I have a basic Dell bluetooth keyboard that I keep trying to use when I have this laptop docked. The mouse paired just fine, but no matter what I do, I cannot get the keyboard to pair successfully. Is there any trick I need to do for keyboard pairing that I need to be aware of?
Just as an update, I have tried using bluetoothctl, and I was able to pair the keyboard, manually, but it doesn’t stick. After awhile the connection breaks. The problem seems to be that parrot is not summoning the prompt for the keyboard code to sync / pair
When using bluetoothctl, the only method that works for connection is to start the pair once I have the MAC, and then start the pair process from the keyboard after the pair process has been started from terminal.
Either way, parrot can’t seem to remember either device once they are disconnected.
My only suggestion is to check whether or not the computer is set to “always show”(or something like that) or “hidden” but if the devices were able to find each other I’m not sure that will do much good assuming you haven’t already looked at this. My suspicion is that the issue is really a matter of that particular keyboard. In bluetooth the host stacks tend to be mostly the same but the peripherals can have many quirks.
Now from your post I do have a couple questions that nag at me; when you say the connection “breaks” do you mean after it times out waiting for a passcode? Oh and while I’m on the subject how exactly is this paircode/passcode supposed to work? Is the keyboard to display a code or has a code written somewhere or…??? I’m genuinely a little confused about that and as I have never seen or heard of this keyboard I don’t want to assume…but if I was to assume I’d say the pairing should work without needing to worry about a code (this is from my experience). But that aside the real question is can the computer discover the keyboard, if so, if you select it and go “setup” can setup not handle the process sucessfully to completion?
Why they don’t remember the connection and have to be repaired I believe is the keyboard cycling it encryption keys every time the connection drops and again there’s probably nothing that can be done about that.
I can tell you the bluez stack and blueman which Parrot and most Linux/Linux-derived systems or appliances have or at one time used (Android), is certainly capable of processing pairing code events so my thinking is the kb isn’t sending one or the pc can’t hear it. Or hell maybe the batteries in the keyboard are just low, when all else fails I try that.
Thanks for your thoughts.
I went ahead and swapped batteries at the outset (always what I check first).
When I use the bluez stack, and manually pair the keyboard it prompts me with the “code” which is just a 5 digit sequence to be punched into the top number line. once entered, the pairing is complete. I have seen on several operating systems a prompt that sometimes comes up with the code displayed to be entered on the keyboard.
The automatic process just using the gui included in parrot works for the mouse, but will not connect the keyboard. It can always see the keyboard, the pairing just fails. That is why I went out in search of tools to manually complete the pairing, before coming to the board.
Whenever the keyboard is disconnected, the laptop is suspended, or powered down, and the connection is broken, the keyboard will not re-connect when the device is powered back on. When I re-sync, the MAC address of the keyboard has changed.
What is more frustrating is, now the mouse is having the same issue and requires to be repaired each time.
Just for comparison, I switched over to the ubuntu partition(which hasn’t been used in forever) gave it a quick update and it immediately paired all the devices, and upon a restart, the devices still remained properly paired.
Hopefully I answered all of your questions.
I see, this is what I feared, this is perhaps the worst scenario to try and solve, thank you for the clear explanation though. Unfortunately I can’t think of any settings or tricks to help in this situation. After doing a little digging though only thing that stands out to me is the 5 digit code, bluetooth devices should use a 6 digit code but apparently as I’ve found out bluez does no number padding. However if I understand you correctly the devices can connect for a time which leads me to suspect the keyboard’s sending a disconnect or engaging in some periodic address cycling or something like that. Sadly with reprogramming the firmware I don’t know how this behavior could be changed.
(I literally reading and writing this response at the same time and I just scrolled down to see the end of the post lol)
Well I’m very glad to hear that there is proper functionality and because that makes this alot less arcane. I suppose the most logical step would be to compare the two different stacks and see what if any differences exist although Ubuntu also uses bluez so I’m wondering if it isn’t some other funky aspect of this distro Parrot that probably isn’t even obvious…Is your Parrot updated?
Yes, I update each day when I open the system. I was afraid the problem was something much more murkier in the background, and more than likely a little over my head.
Are there any config/info commands I could run and paste here to show a comparison between the connections in both operating systems? It might set off a light bulb for someone.
You’re not the only person with this problem, i have the same problem.
I need to reconnect my mouse every time i restart parrot 
well it was working months ago (3+)
But for some reason it doesn’t work with my mouse “logitecg G603” - i even tried two of them with the same results. and yes both work on my debian, just not in parrot
At the same time by bluetooth speakers are connecting without any issue.
i found a workaround 
do it all in console via bluetoothctl and it’s working surviving all the restarts and everything… so i guess the problem is in KDEBluetooth something
searches for the command which is used to force the use of bluetooth when starting the system and in permanent mode
all i’ve used was
bluetoothctl scan on
bluetoothctl pair CF:B2:FE:F5:26:AA
bluetoothctl connect CF:B2:FE:F5:26:AA
and it’s working ever since
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