Using Logitech K400 wireless keyboard with Linux


Besides the camera, I also bought a very basic computer yesterday equipped with the Logitech K400 wireless keyboard. It will be placed at home beside the LCD TV and be used as a media player and for some light-weight computing tasks. Linux is my favorite OS but I’m not sure whether the Logitech K400 can be used. The Logitech website only specify it supports MS Windows. This post is to confirm that K400 does work with Debian and Ubuntu. It works out-of-the-box with no configurations required.

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24 Responses to Using Logitech K400 wireless keyboard with Linux

  1. Pingback: Ride2Esc » Using Logitech K400 wireless keyboard with Linux

  2. Arnaud Diederen November 9, 2011 at 8:42 pm

    Dear Sir, I thank you for your informative post.
    On my way to buy one…

  3. Alex January 9, 2012 at 8:20 am

    ?? Mine doesn’t. lsusb returns the logitech unifying receiver, but no functionality beyond that. Am I missing something?

    Running xubuntu 11.10

    • Arnaud Diederen January 9, 2012 at 6:48 pm

      Alex,

      this is somewhat asking you to blow the dust (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/customerservice.html), but .. did you set the small switch on the keyboard side to “on”?
      If so, please post the results of an lsusb; I’ll try and have a look this evening at home.

      A.

      • Alex January 10, 2012 at 11:31 am

        hah, yes, I did.

        Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
        Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
        Bus 001 Device 009: ID 0bc2:5031 Seagate RSS LLC
        Bus 002 Device 006: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
        Bus 002 Device 007: ID 046d:c049 Logitech, Inc. G5 Laser Mouse
        Bus 002 Device 008: ID 046d:c316 Logitech, Inc. HID-Compliant Keyboard

      • Arnaud Diederen January 15, 2012 at 5:45 pm

        Alex,

        [sorry for the delay]
        [also, sorry for properly replying to _your_ message, but for whatever reason, it has no 'reply' button]

        Here’s my lsusb:
        —–
        Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
        Bus 003 Device 002: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
        Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
        Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
        Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
        Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
        —–

        As you can see, we seem to have somewhat similar info on the wireless keyboard.
        (You have other logitech devices, though, and I hope they don’t .. interfere. Have you tried removing the other devices, just for testing purposes?)

        Otherwise, here’s the verbose version of lsusb for the k400:
        —–
        Bus 003 Device 002: ID 046d:c52b Logitech, Inc. Unifying Receiver
        Device Descriptor:
        bLength 18
        bDescriptorType 1
        bcdUSB 2.00
        bDeviceClass 0 (Defined at Interface level)
        bDeviceSubClass 0
        bDeviceProtocol 0
        bMaxPacketSize0 8
        idVendor 0x046d Logitech, Inc.
        idProduct 0xc52b Unifying Receiver
        bcdDevice 12.01
        iManufacturer 1
        iProduct 2
        iSerial 0
        bNumConfigurations 1
        Configuration Descriptor:
        bLength 9
        bDescriptorType 2
        wTotalLength 84
        bNumInterfaces 3
        bConfigurationValue 1
        iConfiguration 4
        bmAttributes 0xa0
        (Bus Powered)
        Remote Wakeup
        MaxPower 98mA
        Interface Descriptor:
        bLength 9
        bDescriptorType 4
        bInterfaceNumber 0
        bAlternateSetting 0
        bNumEndpoints 1
        bInterfaceClass 3 Human Interface Device
        bInterfaceSubClass 1 Boot Interface Subclass
        bInterfaceProtocol 1 Keyboard
        iInterface 0
        HID Device Descriptor:
        bLength 9
        bDescriptorType 33
        bcdHID 1.11
        bCountryCode 0 Not supported
        bNumDescriptors 1
        bDescriptorType 34 Report
        wDescriptorLength 59
        Report Descriptors:
        ** UNAVAILABLE **
        Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength 7
        bDescriptorType 5
        bEndpointAddress 0×81 EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes 3
        Transfer Type Interrupt
        Synch Type None
        Usage Type Data
        wMaxPacketSize 0×0008 1x 8 bytes
        bInterval 8
        Interface Descriptor:
        bLength 9
        bDescriptorType 4
        bInterfaceNumber 1
        bAlternateSetting 0
        bNumEndpoints 1
        bInterfaceClass 3 Human Interface Device
        bInterfaceSubClass 1 Boot Interface Subclass
        bInterfaceProtocol 2 Mouse
        iInterface 0
        HID Device Descriptor:
        bLength 9
        bDescriptorType 33
        bcdHID 1.11
        bCountryCode 0 Not supported
        bNumDescriptors 1
        bDescriptorType 34 Report
        wDescriptorLength 148
        Report Descriptors:
        ** UNAVAILABLE **
        Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength 7
        bDescriptorType 5
        bEndpointAddress 0×82 EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes 3
        Transfer Type Interrupt
        Synch Type None
        Usage Type Data
        wMaxPacketSize 0×0008 1x 8 bytes
        bInterval 2
        Interface Descriptor:
        bLength 9
        bDescriptorType 4
        bInterfaceNumber 2
        bAlternateSetting 0
        bNumEndpoints 1
        bInterfaceClass 3 Human Interface Device
        bInterfaceSubClass 0 No Subclass
        bInterfaceProtocol 0 None
        iInterface 0
        HID Device Descriptor:
        bLength 9
        bDescriptorType 33
        bcdHID 1.11
        bCountryCode 0 Not supported
        bNumDescriptors 1
        bDescriptorType 34 Report
        wDescriptorLength 98
        Report Descriptors:
        ** UNAVAILABLE **
        Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength 7
        bDescriptorType 5
        bEndpointAddress 0×83 EP 3 IN
        bmAttributes 3
        Transfer Type Interrupt
        Synch Type None
        Usage Type Data
        wMaxPacketSize 0×0020 1x 32 bytes
        bInterval 2
        can’t get device qualifier: Operation not permitted
        can’t get debug descriptor: Operation not permitted
        cannot read device status, Operation not permitted (1)
        aundro@ribbon:~
        —–

