Adding bluetooth to pfSense

kaczor1984 · Sep 12, 2013, 12:41 PM

Hi All,

I'd like to add Bluetooth support to pfSense hotspot.
Now when I insert bluetooth dongle it is detected.
dmesg:

stray irq7
stray irq7
stray irq7
ugen0.2: <vendor 0x0a12=""> at usbus0</vendor>

usbconfig shows:

ugen0.2: <bluetooth2.1+edr class1="" vendor="" 0x0a12=""> at usbus0, cfg=0 md=HOST spd=FULL (12Mbps) pwr=ON</bluetooth2.1+edr>

But all the tutorials for FreeBSD on bluetooth give me nothing - there is no hccontrol and other bluetooth related software on pfSense.
I don't see either how to install the required software from freebsd ports (or I don't know what are the names of the packages I need).

What do I have to do to be able to use bluetooth devices (scan nearby devices, maybe send a file etc.)?

johnpoz · Sep 12, 2013, 1:00 PM

Why would a firewall need bluetooth? "maybe send a file" – its a firewall... why would it need to send a file via bluetooth?

What exactly are you wanting to do with the bluetooth that makes sense for a firewall to do? If there was something that made sense for pfsense to support bluetooth, then you could maybe get the developers on board for support of it, etc.

kaczor1984 · Sep 12, 2013, 1:23 PM

So we can provide people with internet access (that's why I'm using pfSense - ready 'hotspot' with captive portal, firewall etc), and additionally detect nearby phone's (Bluetooth) and maybe send them a file via Bluetooth.

But let's not get into - 'what for' :) I just need bluetooth to work on pfSense.
I've already set up a FreeBSD on virtualbox, installed this (https://devwiki.pfsense.org/DevelopersBootStrapAndDevIso) and now I wonder what do I have to do to include the bluetooth on pfSense.
Should I include few more modules in the kernel?
Add some more packages to it (which/how?).
I'm working most of the time on Linux so BSD is quite new/exotic to me.

stephenw10 · Sep 12, 2013, 1:51 PM

Hmm, curious.
You want to offer internet access via Bluetooth? IP over Bluetooth?
Something like (but different to) what's described here: http://fedoranews.org/contributors/muhammad_al_ismail/bluetooth/

You will probably be better off using a separate access point style device like this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Belkin-Bluetooth-Access-Point-Server/dp/B0001Q17MS

Steve

jimp · Sep 12, 2013, 2:04 PM

It may be possible in theory, but I don't think we include everything you'd need.

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/network-bluetooth.html

johnpoz · Sep 12, 2013, 3:11 PM

"But let's not get into - 'what for' :) I just need bluetooth to work on pfSense."

but the 'what for' would be the most important piece of the puzzle - if you can show a reason that makes sense that might be used by more than yourself, say a decent portion of pfsense users - or bring in other users of the product because of this 'what for' it would be easier to get the feature request into the roadmap I would think.

If not your best place for such a request might be the bounty section. If the bounty gets high enough then you would get someone to make it happen if possible, etc.

doktornotor · Sep 12, 2013, 3:16 PM

@johnpoz:

if you can show a reason that makes sense that might be used by more than yourself, say a decent portion of pfsense users - or bring in other users of the product because of this 'what for' it would be easier to get the feature request into the roadmap I would think.

Kinda doubt that. A technology that failed to get usable after 7 generations of the specification should finally be buried as deep as possible to avoid some nasty zombie incident.

jasonlitka · Sep 12, 2013, 3:40 PM

@doktornotor:

@johnpoz:

if you can show a reason that makes sense that might be used by more than yourself, say a decent portion of pfsense users - or bring in other users of the product because of this 'what for' it would be easier to get the feature request into the roadmap I would think.

Kinda doubt that. A technology that failed to get usable after 7 generations of the specification should finally be buried as deep as possible to avoid some nasty zombie incident.

I use BT every day in my car to make calls, and several times a week for streaming audio with my Jambox. As a network transport though it's pretty poor. The throughput is slow even under ideal circumstances and the range doesn't extend much past the room you're in.

kaczor1984 · Sep 12, 2013, 4:30 PM

That's why I wanted to avoid the topic of 'what it's for' ;)
Now you're discussing what are the advantages/disadvantages/etc…

No I'm not providing internet over bluetooth - I'm using WiFi for that.
I just need to have also bluetooth at our 'routers'.

stephenw10 · Sep 12, 2013, 6:34 PM

So, what Bluetooth profile does it need to support if you're not doing IP. Serial for console? Could be interesting for out of band access.

Steve

Guest · Mar 29, 2015, 6:11 PM

@stephenw10:

So, what Bluetooth profile does it need to support if you're not doing IP. Serial for console? Could be interesting for out of band access.

Steve

@Steve
Here are some parts from the company Eiko and the benefit of them are, that you don´t
need any drivers and/or Bluetooth stack inside of pfSense, so from the software side nothing
must be changed, I write this because in many cases peoples want to have inserted something
and because of their personal needs they don´t have look closer towards that this software is
then opening myn security wholes by side also.

In some rarely cases it could be good to have a solution that is working, but without the hassle
of opening new security wholes for sure, sometimes firewalls are installed in 1" wall mounted
cabinets and no one wants to climb the ladder and mount the Serial cable and so this solution
is only a bluetooth > serial adapter that is replacing of the need to mount a serial cable, not
more but also not less. This action is not able to do over the normal USB ports!

EIKON BLUEMORE500 UART
EIKON BLUEMORE600 UART
SKU-012-02 TTL-RS-232C Converter (5V)

But soldering must be done by your self.

NOYB · Mar 29, 2015, 9:36 PM

@johnpoz:

Why would a firewall need bluetooth?

In short and in general. The very thing Bluetooth was intended for. Wireless peripherals.

If my pfSense firewall had Bluetooth I would connect up my Bluetooth GPS receiver for time source.

Maybe a Bluetooth keyboard.

Oh hey, you know what. I have a couple Bluetooth USB dongles. Could I possible use those to connect up my Bluetooth GPS receiver to be the time source?

stephenw10 · Mar 29, 2015, 11:29 PM

I suspect Bluetooth would be particularly badly suited for use in a time source situation. Pretty sure PPS would not pass, though I've never tried it. I probably would though if it did since I have Bluetooth GPS receivers gathering dust! ;)

Steve

jahonix · Mar 29, 2015, 11:38 PM

@kaczor1984:

No I'm not providing internet over bluetooth - I'm using WiFi for that.
I just need to have also bluetooth at our 'routers'.

…and which bluetooth profiles do you need supported? Dare to talk about that at least?

stephenw10 · Mar 30, 2015, 8:45 AM

I think (though my memory ain't what it was!) that he needed to connect to a phone sharing internet over Bluetooth. So it would require some IP over Bluetooth though it could have been seen as a modem requiring some ppp connection.
Too long ago now.

Steve

NOYB · Mar 30, 2015, 2:36 AM

@stephenw10:

I suspect Bluetooth would be particularly badly suited for use in a time source situation. Pretty sure PPS would not pass, though I've never tried it. I probably would though if it did since I have Bluetooth GPS receivers gathering dust! ;)

Steve

We'll what are you waiting for. Get to it and let me know. This is not a wheel I'm particularly suited to create. ;)