[SOLVED] how to let udev and xorg find my ttyS0-mouse

phileas · 10-30-2010, 01:14 PM

In case this is a silly question, I apologize in advance, but I thought maybe there is a simple solution for it, so I don't have to spend another weekend researching.

My Problem:
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Under Debian lenny I use a trackball connected to ttyS0 with this xorg.conf:

Code:

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Trackball-1"
	Driver		"mouse"
	Option		"CorePointer"
	Option		"Device"		"/dev/ttyS0"
	Option		"Protocol"		"Microsoft"
	Option		"Emulate3Buttons"	"false"
	Option		"EmulateWheel"		"true"
	Option		"EmulateWheelButton"	"3"
	Option		"EmulateWheelTime"	"200"
EndSection

Under Debian squeeze, the Xorg.log tells me:

Code:

[...]
(WW) AllowEmptyInput is on, devices using drivers 'kbd', 'mouse' or 'vmmouse' will be disabled.
(WW) Disabling Dvorak2
(WW) Disabling Trackball-1

[...]

(II) config/udev: Adding input device Power Button (/dev/input/event3)
(**) Power Button: Applying InputClass "evdev keyboard catchall"
(II) LoadModule: "evdev"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/evdev_drv.so
(II) Module evdev: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
	compiled for 1.7.6.901, module version = 2.3.2
	Module class: X.Org XInput Driver
	ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 7.0
(**) Power Button: always reports core events
(**) Power Button: Device: "/dev/input/event3"
(II) Power Button: Found keys
(II) Power Button: Configuring as keyboard
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Power Button" (type: KEYBOARD)
(**) Option "xkb_rules" "evdev"
(**) Option "xkb_model" "pc105"
(**) Option "xkb_layout" "de"
(**) Option "xkb_variant" "dvorak"
(II) config/udev: Adding input device Power Button (/dev/input/event2)
(**) Power Button: Applying InputClass "evdev keyboard catchall"
(**) Power Button: always reports core events
(**) Power Button: Device: "/dev/input/event2"
(II) Power Button: Found keys
(II) Power Button: Configuring as keyboard
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Power Button" (type: KEYBOARD)
(**) Option "xkb_rules" "evdev"
(**) Option "xkb_model" "pc105"
(**) Option "xkb_layout" "de"
(**) Option "xkb_variant" "dvorak"
(II) config/udev: Adding input device DragonRise Inc.   Generic   USB  Joystick   (/dev/input/event5)
(II) No input driver/identifier specified (ignoring)
(II) config/udev: Adding input device DragonRise Inc.   Generic   USB  Joystick   (/dev/input/js0)
(II) No input driver/identifier specified (ignoring)
(II) config/udev: Adding input device AT Translated Set 2 keyboard (/dev/input/event1)
(**) AT Translated Set 2 keyboard: Applying InputClass "evdev keyboard catchall"
(**) AT Translated Set 2 keyboard: always reports core events
(**) AT Translated Set 2 keyboard: Device: "/dev/input/event1"
(II) AT Translated Set 2 keyboard: Found keys
(II) AT Translated Set 2 keyboard: Configuring as keyboard
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "AT Translated Set 2 keyboard" (type: KEYBOARD)
(**) Option "xkb_rules" "evdev"
(**) Option "xkb_model" "pc105"
(**) Option "xkb_layout" "de"
(**) Option "xkb_variant" "dvorak"
(II) config/udev: Adding input device PC Speaker (/dev/input/event4)
(II) No input driver/identifier specified (ignoring)
(II) config/udev: Adding input device Macintosh mouse button emulation (/dev/input/event0)
(**) Macintosh mouse button emulation: Applying InputClass "evdev pointer catchall"
(**) Macintosh mouse button emulation: always reports core events
(**) Macintosh mouse button emulation: Device: "/dev/input/event0"
(II) Macintosh mouse button emulation: Found 3 mouse buttons
(II) Macintosh mouse button emulation: Found relative axes
(II) Macintosh mouse button emulation: Found x and y relative axes
(II) Macintosh mouse button emulation: Configuring as mouse
(**) Macintosh mouse button emulation: YAxisMapping: buttons 4 and 5
(**) Macintosh mouse button emulation: EmulateWheelButton: 4, EmulateWheelInertia: 10, EmulateWheelTimeout: 200
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Macintosh mouse button emulation" (type: MOUSE)
(II) Macintosh mouse button emulation: initialized for relative axes.
(II) config/udev: Adding input device Macintosh mouse button emulation (/dev/input/mouse0)
(II) No input driver/identifier specified (ignoring)

