Can i see my Bluetooth connection as network interface in Linux?

Question

I have 2 laptops. I have paired them successfully with each other via Bluetooth, so I can exchange files between each other.

Both of my laptops have Linux installed. when I run the ifconfig command to see the network interfaces, my Bluetooth interface is not shown.

Is there any way that this Bluetooth connection between my 2 laptops, can be shown as a network interface, so I can send files there via command line (for testing purposes)?

Answer 1

Yes, you can run Ethernet over Bluetooth (BNEP) using a PAN.

• For BlueZ 4, see the HOWTO-PAN documentation; basically, run pand on both devices and you'll get a bnep0 interface on both. (If I remember correctly, one computer has to be in NAP or GN (controller) mode, all others in PANU (client) mode connecting to the controller device.)

  server:
    # pand --listen --role NAP --sdp
  
  client:
    # pand --connect 01:ab:23:cd:45:ef
  

  (The HOWTO is slightly outdated – you don't have to compile anything custom anymore; it's a native part of the kernel and BlueZ now.)

• For BlueZ 5, this is done using D-Bus calls to bluetoothd, e.g. using Blueman or bt-pan:

  server:
    # ip link add br0 type bridge
    # ip link set br0 up
    $ bt-pan server br0
  
  client:
    $ bt-pan client 01:ab:23:cd:45:ef --wait
  

  See also http://blog.fraggod.net/2015/03/28/bluetooth-pan-network-setup-with-bluez-5x.html.

Note that Bluetooth also has its own file transfer mechanisms – ObexPush and ObexFTP.