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Is there a way to monitor the mouse's battery status in Kubuntu? I have a Logitech Wireless Mouse M510 and in Windows I can use the default software (from official site) to monitor battery status and do other things like editing some mouse buttons etc.

Is there any software to do same thing or just monitoring battery status (applets, widgets, software etc.)?

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It appears that only half a year ago some first work was done to get this information through the HID USB interface in the Linux kernel. See this wonderful article if you're interested in technical background. (not an answer, so posting a comment) – gertvdijk Jan 26 at 21:31
More specifically, only since June 2012 it's known how the HID++ protocol Logitech uses actually works. This protocol has been released into the public, so it's just a matter of time for this to be included in Ubuntu. Logitech HID++ specification document - it includes "0x1000 Battery Unified Level Status" – gertvdijk Jan 26 at 21:46

1 Answer

Using the Solaar program as described in this answer, you can obtain the battery status.

Screenshot of Solaar


warning: technical gibberish below, feel free to skip if you are not interested in hacking this mouse

The M510 is a HID++ 1.0 device judging from the register dump at the Solaar repository. The HID++ 2.0 document that include Battery Unified Level Status as linked by gertvdijk are irrelevant here.

As noted on https://git.lekensteyn.nl/ltunify/tree/registers.txt, the "07" register shows the battery status. If you want to learn more about the technical side, you can read my article about reverse engineering the protocol.

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