Solaar: Logitech Device Manager for Linux

Solaar: Logitech Device Manager for Linux

 I am a long-term fan of Logitech keyboards and mouses. Their build quality is unbeatable. Currently, I own the ergonomic MX Vertical Wireless Mouse and ERGO K860 wireless keyboard. Even though the build quality is exceptional, Linux users are left behind in software support as usual. This article introduces Solaar: an open-source device manager for Logitech devices.

Solaar is an open-source tool developed by reverse engineering Logitech's connection protocols to provide some basic functionalities to Linux users. It can be used from pairing multiple devices to the same unified receiver to configuring your devices.

Since it is not an official tool, do not expect it to support all the bells and whistles packed in Logitech devices.


As of writing this article, Solaar has the following features for the supported devices:

  • Pairing and unpairing devices with the receiver
  • Displaying the current battery level and basic information about the device
  • Change some settings


To install the latest Solaar on Ubuntu, Linux Mint, or any other derivatives, use the following command:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:solaar-unifying/stable
sudo apt update
sudo apt install solaar

 

Arch users can install the latest version from the AUR:

yay -S solaar


Fedora has the latest Solaar in its official software repository:

sudo dnf install solaar


For other Linux distributions, check the GitHub profile to see the pre-built packages.

After installing Solaar, you may have to unplug and plug the receivers to let them detected by Solaar. Any customization other than pairing may not be persisted by the device if turned off. Solaar remembers any such changes and apply them every time you start Solaar. Therefore, if you are using Solaar to change any device settings, make sure to start Solaar at the startup to keep the changes alive.

Easily Switch Audio Devices on Linux

Those working from home on a Linux machine might have already noticed the pain of switching between input and output audio devices. You may want to quickly switch from one headset to another or from the speaker to the headset and vice versa. Opening the settings dialog every time you want to change the sound device is not very productive. Some desktop distributions like Cinnamon provide out-of-the-box solutions to change the audio device with a couple of clicks. For Gnome, there is an extension that enables this feature. This article covers such options to switch between different audio devices with less effort.


Cinnamon

In the Cinnamon desktop environment, right-click on the Sound applet and choose the output device. You can individually select the output device and input device so that you can listen to the sound on one device while using a mic from another device.

Easily Switch Audio Devices on Cinnamon


The Input device selection will appear only if there is an application actively using a Mic. Otherwise, you will have the Output device selection only.


Gnome

Gnome doesn't provide a similar option as in Cinnamon. However, the "Sound Input & Output Device Chooser" Gnome extension fills the gap by enabling the exact shortcut in Gnome. All you need to do is, installing this extension and enable it from the GNOME Extensions app.

Easily Switch Audio Devices on Gnome

Use the following button to install the extension:


All Linux Distributions

Sound Switcher Indicator is a simple application to change the input and output audio from the tray icon. Unlike the first two options, this application is not limited to a particular distribution. If you don't like the long hardware names, the application also provides an option to rename any detected devices for your convenience.

Easily Switch Audio Devices on Linux

To install the "Sound Switcher Indicator" from PPA, run the following command:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:yktooo/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install indicator-sound-switcher

Arch users can use the following command to install the app:
yay -S indicator-sound-switcher


On any other distributions, you can either install it from the Snap or the source.

sudo snap install indicator-sound-switcher


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