Sorry if this seems fundamental folks but how is this done from the command line? I have googled it and searched here on the forums and I can't seem to find a straightforward answer as to how to simply restart the daemon. I keep rebooting in order to accomplish this.

The underlying problem is that bluetooth with skype is flaky at best. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. There is no rhyme or reason. So, I am forced to repair and that sometimes (read too often) crashes the bluez daemon.

I'm using ubuntu 8.10 on a macbook pro 4,1 with blueman to manage bluetooth conn. Any advice is appreciated.

Try sudo service -f bluetooth

For the 'buntus I think the command you need is

Thank you guys. That was what I was looking for.

I had used System/Administration/Services and done it manually their. I appreciate the cli option. That will be much easier in the future.