# Sharing Bluetooth USB dongle



## bazu (Jan 25, 2012)

Hi guys,

I'm trying to figure out the best way to transfer _*all* _audio wirelessly (as if there was a cable connected to line out) and hook up a wireless mouse.

Seems like the cheapest way to do both things is through bluetooth. Price aside, I'm afraid streaming all audio from my computer via wifi would slow down my internet connection.

Problem is my computer (VAIO vpceb1m1e) doesn't have bluetooth. It has 4 USB ports. If possible I would like to use only one USB dongle (nano) for both things.

Is it even possible to use a same Bluetooth USB dongle for audio streaming and mouse control, both working fine?

Any system you recommend?

Thanks a lot


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

Where are you streaming the audio to? From your computer to what? A bluetooth speaker? Sitting right next to the computer? Bluetooth is very short range.

Any wireless mouse will work fine. There are a few Bluetooth mice, but you'll get better performance with a regular RF one.


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## bazu (Jan 25, 2012)

I was thinking of these devices:
http://www.logitech.com/en-hk/speakers-audio/home-pc-speakers/devices/8087
http://www.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=508754
http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/st...1&langId=-1&productId=11035425#specifications

I mean, could I use only one USB dongle to control the mouse and play music at the same time?


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

So you're looking to use a Bluetooth stereo adapter to connect to a speaker system? The range on Bluetooth is about 30 ft. Will the computer be that close to the speaker system?

Yes, you could use a the same Bluetooth adapter to connect to that receiver and a mouse, but I suspect the performance of the mouse would be even worse while streaming. There are many great RF wireless mice. It's not worth saving a USB port.


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## bazu (Jan 25, 2012)

I think I don't understand when you say "RF" mice. Do you mean that's a different technology than bluetooth? Sorry, my mother tongue is not english.

I'm considering buying these: logitech mouse and logitech stereo receiver:
http://www.logitech.com/en-hk/mice-pointers/mice/devices/5845
http://www.logitech.com/en-hk/speake...s/devices/8087

BTW yes, computer is 3-4 m away from the stereo system. I'm just sick of so many wires around


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

The mouse is not using Bluetooth. That's an RF (radio frequency) receiver. It's a different dongle than Bluetooth.


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## bazu (Jan 25, 2012)

Good to know 

Since I seem to have to use a dedicated dongle for the mouse, do you know of a nice alternative to wirelessly play sound from my computer? Anything in the wifi range? Maybe in that shady RF range?

Thanks for the help!


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

You know, the amount of bandwidth used to stream music would be so small that I doubt it would have any effect on your wi-fi. Even streaming videos, which uses many times more, is something a lot of people do. Since it is pretty easy to try it without buying all the BlueTooth stuff first, I'd recommend it. We're talking <1MB/sec.


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## bazu (Jan 25, 2012)

How do you suggest to try that?

Via wifi, I've tried streaming audio from my computer to my android phone (Airfoil + Airbubble), and phone connected via cable to my speakers, creative GD-580 (my router is a Linksys WRT54GL just in case it mattered).

It worked, audio quality was fine but there was lag: if I hit pause in the computer player, it took the sound about 2 seconds to stop. And it only streams audio from the source (computer program) you select. Not what I am looking for.


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## Elvandil (Aug 1, 2003)

Any lag would be the phone, not the wi-fi.

You were the one that mentioned that you didn't want to use wi-fi because it would slow down your connection. If you stated the reason correctly, then the low bandwidth requirements would solve the problem, as you yourself stated as the reason.


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## bazu (Jan 25, 2012)

Sorry but I think don't understand your last post. May be a language thing.

You mean bandwidth requirement is going to be easily addressed by my router, no matter how fast/slow my internet connection is? I said I "was afraid it would slow my connection", not that I was certain at all.

If you think wifi streaming would be better, can you recommend a wifi stereo receiver? I didn't find anything like these bluetooth devices I posted earlier in a wifi counterpart


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

I'm lost as to what exactly you're streaming and to where.

"And it only streams audio from the source (computer program) you select. Not what I am looking for."
What *are* you looking for?

I've never heard of any RF streaming devices. RF is line of site and even shorter distances than Bluetooth, so that technology wouldn't really make any sense.


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## bazu (Jan 25, 2012)

I'll start over

I want to get rid of my mouse cable and my laptop audio cable. This one goes from my laptop line out and goes to the analog input of my speaker system. I want a wireless solution that replaces that audio wire, no more and no less. I want every single noise my computer made to be heard through my speakers, even the annoying windows error sound. 

So maybe the word "streaming" is not the most appropiate.

Also, I wanted to sacrifice just one USB port, thats why I though maybe I could use the same bluetooth dongle for both devices - mouse and stereo receiver.

Since it seems bluetooth wireless mice are not very good/hard to find and it has to have a dedicated USB dongle, the question would be: is there a wifi alternative that could do the same as these bluetooth audio receivers? 

If not, answer seems to be I have no choice but using two USB dongles, the dedicated one for the RF mouse, and the bluetooth one for audio streaming.


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

What are you streaming from the computer to? Where is the music going? What programs on the computer side do you use to play music? What would these speakers be connected to? How would you control the playback, volume, play lists, etc?


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## bazu (Jan 25, 2012)

Imagine you plug you headphones to you laptop. What would you hear? If you run winamp, you'd hear winamp. If, as you listen to winamp, run itunes, you'd hear both things. If you also started playing an internet radio station in firefox, you'd also hear it. You'd hear whatever your laptop would sing through its built in speakers if nothing were connected to its line out socket.

That is what I want. Whatever you'd hear through your headphones if they were connected, but wirelessly transmitted to a whateverdevice that decodes that whatever-band radiofrequency information back to a stereo analog signal, and connected to my analog stereo line in in my speakers.

Please say you understood me!! hahahaha. Blame sony vaio for not including a cheap bluetooth chip in a 700 2010 laptop.

Graphically:

In the speaker system side the layout would be:









where the IPhone would be obviously my laptop, connected to a device that would send through the air a signal exactly like the one the following device would produce, *given it has a 3.5mm input*:









BUT the device has to have a USB input (or being a wifi signal, maybe my thanksSonyVAIO included wifi card would do the job).

Good god I need to improve my english!!


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

Forget the mouse. It's confusing the issue. You're not looking at Bluetooth mice.

If you want to stream all computer audio to another set of speakers far from the computer, then a Bluetooth audio device is your only option. When most people say "streaming", they mean they want to stream music or video from their computer to another source. That's where media servers and WiFi makes sense. But you want to stream *all* computer audio, so a media server doesn't make any sense.

A Bluetooth connection will have nothing to do with your local network connection or your Internet connection. You also need to buy a Bluetooth adapter for your computer.


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## bazu (Jan 25, 2012)

Thanks for your help. I contacted logitech and they agree with you.

I'm finally getting both logitech and bluetooth receiver devices.

Thanks guys


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