Unable to pair and connect Wiimote on Debian 12

[vanfanel]

Hi there,

I'm trying to pair an original Wiimote on Debian 12 using bluetoothctl. bluetoothctl version on Debian is 5.66, which I believe is recent enough to have the Wiimote support pluging included. Kernel is 6.1.0-17-amd64, which is also recent enough.

I have the hid-wiimote kernel module loaded.

It's successfully detected:

Agent registered
[CHG] Controller F0:20:FF:0D:C1:8A Pairable: yes
[bluetooth]# scan on
Discovery started
[CHG] Controller F0:20:FF:0D:C1:8A Discovering: yes
[NEW] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 Nintendo RVL-CNT-01

Then, if I try to pair it with my computer, I get this:

[bluetooth]# pair 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 
Attempting to pair with 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 Bonded: yes
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 Modalias: usb:v057Ep0306d0600
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 UUIDs: 00001000-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 UUIDs: 00001124-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 UUIDs: 00001200-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 ServicesResolved: yes
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 Paired: yes
Pairing successful
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 WakeAllowed: yes
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 ServicesResolved: no
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 Connected: no

Seems to be paired, but not connected, right?

Then, if I try to connect after that:

[bluetooth]# connect 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 
Attempting to connect to 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 Connected: yes
Request PIN code
[agent] Enter PIN code: Failed to connect: org.bluez.Error.Failed br-connection-create-socket
[agent] Enter PIN code: Request canceled
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 Connected: no

I am not entering any PIN, as it's not needed. If I am not mistaken, Bluez should manage that internally using it's wiimote plugin.

So, maybe the Debian 12 build doesn't have the wiimote plugin support included? That would be very strange indeed... HOW can I verify that, please?

EDIT: I can skip the pairing, directly connecting instead, and I get this:

[bluetooth]# connect 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3                   
Attempting to connect to 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 Connected: yes
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 Modalias: usb:v057Ep0306d0600
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 UUIDs: 00001000-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 UUIDs: 00001124-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 UUIDs: 00001200-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 ServicesResolved: yes
[CHG] Device 00:22:D7:E7:5B:D3 WakeAllowed: yes
Connection successful

But then, xwiishow list doesn't report any connected wiimotes, so skipping the pairing doesn't seem to be the solution...

Any help is appreciated.

[vanfanel]

I verified that bluez on Debian 12 has wiimote plugin enabled:

root@debian:~# grep wiimote /usr/libexec/bluetooth/bluetoothd 
grep: /usr/libexec/bluetooth/bluetoothd: binary file matches

So it should work. But it does not.

[Zipdox2]

I also have this problem

[queenkjuul]

Having the same problem with Ubuntu 23.10, trying the 24.04 beta as we speak to see if it's any different. Can connect and then pair with bluetoothctl but nothing else on the system sees the remote. dmesg does not indicate a driver is loaded, though it confirms the connection.

Passing through the same bluetooth adapter directly to Dolphin works with this remote, so I know it isn't the adapter or the controller, it's the software

[Leviticoh]

not sure if it's the same, but on arch linux i found the same behaviour since bluez 5.73, by bisecting i found that the first bad commit was "f174724c76c6c8b91276f444142fed9c2537e5c1 bluetoothd: change plugin loading alike obexd" i hope this is useful

[schorschii]

I'm on Ubuntu 22.04 with bluetoothctl 5.64 and had the same issue. I solved it by putting ClassicBondedOnly=false into /etc/bluetooth/input.conf and restarted the bluetooth service.