[Tfug] cell phones and bluetooth audio

[John Gruenenfelder]

On Mon, Aug 14, 2006 at 01:53:48PM -0700, t takahashi wrote:
>bluetooth is a neat idea, but maybe the phones these days are
>crippled, or maybe the linux drivers can't do what i want.
>
>i'd like to be able to record voice notes and messages and calls *,
>and listen on a bluetooth headset.  maybe i will also want to sync
>phone numbers to and from a csv file.
>
>anybody on this list actually use bluetooth for any of those purposes?
> if bluetooth can't do it cheaply, then maybe usb can.
>
>* if i'm trying to cancel an account with a big company that does not
>have my interests at heart (i.e. they WILL be slimy), i'd like to tell
>them that "for quality assurance this call may be recorded" and back
>it up with action.

If I understand, you want all the voice traffic routed through your PC where
it will then be recorded and then forwarded to your headset so you can still
communicate?

I use a BT headset with my laptop for making VoIP calls.  I've read a bit of
the docs and mailing list traffic for bluez (the Linux BT stack).  I have not
read of anybody doing anything quite that fancy, but based on what I know of
the tools, it seems like it should be possible to hack something like this
together.

The tools are not particularly user friendly, but they do work.  Because BT is
closer to Ethernet than USB, there are some hoops to jump through.  To use my
headset, I need to install a kernel module, snd-bt-sco, to provide the ALSA
interface.  Then, I need to run a userspace client, btsco, which actually
makes the BT connection and links the BT traffic to the ALSA device.

My understanding is that the procedure is somewhat similar for linking a cell
phone.


-- 
--John Gruenenfelder    Research Assistant, UMass Amherst student
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