# The Goal:
I would like to make a pineapple module that uses a bluetooth radio plugged into the USB port. The goal for version 1.0 is to simply list bluetooth devices in range. I chose the Tetra because of its storage space, I originally tried this on the nano, but because there is only ~2MB of storage, it becomes difficult to install the kernel modules and bluetooth libraries to the SD card, so once I get it working on the Tetra I will figure out how to deploy the same solution to the nano.
# The Setup:
Wifi Pineapple Tetra running version 1.0.2 of the firmware. I started this with a fresh install of the firmware by performing the ‘firmware recovery’ steps from this page: https://www.wifipineapple.com/pages/faq (except your IP address needs to be 192.168.1.2).
# Update the opkg cache:
root@Pineapple:~# opkg update
# Install kmod-bluetooth
Next we need to install the bluetooth kernel module, but the one in the pineapple repos is out of date. running ‘opkg list | grep bluetooth’ shows version 3.18.20-1 while ‘uname -r’ shows 3.18.23. If you run ‘opkg install kmod-bluetooth’ you will get an error that complains about kernel version mismatch, ending with the following:
If the above errors were only about a kernel version missmatch, please ignore them. The package was installed successfully.
Which is true, the new module is installed in /lib/modules/3.18.20/ while all of the other kernel modules are installed in /lib/modules/3.18.23. Instead, lets just get the newer version of the bluetooth kernel module straight from the openwrt repo (which can be found here) :
root@Pineapple:~# wget https://downloads.openwrt.org/latest/ar71xx/generic/packa ges/base/kmod-bluetooth_3.18.23-1_ar71xx.ipk
Now well install the ipk we just downloaded:
root@Pineapple:~# opkg install ./kmod-bluetooth_3.18.23-1_ar71xx.ipk
This command still complains about a kernel mismatch, so well tell opkg to ignore dependencies:
root@Pineapple:~# opkg –nodeps install ./kmod-bluetooth_3.18.23-1_ar71xx.ipk
# Install the bluez libraries and utilities
This package will give us commands like hciconfig and hcitool
root@Pineapple:~# opkg install bluez-libs root@Pineapple:~# opkg install bluez-utils
At this point we should have the ‘hciconfig’ and ‘hcitool’ commands available to us, but they will error out:
root@Pineapple:~# hciconfig -a Can’t open HCI socket.: Address family not supported by protocol root@Pineapple:~# hcitool dev Devices: root@Pineapple:~#
# Insert the kernel modules
root@Pineapple:~# cd /lib/modules/3.18.23/ root@Pineapple:/lib/modules/3.18.23# insmod ./bluetooth.ko root@Pineapple:/lib/modules/3.18.23# insmod ./btusb.ko root@Pineapple:/lib/modules/3.18.23# insmod ./rfcomm.ko
# Plugging in the Bluetooth USB dongle
This part sucks. For some reason, even when using the 12 volt 2 amp power supply that the tetra came with, when I plug in a bluetooth dongle, the device resets. All the interfaces go down, my computer drops from the pineapples wireless network, and the pineapple reinitializes all of its interfaces. If you watch the available networks, you will even see the ‘Pineapple_XXYY’ unencrypted network get thrown up then immediately taken back down before the management network comes back up. The problem with this is now the kernel has been reloaded, so all of the modules we just loaded are no longer loaded. After the pineapple is done rebooting, reconnect to it.
# Make sure we can see the USB dongle
root@Pineapple:~# lsusb Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0a12:0001 Cambridge Silicon Radio, Ltd Bluetooth Dongle (HCI mode) Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
# Reload the kernel modules
root@Pineapple:~# cd /lib/modules/3.18.23/ root@Pineapple:/lib/modules/3.18.23# insmod ./bluetooth.ko root@Pineapple:/lib/modules/3.18.23# insmod ./btusb.ko root@Pineapple:/lib/modules/3.18.23# insmod ./rfcomm.ko
# Check out the hci0 interface
root@Pineapple:/lib/modules/3.18.23# hciconfig -a hci0: Type: BR/EDR Bus: USB BD Address: 00:00:00:00:00:00 ACL MTU: 0:0 SCO MTU: 0:0 DOWN RX bytes:0 acl:0 sco:0 events:0 errors:0 TX bytes:0 acl:0 sco:0 commands:1 errors:0 Features: 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 Packet type: DM1 DH1 HV1 Link policy: Link mode: SLAVE ACCEPT
# Bring the interface up
Now we can see the interface, but when we try to bring it up, the pineapple can’t initialize the interface.
root@Pineapple:/lib/modules/3.18.23# hciconfig hci0 up Can’t init device hci0: Connection timed out (145)
# Next Step
This is as far as I have gotten. Next I’ll work on figuring out why the interface cant initialize, and then I should be able to build an infusion that will bring bluetooth to the pineapple. Stay tuned.
