Initially, I could not get any audio or any Bluetooth to work on my Lubuntu installation fully replacing Windows 10 on a Surface Pro 3. Now, I have independently fixed the sound from the Speakers (copying and pasting a script from a Help post) and I have Bluetooth working in the Manager (copying and pastingpart of a script from a Help post, not completing it because I could not figure out how to add script to All in a box that appeared). Not sure if my incomplete following of instructions on repairing Bluetooth is the culprit, but now: Although my bluetooth headphones connect and can be chosen in the Pulse Audo Volume Controller, no sound plays through the headphones.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions (as the ones I’ve found so far require more finesse than I have knowledge, with my current skills limited to copying and pasting commands into the Q Terminal).
And here is the script I used to enable Bluetooth, although I could not proceed to "Comment All Add This Line (because I couldn’t figure out how to edit the text that appeared):
I had a similar issue when the change to pipewire (vs pulseaudio) happened. The volume level was not controlled by the default volume controller on the desktop panel (note that it only has Alsa and PulseAudio devices available). One non-default app that seems to help with output manipulation: pwvucontrol
Unfortunately, I don’t see this app in synaptic, at least not in the default repositories of Oracular and in fact, the version I have is a flatpak app (i.e. if you have the backend to flatpak installed in Discover, you’ll find pwvucontrol). When I installed it, I saw in the output menu my bluetooth buds appear as an option, but, more relevant is that the volume level of the buds was set to zero. When I pushed the slider up, the buds began to work. Perhaps there’s another way to control the output level (i.e. an alternative to pwvucontrol). Or perhaps your issue is unrelated.
Anyway, my two cents.
p.s. When installed, pwvucontrol can be found in system tools
Thanks for the response. What is odd about my Bluetooth audio devices is that they are connected to the computer and in the Volume Control Window are both selected and not silent (with the output bar moving up and down with what is playing). So, from what you say, I’m not sure pswvucontrol would fix this, though I’m willing to try.
I guess you mean that there is a signal being displayed but, no sound, yes? If so, this doesn’t preclude the issue being with volume control (since, in this case, there isn’t any volume). But, um, yes, it may not be a volume control issue regardless. Supposedly, pipewire-pulse is designed to bridge pulseaudio software to pipewire e.g. and allow pavucontrol-qt to control pipewire volume, but, to date, pavucontrol-qt doesn’t work with my buds. I probably should investigate this further, but, I found something that works for me. I did find some docs about pwvucontrol having some potential security issues (probably permissions required). I don’t recall having to tweak anything when I installed it via Discover and I’ll live with it. But, I guess I’ll back off from further suggesting it.
Thanks again, Eeyore. Since I last responded, I have been able to get the bluetooth headset to work, though strangely. Just messing around with Configuration in the controller, and using the Profile in the image below, success; except that the setting doesn’t stick and every time I try to launch the sound through bluetooth, I have to toggle through the Profile options until the sound suddenly works. Would be nice if I could set it an forget it. (And I still can’t get the system to recognize USB headphones, but that’s a battle for another day.) Thanks again (and further suggestions are welcome, and I’ll play around with pwvucontrol as you suggest).
