Microsoft Notebook Mouse 5000 not working with Ubuntu or Moblin?

It turns out there’s an issue getting many Microsoft Bluetooth mice working with Ubuntu 9.04. In my brief research on the topic, I have learned that in an attempt to make Bluetooth configuration easier for 9.xx, the Bluetooth stack used by default was changed, and sadly does not update through the normal system updates.

After some searching around I found the solution found about half way down this forum thread from the Ubuntu Forums.

Ubuntu

1) install the bluez-compat package with terminal

sudo apt-get install bluez-compat

2) Pair the mouse with the bluetooth manager. The manager will say that the pairing is “successful”, however the mouse still won’t work.

3) In the terminal, type :

sudo hidd –search

You should see something like

Searching …
Connecting to device 00:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX (your mouse MAC)

Done. Your mouse should be working now.

Moblin

I recently found that you can do much the same thing for Moblin!

1) Go to Applications > Settings > Manage Applications

2) Search for bluez and install the “Bluetooth pairing and control applet.” Run the Bluetooth application and pair your mouse.

3) Run the following in terminal and you’ll be all set!

sudo hidd –search

While this worked after sleep and reboots in Ubuntu NR, it did not in Moblin.