I am playing around with BTstack (an open source Bluetooth stack) as a part of my on-going efforts to spoof a DualShock 4. After a bit of coding, I got it compiled into the UsbXlater firmware and now I am testing it.

One huge problem I ran into is that the RN42HCI I purchased from Microchip does not seem to support SSP (simple secure pairing). The Microchip website clearly states that the RN-42 is a “Fully certified Class 2 Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR module”. But using the read_local_version_information and read_local_supported_features commands, it is revealed that it does not support SSP and the version is actually Bluetooth 1.0b.

The PlayStation 4 uses SSP, this means the RN-42 cannot be used. I am hoping that Microchip will owe up to their mistake and either provide a replacement or a firmware update. Meanwhile, I will try doing some hacking to see if I can avoid the pairing problem, and also upgrade my USB stack a bit to see if using a USB BT dongle is still a viable option.

EDIT: According to Microchip tech support: “The current RN42HCI module does not support SSP. Updating the RN42HCI to BT3.0 for SSP support will have implications for our existing RN42HCI customers that do not use SSP.” So I was right, they are falsely advertising the product.