[How To] RPi Bluetooth Audio Receiver on latest Xbian [30/05/2016]

[abdulmueid]

Hi All,

After A LOT of trial and error, I have simplified the process of getting RPi to work as a Bluetooth Audio receiver on the latest release of Xbian with Raspberry Pi 3 using the built-in bluetooth module. I hope this can be helpful to someone.

Open up ssh/terminal and run the following commands:

Install Packages

Terminal

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install pulseaudio-module-bluetooth bluez-tools

Notes: Fairly straightforward step. Preferably do a clean install to avoid any configuration issues.

Add users to groups

Terminal

sudo gpasswd -a xbian pulse
sudo gpasswd -a xbian lp
sudo gpasswd -a pulse lp
sudo gpasswd -a xbian audio
sudo gpasswd -a pulse audio

Setup PulseAudio & Bluetooth Device

Terminal

sudo sh -c "echo 'extra-arguments = --exit-idle-time=-1 --log-target=syslog' >> /etc/pulse/client.conf"
sudo hciconfig hci0 up
sudo hciconfig hci0 class 0x200420
sudo reboot

Add Bluetooth Device

Terminal

sudo bluetoothctl

The following commands inside bluetoothctl only needs to run once only when setting up:

Terminal

agent KeyboardOnly
default-agent

The following commands inside bluetoothctl needs to run every time you need to add a new device:

Terminal

scan on
pair xx:xx:xx:...
trust xx:xx:xx:...
exit

Notes: Make your phone/tablet's Bluetooth discoverable before executing `scan on`. Wait for a minute until your device is discovered and MAC address is displayed. Use the MAC address in the pair & trust steps.
After exiting bluetoothctl, initiate the connection from the paired phone/tablet, and play some music

Let me know if this works out for you.