SOLVED: Regretfully ditching linux...because Bluetooth Midi doesn't work...

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Largos
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Re: Regretfully ditching linux...

Post by Largos »

pax-eterna wrote: Wed Sep 15, 2021 6:53 pm
Drumfix wrote: Wed Sep 15, 2021 6:37 pm EOS is based on Ubuntu which is based on Debian. Why do you refuse to follow the advice given to you ?
I did follow the advice and I did report back!

The link for Ubuntu you gave was for a version four release old, but I DID try it anyway!

I also reported back that ldd bluetoothd did not run at all.

I reported back that I removed the existing version of Bluez and re-installed it as best I could following the instructions.

I found that a command --enable midi was apparently needed, but found no actual instruction on how to run it.

I tried running this sudo modprobe snd_virmidi - it just created 64 virtual midi slots in the DAW, none of which worked.

Tried this https://tttapa.github.io/Pages/Ubuntu/S ... BlueZ.html ( which I think is the same as you provided earlier in the thread???) It didn't work.

I think I've boiled it down to the problem of actually turning it ON in bluez and it is this, I think, where it is at. Bluetooth and Bluez are all working fine as I have said time and again, it is the MIDI component that is not turned on, and I have found no instruction other than some cryptic --enable midi command!
--enable midi is a configuration option. In the readme it says
To configure run:
./configure --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man \
--sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var
so add --enable midi after the ./configure in that command and I think it should work once you make and install it.
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Re: Regretfully ditching linux...

Post by j_e_f_f_g »

pax-eterna wrote: That's not really helpful!
It's a joke. Like my other post.

I have no idea what sort of "helpful" response you inexplicably expected to a post whose entire gist is "Linux isn't working for me. I'm ditching it.".

There were only 2 (obvious) responses. 1) Everyone negatively critiques your decision, and warns you of possible repercussions of that decision. 2) Some wise-ass makes a snarky reply.

I went for the latter, which I personally think is more "helpful". Who doesn't like to laugh? Well, maybe you.

Do you find condescending scolding "helpful"? Are you a masochist? Well, let me help...

You've been a naughty boy. A very bad, naughty boy. Daddy is going to spank your iButt with a rolled up Apple license agreement stating that if you so much as shine a flashlight into an air vent on your iMac, then your computer's warranty is void.

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Re: Regretfully ditching linux...

Post by pax-eterna »

Largos wrote: Wed Sep 15, 2021 10:46 pm
pax-eterna wrote: Wed Sep 15, 2021 6:53 pm
Drumfix wrote: Wed Sep 15, 2021 6:37 pm EOS is based on Ubuntu which is based on Debian. Why do you refuse to follow the advice given to you ?
I did follow the advice and I did report back!

The link for Ubuntu you gave was for a version four release old, but I DID try it anyway!

I also reported back that ldd bluetoothd did not run at all.

I reported back that I removed the existing version of Bluez and re-installed it as best I could following the instructions.

I found that a command --enable midi was apparently needed, but found no actual instruction on how to run it.

I tried running this sudo modprobe snd_virmidi - it just created 64 virtual midi slots in the DAW, none of which worked.

Tried this https://tttapa.github.io/Pages/Ubuntu/S ... BlueZ.html ( which I think is the same as you provided earlier in the thread???) It didn't work.

I think I've boiled it down to the problem of actually turning it ON in bluez and it is this, I think, where it is at. Bluetooth and Bluez are all working fine as I have said time and again, it is the MIDI component that is not turned on, and I have found no instruction other than some cryptic --enable midi command!
--enable midi is a configuration option. In the readme it says
To configure run:
./configure --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man \
--sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var
so add --enable midi after the ./configure in that command and I think it should work once you make and install it.
See, all that comes up after that is

"configure: error: unrecognized option: `--enable'
Try `./configure --help' for more information"

The command I run is :
./configure --enable midi --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man \> --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var
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Re: Regretfully ditching linux...

Post by pax-eterna »

j_e_f_f_g wrote: Wed Sep 15, 2021 10:53 pm
pax-eterna wrote: That's not really helpful!
It's a joke. Like my other post.

I have no idea what sort of "helpful" response you inexplicably expected to a post whose entire gist is "Linux isn't working for me. I'm ditching it.".

There were only 2 (obvious) responses. 1) Everyone negatively critiques your decision, and warns you of possible repercussions of that decision. 2) Some wise-ass makes a snarky reply.

I went for the latter, which I personally think is more "helpful". Who doesn't like to laugh? Well, maybe you.

Do you find condescending scolding "helpful"? Are you a masochist? Well, let me help...

You've been a naughty boy. A very bad, naughty boy. Daddy is going to spank your iButt with a rolled up Apple license agreement stating that if you so much as shine a flashlight into an air vent on your iMac, then your computer's warranty is void.
hmm, ok fair enough. I like a joke along with the next person, but perhaps the timing was a bit off??
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Re: Regretfully ditching linux...