udevadm info -a -p /sys/devices/virtual/input/input0 gives me:

Code:

looking at device '/devices/virtual/input/input0':
    KERNEL=="input0"
    SUBSYSTEM=="input"
    DRIVER==""
    ATTR{name}=="Macintosh mouse button emulation"
    ATTR{phys}==""
    ATTR{uniq}==""
    ATTR{modalias}=="input:b0017v0001p0001e0100-e0,1,2,k110,111,112,r0,1,amlsfw"

During boot, the interface is reported:

Code:

[    0.704934] Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 4 ports, IRQ sharing enabled
[    0.705051] serial8250: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
[    0.705419] 00:09: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
[    0.705600] input: Macintosh mouse button emulation as /devices/virtual/input/input0
[    0.705660] PNP: PS/2 Controller [PNP0303:PS2K] at 0x60,0x64 irq 1
[    0.705663] PNP: PS/2 appears to have AUX port disabled, if this is incorrect please boot with i8042.nopnp
[    0.705804] serio: i8042 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1
[    0.705903] mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice

It was easy to adapt my keyboard settings, because there is a self-explanatory file /etc/default/keyboard and unless I'm the last person using a serial trackball, I suppose something similar should be possible for this problem as well.

Even if you don't know, you could help me by answering some basic questions, like:
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I have to tell udev where to find the mouse, right?

Is not having specified a driver the reason for xorg to ignore my mouse? Does this mean my USB-joystick isn't going to work either?

Where do I define the driver("mouse") or the protocol("microsoft")? Will this go into udev or into xorg.conf?

Does "macintosh mouse button emulation" mean a "mouse with button emulation" or does it mean some kind of "macintosh-style-button-emulation" for a certain mouse device? And why "macintosh" anyway?

I'm confused about my /etc/udev/rules.d directory, because there are only 3 files in it:
70-persistent-cd.rules
70-persistent-cd.rules.old
70-persistent-net.rules
Having read a few documentations about udev, I would have exspected a lot more there. What about that?
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Okay, guess I made clear how lost I am, so please.. drop me a line. Thanks!

stress_junkie · 10-31-2010, 09:57 AM

As you said you would think that this has been solved before and would be easy to find the answer. No such luck. Here is a link to someone else's experience. The last entry has the answer.

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1388308

I hope it works for you.

Here is an extensive manifesto on how to write udev rules.

http://www.reactivated.net/writing_udev_rules.html

I haven't used a DB9 serial port mouse since my I retired my 486 based computer.

Or .... you could buy a USB attached track ball. I think that's what I would do. No guarantees that it would work though.

phileas · 10-31-2010, 04:23 PM

Well that was almost *too* easy, but it's cool, I'll keep it

and later I can still figure out *why* it works.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stress_junkie

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1388308

I hadn't found that link before
(maybe because the author used the expression "monopolist rodent" instead of "microsoft mouse"...)

So, the solution is:

Code:

apt-get install inputattach
inputattach --microsoft /dev/ttyS0

And believe it or not, it simply works! And this tool apparantly takes care of some more hardware. (Why didn't I know?)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
It wasn't easy upgrading to squeeze, but now that it's done, I hardly recognize my linux system anymore:
Radeon 3D acceleration works with *free* package radeon (good bye fglrx, thanks for nothing),
Ralink rt2870 works with standard kernel,
Alsa is running... what's next? An "AutoCAD.deb" package?

Thanks stress_junky, thanks developers, you just made my weekend!