Epox Bluetooth Mouse and Linux

October 18, 2004 by chris | 6 comments |

Today I got a cool new toy:

Epox Bluetooth Mouse

An Epox Bluetooth wireless mouse. Uber cool. And only $41 on Newegg.com

I also found it quite easy to get working on Linux. Read on for directions…

I’m running Debian Linux and kernel 2.6.8.1 on my Thinkpad X31 with a built in USB Bluetooth chip. If you’ve got something else in your machine, I can’t guarantee that this will work…

Steps:

  1. Go to http://www.bluez.org/patches.html and download the latest BlueZ patch for kernel 2.6.8. It applies cleanly against 2.6.8.1 with the exception of one line in the kernel Makefile which doesn’t matter anyways. Make sure you’re building all the bluetooth modules, and recompile your kernel.
  2. Edit /etc/default/bluez-utils and change HIDD_ENABLED to 1 (this is very Debian specific… basically you need to make sure hidd is started at boot). Then restart the bluez tools (/etc/init.d/bluez-tools restart).
  3. Move the mouse around and then use hcitool scan to figure out the BD address of the mouse (its like a MAC address but for bluetooth).
  4. Run hidd –connect bd_address. Ta-da! Your mouse should work now.
  5. Now move it around and click on things. You’re done.

Now who says Linux is hard to use?

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6 comments

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July 20, 2005 at 4:29 am

Mathias

Mathias’s avatar

Hi,

i´ve did something else with a anycom BTM100. It works and that´s fine. But must i do a hidd –connect XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX every time i want to use the mouse? Is there a possibility to connect at boot time? I didn´t find anythig for that. I´m using a Suse 9.2 on a nexoc laptop. Regards, mathias

July 20, 2005 at 1:06 pm

chris

chris’s avatar

Mathias -

You don’t have to do the hidd thing every time you want to use the mouse. In my experience the association stays around until the next time you restart X (I think).

Honestly I haven’t used my mouse much in the last few months and never with X.org or the latest kernels. Things may have changed.

August 5, 2005 at 10:57 pm

tyler

tyler’s avatar

I see you’ve had this mouse for almost a year now…do you still like it? Does it scroll smoothly? It seems pretty popular cause it’s sold out at newegg and at chiefvalue :)

September 13, 2005 at 1:43 pm

Jake

Jake’s avatar

I got it to work without doing the hidd thing by following this guide. Now it works every time I start X, with no need to fiddle with commands.

July 6, 2007 at 2:36 pm

bt

bt’s avatar

thanks! it works. yea, no more usb transmitters to keep track of for a wireless mouse.

i

July 6, 2007 at 2:45 pm

bt

bt’s avatar

thanks! it works. yea, no more usb transmitters to keep track of for a wireless mouse.

i’m running the 2.6.18-4-686 kernel that ships with debian etch. all i needed to do was:

  1. hcitool scan

  2. write down the bd address; and

  3. hidd –connect bd_[put bd address here]

(actually i didn’t need #2.)

this makes my week! i’m so happy finally to be in the “bluetooth world.” better late than never!

oh, i forgot to mention my bluetooth mouse is a “mogo.” it stores and recharges in the pcmcia (pc card)slot. sweet!