Review on Techkey USB Mini Bluetooth 5.0 EDR Dongle for PC: Fast Wireless 🔌 Transfer for Laptop, Headphones, Speakers, Keyboard, Mouse & Printer - Windows 10/8.1/8/7 Compatible by Jeremy Gorsage

This device is exactly what it says it is: Bluetooth 5.0 USB nano dongle. It runs on Windows with the Techkey Driver Pack and, although not officially supported, also on Linux with a modern kernel (5.8.2 or higher) and some optimizations. . It works pretty well - I get better range and performance than any other Bluetooth 4.0 nano dongle I have. The connection is more reliable, stable and less interrupted. It's not perfect - the range is about average and there are still connection issues from time to time. For $20 it's not a big deal if you're looking for a Bluetooth 5 receiver. So to these drivers. Many reviewers note that Windows 10 does not require a driver for Bluetooth devices. That's right. However, like its BT500 cousin, this dongle uses the RTL8761b chip. The RTL8761b chip, like many other modern devices, relies on the operating system to push firmware onto the device. (essentially code that runs inside the device and tells it how to work). The firmware is not yet provided by Microsoft or the Linux firmware package. Therefore, Windows needs an external driver to transfer the firmware to the device. Thanks to Megan in one of the other review comment threads, we know that the Techkey drivers are almost identical to the BT-500 drivers. These drivers are duly signed by Realtek so you can rest assured that the drivers are safe to use. For the same reason, the key is not "supported" on MacOS or Linux. It is possible to get the device working on Linux by manually installing the firmware. (Essentially take "rtl8761b_mp_chip_bt40_fm_asic_rom_patch_new.dll" from the drivers and install it in /lib/firmware with the correct name and copy the configuration from rtl8761a. Use "dmesg" when connecting the device to get more information. ) This device is unlikely to ever work on macOS unless there is a way to download custom Bluetooth firmware. I hope this clears any confusion with this key. One can only hope that Realtek will release firmware for OS vendors to make this driverless device work on Windows and Linux.