        If you have something similar, then there’s always the possibility that you were sold a defective unit, and your only option is obviously to return it.

  4. Vinícius January 14, 2012 at 2:14 am

    Thank you friend!

    I was thinking to buy one and this information was very important to me!

    I’ll put it in a ATOM mediacenter pc i use.

  5. don February 29, 2012 at 11:32 pm

    does multitouch (pinch to zoom) work for you in ubuntu?

    • wenlong March 1, 2012 at 7:36 am

      “Pinch to zoom” requires application support, no? Sorry, I cannot test that right now. The keyboard is with my parents at my hometown.

  6. guinioul March 24, 2012 at 8:09 pm

    hello,

    I just bought this keyboard !

    I can confirm that both vertical and horizontal scrolling with two finger swipe are supported out of the box on ubuntu 11.10, that’s really cool :-) (only right clic with two fingers tap don’t work) .

    volume keys works too, and the home button open nautilus .

    pointing speed and acceleration are adjustable directly in mouse settings of the system, really cool too . scrolling speed is not adjustable but is ok on a big flat TV (scrolling is not too slow ! )

    Don : if you need the zoom feature you can use the combo “ctrl”+”scoll”, it work on any touchpad that support scrolling .

    a good product to conbtrol an htpc !

    bye

  7. Anders Runeson April 13, 2012 at 12:30 am

    Thank you. Just bought one for a kitchen computer.

  8. marc June 30, 2012 at 9:40 am

    I could’t get it to work until I unplugged my Bluetooth dongle.

  9. nerdo August 2, 2012 at 12:51 pm

    re: “if you need the zoom feature you can use the combo ctrl+scoll, it work on any touchpad that support scrolling”

    Ha! Never knew you could do that … that works on the K400 in a mozilla browser … on Puppy linux, even.

  10. monsto November 24, 2012 at 4:41 am

    I’m standing in best buy right now lookin at this kb and wanted to know this. thanks for the post!

  11. waterman77 January 17, 2013 at 1:19 am

    I use the 2012-12-16-wheezy-raspbian OS. My K400 worked straight away after 1st installation and boot. But it stopped working after doing the “expand_rootfs” command in raspi-config to expand root partition to fill my 16GB SD card, and i had to reconfigure the keyboard settings to make it work again.

  12. Alex March 7, 2013 at 3:22 am

    I know this post is old but, can anyone tell me how far is the reception distance?

  13. ahmadmuzakki29 March 25, 2013 at 12:31 pm

    I know this post is old but, I really wonder if shortcut key like next music or set brightness works well on ubuntu
    your response would be very much appreciated

  14. akatran April 7, 2013 at 1:20 am

    Nice sharing that information with us. I’ll buy one ASAP!!!
    (ubuntu 12.10 user)

    • Arnaud Diederen April 8, 2013 at 6:54 pm

      For what it’s worth: since I was happy with the keyboard, I bought a simple Logitech USB wireless mouse, and it just works as well (Debian Squeeze; 6.0.6).
      Oh, and it has a terrific range, too.
      Logitech FTW!

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