Archived from groups: alt.cellular.bluetooth (More info?)

This might not be the perfect choice of group for asking this Q but I can't
find anywhere else more appropriate without going through a sign-up as a BT
developer or something, but I'm hoping someone will know:

With USB Bluetooth adaptors for the PC, does the dongle need to know about
profiles and have support for them, or does that part of the hardware purely
handle the data link layer? Are profiles all handled by software drivers or
higher level parts of the applications that use them?

I'm wondering, because although I use Windows (98SE) a fair bit, I plan on
using a BT adapter in Linux and if the manufacturers drivers aren't
important, that means I can purely base my purchase decision on (as long as
it's a supported chipset in the device, but most are nowadays) the class
(distance range), brand and cost. It'll mainly be for headset type stuff but
with some synching and file transfer.

Is it also the same with encryption/security protocols
(hard/firmware/drivers?). Some adaptors have flashable firmware I believe.

If the hardware needs support for every profile it can use then it makes it
a harder decision. Does it?

Thanks in advance anyone who knows, would appreciate an answer.

John
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