Bluetui – A TUI for managing Bluetooth on Linux

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Overall reception and usage

  • Many commenters are enthusiastic about bluetui, calling it simple, fast, and a big improvement over bluetoothctl and some existing TUIs like bluetuith.
  • Several people report it solved real issues where desktop Bluetooth GUIs (e.g., GNOME) failed to connect, while bluetui worked reliably.
  • It’s praised for thoughtful keybindings (space to connect, enter to disconnect) which help avoid accidental toggling.

TUI design, whitespace, and icons

  • One thread criticizes the lack of visible device addresses and the “wasted space,” arguing TUIs are copying minimalist GUI trends that hide useful information.
  • Others push back on the tone, and note that smaller window sizes can use up that whitespace.
  • The author explains you can fix the width via config and is open to feature requests.
  • Another thread debates icons/emoji and Nerd Fonts: some find them helpful for quickly identifying device types; others dislike them or worry about font dependencies. The author is receptive to making icons configurable.

TUIs vs GUIs and workflows

  • Multiple people highlight TUIs as a sweet spot between raw CLI tools and heavyweight GUIs: easier to build, fast over SSH, consistent on different systems, and nostalgic for DOS/Pine-era users.
  • Some contrast TUIs with network and Bluetooth “all-in-one” managers, preferring small focused tools (e.g., bluetoothd + bluetui; iwd + impala).

Installation, Rust toolchain, and distro friction

  • One commenter struggles to install via cargo on Ubuntu due to outdated Rust packages, leading to frustration with the Rust ecosystem and Debian/Ubuntu packaging.
  • Others suggest alternatives: downloading prebuilt binaries, using rustup, using version managers like mise, Docker builds, or switching to rolling-release distros (with some pushback on “use Arch” attitudes).
  • There’s general agreement that distro Rust packages tend to lag, and many Rust tools expect a recent compiler.

Related tools and ecosystem

  • Mentioned alternatives include bluetuith (Go-based), Mac-specific blueutil with shell aliases or a TUI wrapper, and companion TUIs like impala for Wi-Fi/NetworkManager.
  • Some discuss Rust vs Go for building such tools; Go is seen as easier and faster to compile, Rust as more rigorous but with a steeper learning curve.