[clug] Re: Bluetooth mice (was SFD)

[Paul Wayper]

Pilcher, Fred wrote:
> Paul wrote: 
>   
>> I bought a Targus bluetooth 
>> optical mini-mouse that comes with a stack of features - a 
>> joystick that acts as a two-way scroller, press a button and 
>> it becomes a set of media keys, etc etc.  I was expecting a 
>> fight, especially when the thing came with a full A4 page 
>> with instructions on how to install it on whichever of the 
>> three different bluetooth drivers that you can get with 
>> Windows (and how would you know, exactly?).
>>
>> Yes, my solution did involve the command line, but after a 
>> bit of Googling I found the one command to enter that would 
>> connect to the mouse.  And it worked perfectly - even the 
>> media keys! - without any fussing with xmodmap or GNOME's 
>> keyboard shortcuts or anything.  Another command set it 
>> working permanently.
>> For a product with Linux not mentioned on the box or in the 
>> documentation at all, I think that's pretty good coverage!
>>     
>
> I got a Targus Bluetooth mouse with my HP laptop. After some struggling
> I can get it to connect and work by issuing a command line command, but
> if I leave the mouse untouched for a few minutes it drops out and I need
> to manually reconnect by issuing the command again. (Don't have it here
> at work, but from recollection it's something really simple like "XXXX
> scan".)
>
> Any idea how I can get it to stay connected?
>   

My blog article is at
http://www.mabula.net/tbfw/2007/09/12#2007-09-12-tiny-wireless-footsteps
but the short of it is:

run the command 'hidd --server --search' then push the 'connect' button
to get it to connect.

'hidd --show' will show you whether it's connected or not.

'chkconfig --level 35 hidd on' will turn the daemon on at boot time so
it always connects in future.

> The Bluetooth connection process is one area in which M$ tramples all
> over the pengie.
>   
Meh.  I've had mixed success.  I'm irritated by the fact that the
bluetooth implementation I'm using (Fedora Core 6 on a Dell Inspiron
6400) forces me to put both in 'viewable by everyone' in order for it to
even see the other device, and then manually accept the connection each
time I want to send my laptop a picture from my phone - Windows detects
the phone as being in range and only has to do the 'accept connection'
thing once.  But OTOH I've had plenty of problems with getting different
devices to talk to Windows using Bluetooth before too - I remember a
long period where Nokia's software under Windows didn't even recognise
Bluetooth as a transfer method, and then a longer time when they would
only work with the Toshiba chipset and drivers - and I had a Nokia 6310i
Bluetooth-enabled phones all that time.  They have three different
driver stacks that each only operate with a subset of the chipsets
available and each requires you to do connections in a slightly
different way.  No-one can tell me that's 'trampling all over' Linux.

I would, however, like to have a way to browse the phone's contents on
Linux that is anywhere as neat and useful as having it appear in the
Windows Explorer directory tree in full subfolder-y glory.  I'd also pay
money to have a Linux program that can edit the phone's contact list. 
But we're getting there.

Have fun,

Paul