Raspberry Pi - Bluetooth Choppy Audio

Raspberry Pi 3, Model B / RASPBIAN OS

BCM43438 is a single chip provide 2.4GHz 802.11n wireless LAN and Bluetooth radio support.

With a lot of google, hit and trial methods solution found to the choppy audio problem. Try turning off WiFi on Raspberry Pi while streaming bluetooth audio.

This worked for me.

Thanks.

Raspberry Pi - A2DP Profile - Bluetooth Audio Streaming via Cellphone

Raspberry Pi 3, Model B / RASPBIAN OS

Recently purchased Raspberry Pi, and I am pretty happy with it. Credit card sized SOC and it's pretty amazing. Love for music is pretty high so first thing I took up is to stream music from from my cellphone connected to Raspberry Pi via bluetooth. And Raspberry Pi will throw audio out to speakers connected to 3.5 mm audio jack.

I won't go deep into configurations settings as you will find plenty of articles to configure settings for A2DP profiles and make Raspberry Pi using audio input stream from cellphone. Though I will highlight few things on which I faced difficulty

1. First OS I installed was Ubuntu Mate
   • A2DP profile settings worked via Desktop mode. Kick off bluetooth connectivity wizard and you are all set.
   • However when I booted to console only mode, tried bunch of things but couldn't get things to work
2. Eventually I switched to RASPBIAN and it worked via UI as well as console mode.

Few commands which came in handy

1. Bluetooth utility
   
   bluetoothctl
   #show - display basic information
   #scan on - turns scanning on
   #pair xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx - start pairing with cellphone
   #trust xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx - add it to trust store
   #connect xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx - connects to cellphone
   #ctrl + d - exits bluetooth prompt
   
2. pulseaudio
   
   pulseaduio -D - starts pulse audio instance
   pulseaduio -k - kills any pulseaudio running instance
   
3. Audio Bus
   
   pactl list sources short - lists all audio sources
   pactl list sinks short - lists output
   
4. Audio Output
   
   amixer cset numid=3 0 -- Automatic selection
   amixer cset numid=3 1 -- sets output to HDMI
   amixer cset numid=3 2 -- sets output to 3.5mm analogue port
   
5. Raspberry Pi Config
   
   sudo raspi-config - master utility to change various settings for Raspberry Pi
   

Thanks.

File History - Alternate to Memeo WD Anywhere backup

Hello All,

After windows 8.1 upgrade, just like you, I ran into WD Memeo Backup incompatibility issues. I tried bunch of options to get it to work but failed and got only one message "WD Anywhere Backup cannot be run under this version of windows" and Memeo does not have any plans to extend support for this version of backup software.

Solution

I tried couple of options, like FreeFileSync, Synkronizer etc, to get my backup plan up and running but finally settled down with Windows 8.1 "File History" program. It's bit messy in terms of setting up, unless you know "how it does". But once you get it right you will be happy that you do not have to reply on any third party program and worry about any installation/un-installation.

I am listing out steps which will help you to set your backup.

Few concepts before we proceed.

1. "File History" program manages backing up files using your "library folders".
2. By default it will backup all Library Folders(My Documents, My Music, My Videos etc), Desktop, Contacts, and couple of more items including One Drive(only offline files).
3. You can setup "exclude list" to exclude any folders that you might want to be part of backup.
4. Setup Network Folder from your WD Network Hard Disk.
5. Few "Advanced Setting" options to set frequency and version.

Let's get to work !!!

Note: By Default all libraries(Default and Custom) will get selected for backup. So do not set "File History" to ON unless you have all exclude list setup(as in Step 2) to avoid unnecessary files to be part of backup plan.

Step 1 (optional): Setup a new Library Folder and have folders listed in it that you want to be part of backup plan.

• As shown in below image, open Explorer, Right click on "Documents" -> Include In Library -> "Create new library"
• Provide a name for your library
• New Library folder will get listed under Homegroup as shown in picture below.

Create Library Folder

• Now under manage tab, click on "Manage Library" folder.
• Add folders that you want to be the part of backup plan.
• That's it setting up your Library Folder.

Step 2: Press Windows key from your desktop and key in "File History" for search and select "File History" and Setup "Exclude Folders"

Launch File History

File History

Step 3: Network Directory share.

• Create new share or use already existing share from your WD Network Hard Drive.
• Open WD Drive in explorer, and you will list of all shared folders.
• Right Click on desired backup folder and click on "Map Network Drive"

Step 4: From Start Menu, search for "File History" and go to "File History Settings"
Turn On "File History" and Select newly mapped network drive.

File History Settings

And your backup process should commence !!!

Step 5: Configure frequency and version settings
Open the "File History" window as mentioned in step 2, and goto "Advanced  Setting" options and make necessary changes.

Once a cycle of backup completes, you can clear your memeo backup files and un-install memeo backup program.

That's all folks !!! :)

Thanks.