During a recent Live recording of a podcast, I was complaining about having to borrow a Windows computer to pair my new Logitech wireless keyboard with the Unifying Receiver for my existing wireless mouse. Logitech provides a software tool for doing this, but it is available for Windows and OSX only!

During the show, a listener, Jake, provided a link that revealed that the open source community has developed a solution. Solaar, a Linux devices manager for the Logitech Unifying Receiver. It works great! This tutorial provides instructions on how I installed this tool on my Mint 15 notebook.  

Solaar has an official PPA. Add the PPA like this:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:daniel.pavel/solaar
sudo apt-get update

Now install Solaar:

sudo apt-get install solaar

The Solaar application can be run from the command line or as a desktop application. You'll find it in the Accessories menu.

You may need to disconnect and reconnect the Unifying Receiver if it was connected during the installation. Once you do that, you will see the receiver and any already paired devices. You can unpair an existing device or pair a new device. You may also see some options that weren't previously available to you. Close the window and you will see an icon in the notification area that allows you to relaunch the application. The icon shows the current battery status of your devices.

Check this page to see if your Logitech device and Unifying Receiver are supported. Most are. http://pwr.github.io/Solaar/devices.html