch which works but is a bit of a hack).