Logitech MX1100 Cordless Laser Mouse

Linux Compatibility:

When plugging in the Logitech MX1100 receiver into a USB port on a system running Ubuntu 8.10 it was immediately detected. The Linux kernel detected the Logitech USB receiver and USB HID v1.11 mouse. The mouse started working right away without any special configurations or needing to touch any special drivers. We immediately tried the left and right buttons along with the scroll wheel and it had worked without any issues.

Like the Razer mice, the integrated DPI controls work under Linux without any problems. Using the buttons we were able to adjust from 400 to 1600 DPI without any issues, but when turning off the mouse the settings will be lost under Linux. For reference, when pressing the DPI buttons there are also no events reported to the X Server. The two different scroll modes also worked on Linux even without using a Logitech-specific driver. In one mode we had slow, line-by-line scrolling and when hitting the scroll button we were then put in the hyper-fast mode. The stealth button on Linux was also reporting events to the X Server. When monitoring the X events through xev, pressing down the stealth button would report the button press event as button 10.

I had tested out the Logitech MX1100 Cordless Laser Mouse for several weeks and using it many hours per day. The mouse is certainly ergonomically designed and does fit the hand very comfortably. During that time several tasks were carried out from using Firefox to OpenOffice.org to gaming with Nexuiz and vDrift to performing general operations within the GNOME desktop. Lomoco is an open-source, third-party utility that is available to further tune Logitech mice under Linux, but it is no longer actively maintained and does not support the MX1100 model. The only complaint I have after using it is that there is only a 1600 DPI laser engine. Personally, when using any desktop application I have been accustomed to running between 3000 and 4000 DPI, so running at 1600 DPI was very slow in comparison.

Conclusion:

The Logitech MX1100 is a large, comfortable mouse that is cordless and works with Linux. There is not much more that you can ask for if you are simply after a desktop mouse. The Logitech MX1100 Cordless Laser Mouse though is expensive at about $80 USD (available through Xoxide and other Internet retailers). If 1600 DPI or less is sufficient for you and you are after a cordless mouse, the MX1100 is at least worth considering. Granted, it is not easily programmable and Logitech does not provide any software to its Linux users.