Hi,
after some struggles, I have managed to get an Arduino with the Seed SLD63030P BlueTooth shield and a Linux host to pair up and pass serial data between them. Details follow, since I could not find this process documented anywhere else:
The host computer was OpenSuSE 12.3 32 bit, with Arduino 1.0.2 with the Seed Studio BT shield plugged in to a Uno. I used a Targus ACB75AU Bluetooth/USB adapter from Harvey/Norman and also tested OK with a Digitech Bluetooth/USB adapter from Jaycar.
The Uno was loaded with the BlueToothShieldDemo Slave sketch, dowloaded from Seeed.
Steps:
Power up the Uno with the BT shield and software installed, observer alternate red/green flashing lights on the BT shield. Open the serial interface to the arduino port, see a startup message about being inquirable.
Insert the BT/USB adapter into the OpenSuSE host. Observe that the Bluetooth icon appears in the dock.
If you open the Bluetooth dock, and select Add Device, a window will open: you should see the MAC address of your bluetooth shield appear there. Dont bother trying to connect that way though, cause it wont work.
Instead open a shell terminal as root.
Enter the command:
rfcomm connect rfcomm4 00:13:EF:00:06:80 1
(where 00:13:EF:00:06:80 is the MAC address of your shield. Like this:
zulu:/home/mikem # rfcomm connect rfcomm4 00:13:EF:00:06:80 1
Observe:
Connected /dev/rfcomm4 to 00:13:EF:00:06:80 on channel 1
Press CTRL-C for hangup
A new device /dev/rfcomm4 will be created, which is connected to the shield and sketch. The Arduino will print some BTSTATE information to its serial port.
connect a serial comms program to the new device /dev/rfcomm4, your preference, minicom, cutecom etc. I used cutecom. Select /dev/rfcomm4 as the device to open. I think baud rates are irrelevant, but I used 9600 8N1.
Now when you enter text in your terminal it will appear on the Arduino serial output, and when you use the Arduino line input in its window, the text will appear in your terminal.
Have fun.