I saw this same issue in Gentoo Linux, and also suspecting kernel. I haven't gotten a chance to try newer kernels but 3.8.13-gentoo exhibits this issue 100% of the time.
Since I had to apply a patch (probably same as used for other distros whose NM works with BT out of the box) for Gentoo's Networkmanager to see the bluetooth rfcomm, I figure that this would be tough to get support from Gentoo side (I wonder why this patch hasn't made its way upstream?)
I saw this same issue in Gentoo Linux, and also suspecting kernel. I haven't gotten a chance to try newer kernels but 3.8.13-gentoo exhibits this issue 100% of the time.
Since I had to apply a patch (probably same as used for other distros whose NM works with BT out of the box) for Gentoo's Networkmanager to see the bluetooth rfcomm, I figure that this would be tough to get support from Gentoo side (I wonder why this patch hasn't made its way upstream?)