Fitbit

Just got a fitbit force. My first instinct was to install the windows-only sync software in wine, but wine rates the software as garbage.

So I'll have to find another way.

I'm not alone trying to solve this problem: https://lwn.net/Articles/532410/

That makes it look like there isn't a very good solution.

Here is what the fitbit USB dongle looks like when inserted:

[   23.908099] usb 4-1: new full-speed USB device number 2 using ohci-pci
[   24.088179] usb 4-1: New USB device found, idVendor=2687, idProduct=fb01
[   24.088183] usb 4-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[   24.088185] usb 4-1: Product: Fitbit Base Station
[   24.088187] usb 4-1: Manufacturer: Fitbit Inc.
[   24.088189] usb 4-1: SerialNumber: \xffffffef\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffef\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffef\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffef\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffef\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffef\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffef\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffef\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffef\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffef\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffef\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffef\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffef\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffef\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffef\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffef\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf\xffffffbf
[   24.098279] hid-generic 0003:2687:FB01.0005: hiddev0,hidraw4: USB HID v1.11 Device [Fitbit Inc. Fitbit Base Station] on usb-0000:00:12.1-1/input0
[   24.106274] hid-generic 0003:2687:FB01.0006: hiddev0,hidraw5: USB HID v1.11 Device [Fitbit Inc. Fitbit Base Station] on usb-0000:00:12.1-1/input1

The comments in the article referenced above indicates that the current generation of fitbits are using bluetooth LE to transmit data.

A naive attempt to enable bluetooth in Ubuntu 13.10 does not work: No bluetooth adapters found.

lsusb shows it here:

Bus 004 Device 002: ID 2687:fb01

Silly to hope that the base station is a generic bluetooth device. But if it were, I'd be able to do something like this to talk to the fitbit:

hcitool scan
bluez-simple-agent hci0 00:11:12:09:XX:XX
rfcomm bind rfcomm0 00:11:12:09:XX:XX
screen /dev/rfcomm0

Here's what I see:

root@ferret:~# hcidump
HCI sniffer - Bluetooth packet analyzer ver 2.5
Can't open device: No such device