Logitech V470 Bluetooth Mouse works well with Arch

Question

I know we're not supposed to do advertising on this forum, but in this case, I feel I'm just reporting about a hardware compatibility issue.
After my Microsoft USB optical cordless mouse died, with some hesitation I ordered a Logitech V470 Cordless Laser Mouse. It's a bluetooth mouse designed especially for notebooks but, since it's a mid-size rather than really compact mouse, it's big enough to be comfortable for everyday use with a desktop, I think.
I'm happy to report that, by following the steps in this wiki page about installing a bluetooth mouse on Arch, I got it working in no time. Mark another small victory for Linux, and for Arch and its documentation, too.
FWIW, my laptop is a Thinkpad T61p.
I remember a time when you could almost count on spending a lot of time setting up most any newish hardware item under Linux. I used to put up with it since I invariably would learn a lot about my system and about Linux, too. I think we're getting past that now, and that the Linux userbase has reached the critical mass necessary so that the drivers, setup scripts and documentation generally follow pretty quickly a new hardware release.
Last edited by dhave (2008-12-20 13:09:02)

Answer 1

Thanks for the help, zyghom. I've finally got things working. My experience went like this:
(1) After updating to bluez-4.30, I created the special "trust" file in /var/lib/bluetooth/XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX/, as explained in this post. However, contrary to what that post says, in my case the trust file doesn't have to be copied over to its location with each boot. It seems to be persisting from boot to boot.
(2) Since I'm currently using KDE4, I next installed and tried kdebluetooth4 to register my bluetooth mouse, but I couldn't get it to work.
(3) Next I tried blueman, which didn't work properly, either.
(4) I thought I was going to have to install the gnome bluetooth tool(s), but finally I got kdebluetooth4 to work. To get kdebluetooth4 to work properly, I had to:
(4.a) rebuild from ABS obex-data-server (at least I think that's what made the difference).
(4.b) Then I had to fiddle with kdebluetooth4 a bit, setting my mouse as a trusted device, then rebooting and redoing the settings until the settings "stuck" (I don't know why they didn't stick the first time).
(4.c) Then I had to write a bash script for kdebluetooth4 to be autostarted, which I made executable and put into ~/.kde4/Autostart
Maybe I did more than was necessary, but it is working now, and with bluez-4.30. Thanks again, zyghom, for leading me in the right direction, and for your patience with an old-timer. Now, please excuse me, I've got to go find my reading glasses and hearing aid.
Last edited by dhave (2009-02-22 14:23:52)