Post by sunrat »

pax-eterna wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 12:07 am"configure: error: unrecognized option: `--enable'
Try `./configure --help' for more information"

The command I run is :
./configure --enable midi --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man \> --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var
"--enable" is an unrecognised option because it should be "--enable-midi" , you missed the dash.
Not saying that will make everything work but at least you could get further in the compile process.
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Re: Regretfully ditching linux...

Post by j_e_f_f_g »

pax-eterna wrote: the timing was a bit off??
Everything about me is a bit off. You'll get used to it.

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Re: Regretfully ditching linux...

Post by pax-eterna »

sunrat wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 12:22 am
pax-eterna wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 12:07 am"configure: error: unrecognized option: `--enable'
Try `./configure --help' for more information"

The command I run is :
./configure --enable midi --prefix=/usr --mandir=/usr/share/man \> --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var
"--enable" is an unrecognised option because it should be "--enable-midi" , you missed the dash.
Not saying that will make everything work but at least you could get further in the compile process.
Thanks, good catch! I re-ran it and it streamed a lot of lines and then I got this:
checking for rst2man.py... no
configure: error: rst2man is required
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Re: Regretfully ditching linux...

Post by sunrat »

pax-eterna wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 3:40 amThanks, good catch! I re-ran it and it streamed a lot of lines and then I got this:
checking for rst2man.py... no
configure: error: rst2man is required
Compiling stuff can be like that. Run till it stops, check error message, install missing dependency, run again. In this case

Code: Select all

apt install python3-docutils
You can usually find what it needs by web searching the error message.

Linux does take some learning but I think you will get it eventually if you persist. I recommend to make a partition to install Linux as dual boot with Windows (or Linux in a virtual machine but that's more limiting) so you can make music on Windows and experiment with Linux on the side. I started using Linux ~18 years ago and still have multiboot Windows install. I don't make music on it though, almost exclusively it's for games now.
Last edited by sunrat on Thu Sep 16, 2021 7:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Regretfully ditching linux...

Post by Drumfix »

What happens if you run the following commands (just copy/paste into a console window):

Code: Select all

sudo apt-get install -y \
    libudev-dev libical-dev libreadline-dev libdbus-1-dev libasound2-dev python3-docutils\
    build-essential

cd /tmp 
wget https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/pub/linux/bluetooth/bluez-5.61.tar.xz
tar -xf bluez-5.61.tar.xz

cd bluez-5.61
./configure --enable-midi --with-systemdsystemunitdir=/etc/systemd/system
make
sudo make install
sudo apt-get install --reinstall bluez
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Re: Regretfully ditching linux...

Post by Linuxmusician01 »

pax-eterna wrote: Wed Sep 15, 2021 6:53 pm
Drumfix wrote: Wed Sep 15, 2021 6:37 pm EOS is based on Ubuntu which is based on Debian. Why do you refuse to follow the advice given to you ?
I did follow the advice and I did report back!

The link for Ubuntu you gave was for a version four release old, but I DID try it anyway!

I also reported back that ldd bluetoothd did not run at all.

I reported back that I removed the existing version of Bluez and re-installed it as best I could following the instructions.

I found that a command --enable midi was apparently needed, but found no actual instruction on how to run it.

I tried running this sudo modprobe snd_virmidi - it just created 64 virtual midi slots in the DAW, none of which worked.

Tried this https://tttapa.github.io/Pages/Ubuntu/S ... BlueZ.html ( which I think is the same as you provided earlier in the thread???) It didn't work.

I think I've boiled it down to the problem of actually turning it ON in bluez and it is this, I think, where it is at. Bluetooth and Bluez are all working fine as I have said time and again, it is the MIDI component that is not turned on, and I have found no instruction other than some cryptic --enable midi command!
[edit: missed all the replies on page 2 of this topic. Oops! :oops:]

I had a look at the link @Drumfix pointed to in the topic we're talking about. I have Ubuntu 20.04 and I was able to successfully compile it from source code. I did not install this newly built version of bluez yet because I still have the old version on my PC and the instructions in the link on removing and reinstalling bluez are a bit confusing to me (long story). And I do not have a Midi BT dongle to test it all with.

So, I'm afraid its a semantic case.

You keep on talking about "the problem of actually turning it on in bluez". I do not know what you mean exactly by this and I think we all have different ideas about what we mean in this case. We Linuxers do not talk about "turning Midi on in Blues". We talk about a bluez version that supports Midi because it is built in or we don't have Midi over Bluetooth at all. Remember: for some reason no Linux distribution comes with a version of bluez (yet) that has Midi support built in. If we have a bluez version with Midi support then we can pair and connect bluetooth devices by running the following command, which is part of bluez:

Code: Select all

bluetoothctl
A prompt now opens. Then one issues the command "scan on" to scan for new bluetooth devices like the WIDI-Master midi-to-bluetooth dongle/device (dunno how to call it exactly). This dongle needs to be in pairing mode (read manual of the WIDI-Master). Then it will show up with a MAC address in the form of "11:22:33:AA:BB:CC". Then type the command "pair 11:22:33:AA:BB:CC", then "trust 11:22:33:AA:BB:CC" and finally "connect 11:22:33:AA:BB:CC". At least, that's how I do it. In some form or another that's what you need to do in Windows and Mac too (scan, pair, trust & connect).

