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Logitech has a Unifying receiver that you can add several devices using the same USB device. Is this supported in Ubuntu and if so do I have to additionally configure something so that when adding a new wireless device it gets recognized by the same receiver.

Info: http://www.logitech.com/en-us/66/6079

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5 Answers

up vote 13 down vote accepted

I've a Logitech Illuminated Keyboard and M525 mouse here, both are using the Logitech Unifying USB receiver. They works out-of-the box, Plug & Play!

lsusb | grep Logitech:

Bus 002 Device 004: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver

dmesg | grep Logitech:

input: Logitech USB Receiver as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb2/2-1/2-1.2/2-1.2:1.0/input/input2
generic-usb 0003:046D:C52B.0001: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.11 Keyboard [Logitech USB Receiver] on usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.2/input0
input: Logitech USB Receiver as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/usb2/2-1/2-1.2/2-1.2:1.1/input/input3
generic-usb 0003:046D:C52B.0002: input,hiddev0,hidraw1: USB HID v1.11 Mouse [Logitech USB Receiver] on usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.2/input1
generic-usb 0003:046D:C52B.0003: hiddev0,hidraw2: USB HID v1.11 Device [Logitech USB Receiver] on usb-0000:00:1d.0-1.2/input2

Having that said, Logitech only supports Unifying software for Windows and Mac OS X. For Linux, I have created the ltunify tool which is described in detail on my article Logitech Unifying for Linux: Reverse Engineering and unpairing tool. Quick installation installations if you are in a hurry:

sudo apt-get install git gcc
git clone https://git.lekensteyn.nl/ltunify.git
cd ltunify
make install-home

This will fetch the sources and install the program to $HOME/bin/ltunify, if $HOME/bin did not exist before, then you may have to re-login or reopen your terminal. After doing so, you can pair a new device with the sudo ltunify pair command and unpair devices with a command like sudo ltunify unpair mouse (be sure to have a second device that you can use after detaching your Unifying device!).

A graphical tool is also available, Solaar. It has better support for functionality of newer devices such as swapping the functionality of FN keys. It is available though the ppa:daniel.pavel/solaar PPA (if you do not know how to install such a "PPA", see What are PPAs and how do I use them?). After installation, you can search for Solaar in the applications menu and start it from there.

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Have you tried 2 mice or a keyboard and mouse just to know if 2 or more devices can work together with the same Receiver. – Luis Alvarado Mar 18 '12 at 23:28
Updated answer, I think it should work now judging from the source code and commit message. – Lekensteyn Mar 19 '12 at 10:15
Many thanks Lekensteyn. The part about "all the devices paired to a single Unifying receiver are exposed to user processes in separated /input/dev nodes" I like ^^. – Luis Alvarado Mar 23 '12 at 0:03
I know I'm a little late to the party, but yes, I have used the Unifying software in Windows 7 to pair my mouse and keyboard, and they have then worked in Ubuntu, however I have found on the receiver to be moody when in Ubuntu, and I sometimes have to remove and replace the receiver several times before it works. That could be a separate issue, and I'm still working on it, but the unification through Windows does transfer over to Ubuntu! – Casey Hungler Jan 11 at 23:25
1  
@LuisAlvarado another update, a graphical tool this time. I discovered that one yesterday :-) – Lekensteyn Apr 27 at 13:52
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The first device you plug in just works, but if you get another keyboard or mouse then you need to pair it with the existing receiver. Here's a script you can use to pair your devices on Linux:

Works great.

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Needed to convert the [[ and ]] in its autopair.sh to [ and ] but then it worked perfectly! Many thanks. – taneli Jan 17 at 15:09

I would like to complement Lekensteyn's answer by including a feature I did not know about. I have a Logitech Anywhere MX mouse and when the batteries were almost out, I got the following message:

enter image description here

So the Unifying receiver is not only supported by it offers (Depending on the device) several features like the image above.

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1  
This is a feature of UPower contributed by Julien Danjou, I mentioned this in the conclusion of my article. – Lekensteyn Apr 25 at 16:49
@Lekensteyn wow great article. – Luis Alvarado Apr 25 at 17:15

I have a Logitech K360 Keyboard, Logitech Wireless Trackpad, and a Logitech M510 Wireless Mouse, all working through the same unifying receiver.

I configured the devices initially on a Windows machine, then moved the unifying receiver to my Linux box (running ubuntu 12.04). All of the devices work well most of the time.

I have encountered two issues:

The first issue is that I would like to configure different speeds for the trackpad and the mouse, but they are jointly recognised as a mouse, so there is only one configuration possible.

The second issue is that from time-to-time, I appear to lose the signal. In other words, none of the devices will work - or they will stop working. I encounter this on Windows as well - just one of those things. I pull the receiver from the usb slot and then re-insert it and the signal is restored - the devices work.

I am happy with the arrangement, although I do wish that I could find a solution to the first issue.

Hope this helps,

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the loss of signal happens when there's a USB device close to the USB port of your receiver.. I was going crazy over that then I just switched ports (put the receiver far away) – George Katsanos Apr 17 at 13:59

if you are more new to Ubuntu , follow these steps this is the same answer as above but in steps using: https://github.com/treeder/logitech_unifier

click on the files autopair.sh and then click on raw, then save as, save it in any path you like. now go back and download unify.c the same way and put it into the same folder. now either right click on the autopair.sh and in permissions allow excuting it. now you should be able to run it by double clicking if not , press ctrl+L and copy that path push ctrl+shift+t write cd then push ctrl+shift+v and press enter now write

chmod +x autopair.sh

and press enter now you can run it by writing ./autopair.sh and pressing enter

that should be all telling you to turn off the device and press enter then you turn on the device and that's it , repeat for more devices. I could guess if the compiler doesnt work you need to install build essentials. by running

sudo apt-get install build-essential

now do the above instructions again . if it still is no go, maybe you can pair using another computer.

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