184 lines
8.5 KiB
Markdown
184 lines
8.5 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Solaar GUI Usage
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layout: page
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---
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# Solaar GUI Usage
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The Solaar GUI (the usual way to run Solaar) is meant to run continuously in the background,
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monitoring devices, making changes to them, and responding to some messages they emit.
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The Solaar GUI normally creates an icon in your system tray that provides an interface
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to Solaar. This icon is
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usually a battery icon showing the approximate battery level for your device
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with the lowest known battery level. If there are no devices with battery information,
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then the icon is one of the Solaar icons.
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Solaar also has a main window. When the main window is invisible,
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click on Solaar's icon in the system tray to bring up the Solaar menu, and then
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click on a receiver or device in the menu to see information about
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that receiver or device.
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The following is an image of the Solaar menu and the icon (the battery
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symbol is in the system tray at the left of the image). The icon can
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also be other battery icons or versions of the Logitech Unifying icon.
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Clicking on “Quit” in the Solaar menu terminates the program.
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Clicking on “About Solaar” pops up a window with further information about Solaar.
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## Solaar options
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There are several options that affect how the Solaar GUI behaves:
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* `--help` shows a help message and then quits
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* `--version` shows the version of Solaar and then quits
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* `--window=show` starts Solaar with the main window showing
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* `--window=hide` starts Solaar with the main window not showing
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* `--window=only` starts Solaar with no system tray icon and the main window showing
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* `--battery-icons=regular` uses regular icons for battery levels
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* `--battery-icons=symbolic` uses symbolic icons for battery levels
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* `--battery-icons=solaar` uses only the Solaar icon in the system tray
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## Solaar main window
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The Solaar main window shows your Logitech receivers and devices that Solaar
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knows about and can be used to pair new devices, unpair paired devices, and
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view and change some settings of the selected receiver or device.
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To select a receiver or device click on it in the left side of the window.
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Closing the main window does not terminate Solaar (unless Solaar is not using the system tray).
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Clicking on “Quit Solaar” terminates the program, and “About Solaar” pops up a window with further information.
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The light bulb (or a similar icon) displays detailed information
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about the selected receiver or device (useful for debugging).
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### Pairing and unpairing devices
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When a receiver is selected in the main window, you can pair a new device by
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clicking on the “Pair new device” button.
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Then turn on the device and it should pair with the receiver if that is possible
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and the device is not already paired with another active receiver.
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For multi-host devices first select the host position that you want.
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Bolt devices and some Lightspeed devices pair by pressing a special pairing button.
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To pair with a Bolt receiver you have to type a passcode followed by enter
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or click the left and right buttons in the correct sequence followed by
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clicking both buttons simultaneously.
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When a device is selected you can unpair the device if your receiver supports
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unpairing. To unpair the device, just click on the “Unpair” button and
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confirm in the window that pops up.
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A receiver with the Unifying logo should be able to pair with any device
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with the Unifying logo
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and a receiver with the Bolt logo should be able to pair with any device
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with the Bolt logo.
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If there are no open pairing slots, however, you will
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not be able to pair a new device. In this case to pair a new device you
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first need to unpair a device.
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Other receivers can only pair with certain kinds of devices.
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Most of these receivers do not allow unpairing - instead
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pairing a new device replaces an existing paired device of the same kind.
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Some receivers can only pair a limited number of times.
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### Viewing and changing device settings
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When a device is selected you can see the approximate battery level of the
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device, if that is reported by the device, and the status of the link
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between the device and its receiver.
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You can also see and change the settings of devices.
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Changing settings is performed by clicking on buttons,
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moving sliders, or selecting from alternatives.
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Device settings now have a clickable icon that determines whether the
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setting can be changed and whether the setting is ignored.
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If the selected device that is paired with a receiver is powered down or
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otherwise disconnected its settings cannot be changed
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but it still can be unpaired if its receiver allows unpairing.
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If a device is paired with a receiver but directly connected via USB or Bluetooth
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the receiver pairing will show up as well as the direct connection.
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The device can only be manipulated using the direct connection.
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#### Remapping key and button actions
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For many devices Solaar can remap some of their keys or buttons to
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perform a different action. (This changes the information that the
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device sends when the key or button is activated.) Only some keys on some
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devices can be remapped and they can only be remapped to a limited
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number of actions. The remapping is done by selecting a key
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or button in the left-hand box on the “Action” setting line and then
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selecting the action to be performed in the right-hand box. The default
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action is always the one shown first in the list. As with all settings,
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Solaar will remember past action settings and restore them on the device
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from then on.
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The names of the keys, buttons, and actions are mostly taken from Logitech
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documentation and may not be completely obvious.
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It is possible to end up with an unusable system, for example by having no
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way to do a mouse left click, so exercise caution when remapping keys or
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buttons that are needed to operate your system.
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## Solaar command line interface
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Solaar also has a command line interface that can do most of what can be
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done using the main window. For more information on the
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command line interface, run `solaar --help` to see the commands and
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then `solaar <command> --help` to see the arguments to any of the commands.
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## Solaar settings
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Solaar supports at least the following settings:
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Setting | Description
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Hand Detection | Turn on backlight when your hands hover over the keyboard
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Scroll Wheel Smooth Scrolling | Higher-speed vertical scrolling
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Side Scrolling | When off, side scrolling sends custom button events
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Scroll Wheel High Resolution | Higher-speed vertical scrolling
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Scroll Wheel HID++ Scrolling | When on, vertical scrolling uses HID++ events
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Scroll Wheel Direction | Reverse direction of vertical scrolling
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Scroll Wheel Resolution | Higher-speed vertical scrolling (use with caution)
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Scroll Wheel Rachet | Shift wheel ratchet on and off based on wheel speed
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Thumb Wheel HID++ Scrolling | When on, thumb-wheel scrolling uses HID++ events
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Thumb Wheel Direction | Reverse direction of thumb-wheel scrolling
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Sensitivity (DPI) | Mouse movement sensitivity
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Sensitivity (Pointer Speed) | Mouse movement sensitivity
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Backlight | Turn on backlight
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Swap Fx function | Change Fn keys to normally do their special action
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DPI Sliding Adjustment | Change Sensitivity (DPI) by holding a button and moving the mouse
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Mouse Gestures | Create HID++ events by holding a button and moving the mouse
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Key/Button Actions | Change what a key or button does
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Key/Button Diversion | Divert keys and buttons to create HID++ events
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Divert crown events | Divert crown actions to create HID++ events
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Divert G Keys | Divert G keys to create HID++ events
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Disable keys | Disable one or more keys
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Set OS | Change keys to match OS
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Change Host | Connect to a different host
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Gestures | Turn on and off various (mostly touchpad) gestures
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Gesture params | Modify parameters for gestures
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HID++ events are mostly not processed by Linux input drivers.
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Settings that involve sending HID++ events exist so that these events can be
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processed by Solaar rules instead of by Linux.
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Different Logitech devices may implement the same functionality in different ways,
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thus the different settings that do the same thing.
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