I know this is an old thread. I couldn't find any forum rules about replying to old threads, but thought this might be relevant...
I've been working on getting my PowerMac G4 DA ready for an OS 9 installation, read through this thread, and promptly went about looking for some D-Link DBT-120s rev B2-B4 bluetooth adapters. After finding & purchasing two (just in case I brick one of them) on Fleabay, I realized that these adapters would only work with pre-Bluetooth 4.0/LE devices, which isn't a huge problem, but is definitely limiting.
After going back through and reading the post at
0xf8.org and
reading the previous post which goes into a bit more detail it seems that the key issue here is that the pre-rev C1 D-Link DBT-120 adapters use a CSR chipset, and CSR chipsets are the only ones that implement HID-proxy mode.
So it begged the question: were there any Bluetooth 4.0 adapters that used a CSR chipset implementing HID proxy mode? It winds up there is: the
Laird BT820, whose product description states the following:
As an additional benefit of the BT800 series, Laird has implemented CSR’s HID (Human Interface Device) Proxy Mode enabling out of the box HID connectivity for BLE pointing devices and / or BLE keyboard functionality, requiring zero host device software or configuration...NOTE: HID Proxy mode on the BT820 works with “Just Works” devices and will not pair with BT devices that require a pincode or passkey
I found this device
via a wiki page describing providing BT4.0 connectivity for a portable keyboard device called a TextBlade to devices that don't support BT4.0, which bundles the Laird BT820. There are a couple other mentions of similar use cases on Hackintosh pages.
At any rate, the wiki page describes a lengthy process of getting all this to work, but I would imagine that the processes are similar for getting most BT4.0 devices working with OS9. It seems like the main challenge is getting a BT4.0 keyboard to pair, and setting the dongle to HID proxy mode without losing the pairing.
I've procured a Laird BT820 but still need to get an OS9-compatible video card before I can proceed with testing. One thing I don't completely understand is, if one manages to set up the pairing (presumably while it's still in HCI -native bluetooth stack- mode), and switch the device to HID proxy mode while retaining the pairing, will the dongle continue to present the keyboard & mouse as HID devices no matter the OS?
To put it another way, for those of you who have paired a keyboard & mouse with your D-Link DBT-120s, can you use your keyboard & mouse say, everywhere that accepts a usb kb/mouse?