How-To Bluetooth 5.0 USB Dongle [guide]

[maquero]

I purchased the Laird BT851 and it's working fine with my headset for audio out, but no luck with the microphone. I tried with different headsets (Sony WI-SP510 and Beats Flex) , and on both my Hack and 2015 Macbook Pro. Everything works fine when using GMYLE Bluetooth 4.0 USB adapter, or the Macbooks internal BT.

I see several references to issues with microphones and the BT851 and no confirmation of it working.

Has anyone been successful in getting the microphone working with the BT851?

thanks

Hi, I have the same motherboard as you, did you get the Microphone working with the BT851? I haven't bought it yet but tried first with this https://github.com/OpenIntelWireless/IntelBluetoothFirmware/ and was able to get sound working on Bluetooth 5.0 headphones, however, microphone doesn't work with that Kext so thinking of getting the BT851

 

[Zenko]

Laird BT851 working on my Hackintosh running Catalina 10.15.7, Bluetooth keyboard (NuPhy NUTYPE F1) connects!

Initially, the dongle wasn't reading my Bluetooth keyboard so I tried moving it to different USB ports, and still didn't work. What I end up doing is connecting my Asus BT400 dongle and the BT851 at the same time, unplugged the BT400, and then the BT851 started working flawlessly.

 

[gotjoshua]

The laird dongle didn't work out of the box for me.

I was unable to edit the Info.plist file

So, I copied the kext out of sys/lib/ext into lib/ext so i could edit it (as suggested by OP):

sudo rsync -r /System/Library/Extensions/IOBluetoothFamily.kext/ /Library/Extensions/IOBluetoothFamily.kext/

and disabled the kext in sys/lib (via booting into recovery and renaming):

mv /System/Library/Extensions/IOBluetoothFamily.kext /System/Library/Extensions/IOBluetoothFamily.kext.off

note: it is also possible to remount root fs as rw

This works fine, as does the BrcmBluetoothInjector edit from @mjban

Attached is my edited kext file.

I'm attaching an updated version, as BrcmBluetoothInjector released 2.5.5 on Oct 5, 2020
I'm gonna stick with the BrcmBluetoothInjector method as i prefer to keep as many of my needed hacks in OC as possible.
note: i also made a PR (which is now merged) to get it included in future releases of BrcmBluetoothInjector

 

[gotjoshua]

I am trying to figure out in which situations this dongle can work out of the box:

dongle works fine without patch

With the Mac Pro it was plug and play

This was plug and play for me and the connection is great

Can any of you take a moment to reply with some numbers for me?

1. AppleBluetoothSoftwareVersion (mine at 7.0.6f8 is newer than @tokyocpu's OP at 6.0.14d3) screenshots attached
2. Catalina Version - i'm on 10.15.7.03
3. Open-core version - i'm on 0.6.5

 

[goatfetus]

Does anyone know if this dongle will work in 10.13.6 w/ Clover? Bluetooth turns on when I plug it in, but it's not showing any nearby devices. I wasn't clear if the kext fix someone shared earlier is compatible with my system.

Here is what System Information is showing for me:


Apple Bluetooth Software Version: 6.0.7f22
Hardware, Features, and Settings:
Address: 00-16-A4-5A-3D-AA
Bluetooth Low Energy Supported: Yes
Handoff Supported: No
Instant Hot Spot Supported: No
Manufacturer: Unknown
Transport: USB
Firmware Version: 9.4298 (9.8715)
Bluetooth Power: On
Auto Seek Pointing: On
Remote wake: On
Vendor ID: 0x04B4
Product ID: 0xF901
HCI Version: (0x9)
HCI Revision: 0x10CA
LMP Version: (0x9)
LMP Subversion: 0x220B
Auto Seek Keyboard: On

Any advice? Thanks!

 

[epal]

Can anyone confirm that Asus BT500 is working as good as Asus BT400? Both are hard to find and being sold at ridiculous prices by some shady sellers.

 

[jamesst20]

Can anyone confirm that Asus BT500 is working as good as Asus BT400? Both are hard to find and being sold at ridiculous prices by some shady sellers.

ASUS BT-500 is based of Realtek. Don't think it will work

 

[Forcosigan]

Does anyone know if this dongle will work in 10.13.6 w/ Clover? Bluetooth turns on when I plug it in, but it's not showing any nearby devices. I wasn't clear if the kext fix someone shared earlier is compatible with my system.

Here is what System Information is showing for me:


Apple Bluetooth Software Version: 6.0.7f22
Hardware, Features, and Settings:
Address: 00-16-A4-5A-3D-AA
Bluetooth Low Energy Supported: Yes
Handoff Supported: No
Instant Hot Spot Supported: No
Manufacturer: Unknown
Transport: USB
Firmware Version: 9.4298 (9.8715)
Bluetooth Power: On
Auto Seek Pointing: On
Remote wake: On
Vendor ID: 0x04B4
Product ID: 0xF901
HCI Version: (0x9)
HCI Revision: 0x10CA
LMP Version: (0x9)
LMP Subversion: 0x220B
Auto Seek Keyboard: On

Any advice? Thanks!

Hi! Have you been succeed? Thinking of buying that dongle for 10.13.6. Thank you!

 

[mdecorte]

Sadly no. It works fine with open core for audio out but nothing on mic in. Even with real macs.

 

[applemacosxGOD]

hello guys,

does Laird BT851 work on macOS Monterey?

thanks