Then and only then you can look in the 'Connections' window from qjackctl (Jack) to see if it worked and if the WIDI-Master is in the tab "Alsa" (which is Jack speak for "Alsa Midi"). If I recall correctly you posted a screenshot of said window and the WIDI-Master was not there. Hence, it is not (properly) connected, activated, installed or whatever we want to call it. The proper way to say it is that your WIDI-Master device is not paired via bluetooth. That means that the bluetoothctl procedure failed or that you din't execute it right. You keep on saying the the WIDI Master device is connected via bluez but I have strong doubts about that.

Additionally the bluetoothctl procedure might go wrong because you have a version of bluez that has no Midi-over-bluetooth support. You have to compile (and properly install) blues from source code for that. I tried to explain to you what source code and compiling is. I don't think you fully grasp that (yet). I highly doubt the compile and install procedure went well.

To make a long story short: I'm afraid you don't have enough experience with Linux yet to fully grasp what needs to be done in the abstract sense. Am I right?
pax-eterna wrote: Wed Sep 15, 2021 7:33 pm [...]trouble is I am sure this last issue with the bt midi, is a simple one, but it is eluding me! But it is important enough to have me considering just dealing with MS bs!
I'm afraid it is not. Compiling stuff from source code is never simple. Nobody does that fot starters if one tries to learn a new operating system, be it Windows, Android, MacOS or Linux. You have the misfortune that you need to to this for starters and cannot get familiar with your new OS in a user friendly way.

Anyway, I like you (don't even know you) and wish you al the best. There's no shame in using Windows. I'd like to thank you for the tip on the WIDI Master device: I didn't even know such a thing existed. And thanks for the topic you opened on it: it learned me, via @Drumfix's link how to compile a version of bluez that does support it. I might buy the the WIDI Master myself. :)

All the best and good luck! :)
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Re: Regretfully ditching linux...

Post by pax-eterna »

@Linuxmusician01

Thanks....it seems that Manjaro's AUR has a version of Bluez that when installed auto installs and activates the bt-midi option - still checking that one out.

As for connections? Well the OS does show the device for pairing, and even shows the passcode for pairing and then reports it is connected and paired! Not sure what else it can do really. That's all I can go on...if the system says its paired I have to believe that yes?

Glad you found the overall thread, (even though little success for me haha) useful. Bluetooth LE has certainly moved the goalposts. Outside of Linux it works and has worked (even live) for me really well.

As I do have a genuine abhorrence for Microsoft and Windows, particularly with W11 and the slippery slope it is leading people down I am trying one last option with Manjaro and I'll see how that pans out.

Thanks again for you input and assistance, even though unsuccessful it was still appreciated :)
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Re: Regretfully ditching linux...

Post by Gps »

Computers can be very frustrating.

I am a big Linux fan, but willing to admit it sometimes takes more effort to get things going.

Do not give up . :)
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Re: Regretfully ditching linux...

Post by pax-eterna »

And I am glad I didn't give up in the end...

It was suggested to me that Manjaro's AUR has the required libs in its bluez repo...and sure enough it did!

I went over to Manjaro installed bluez and this lib "python-gattlib " which DOES have the required Bluetooth Midi controls AND sets it to on by default. Juts been playing Pianoteq over ble midi very nicely!
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Re: SOLVED: Regretfully ditching linux...because Bluetooth Midi doesn't work...

Post by pax-eterna »

a HUGE thanks to all on this thread who offered advice and tips. Very much appreciated!!
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Re: Regretfully ditching linux...

Post by Linuxmusician01 »

pax-eterna wrote: Thu Sep 16, 2021 8:23 pm [...]As for connections? Well the OS does show the device for pairing, and even shows the passcode for pairing and then reports it is connected and paired! Not sure what else it can do really. That's all I can go on...if the system says its paired I have to believe that yes?
[...]
You've got it paired. And does it show up in qjackctl (or in your DAW) as a Midi device? If the WIDI-Master device is paired as a Midi device then it should show up in the 'Alsa' tab in the Connections windows from qjackctl. By the way, qjackctl has two versions of the Connections window. I always choose the classic view via: "Setup (button) > Misc (tab) > (remove check mark next to:) Replace connections with Graph button".

I seem to recall you got it paired/connected before. However, the WIDI-Master did not show up as a midi device. Can you use a Midi-keyboard with the WIDI-Master device now?
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