Bluetooth 5.3 USB adapter not working in Linux (on M1 Pro)

[mcnaugha1]

Apologies if this has already been discussed/explained.

Trying to use a Bluetooth 5.3 adapter with Fedora or Ubuntu. The settings UI suggests it knows there's a Bluetooth dongle but it needs to be switched on. You click the switch but it doesn't deliver. Quit the settings app and then go back in and Bluetooth is back to off.

The same adapter is working fine in Windows 11 ARM64.

Actually, I'm realising my native Bluetooth also doesn't show in Fedora.

[Technogeezer]

I’m assuming that this Bluetooth 5.3 adapter is a USB device?

if it works in a Windows VM but not a Linux VM I would suspect a driver or configuration  issue in your Linux VM , not Fusion. 

[mcnaugha1]

Fusion is responsible for bridging between the VM and the hardware. I have used an older Bluetooth adapter successfully before. Like Windows, I’d expect the generic class driver within Linux to handle it. It’s just clean installs of newest stable Fedora and Ubuntu. Same issue occurs on the latest Parallels.

The only unknown here is that I am running macOS Ventura beta. Yet again, Windows is fine on this. Apple has been fiddling with the behaviour of Bluetooth in macOS since Big Sur.

Supporting external Bluetooth might be the least tested thing as normally Mac users would simply avail of the built-in Bluetooth controller. The reason this might become of more interest [to audiophiles] over the next year is the significant changes around Audio supported by Bluetooth 5.2/5.3. It’s cheaper to buy an adapter than a whole new Mac just for Bluetooth 5.3. I’m expecting Apple to transition everything to Bluetooth 5.3 over the coming year.

[mcnaugha1]

It seems to be a Linux issue with this specific adapter. It works fine with an older BT adapter.