Debian - Mouse problem in X, recompile Kernel?
 

Today I did a CD install of the Debian bf24 flavor and have installed X. The problem I am having is that I can't get XFree86 -configure to even see my Microsoft Intellimouse USB or a PS/2 mouse that I have. I know I selected USB support with the kernel and the USB ports show up in /dev.

My question is:
Can I do anything to find the mouse, and if not do I recompile the kernel again to ensure that it finds the mouse I have plugged in?

I have configured the XF86COnfig file in every way I know how (which is not much) and X even starts without the mouse, but as you can imagine its a nice luxury.

If anybody can help me I would be very grateful and if you can, please tell me how to perform the suggested answer as I am pretty new at this.

Thanks

I solved the problem...man, having a mouse is great...The auto protocol wasn't working for my PS/2 mouse, so I switched it to IMPS/2 and it worked....I'll have to play with my usb intellimouse later on.

for the usb mouse, you'll need to make sure that you also have usb/hid (human interface device) input and mousedev all supported in the kernel. having usbdevfs would also be a good idea (the entries in /dev may or maynot mean anything. in many cases the nodes are created by default regardless of the devices available)

Thanks
 

I will give that a shot...You have been a great help. I've just about got this thing up.

All I really have left to get a basic system up is find out how to get my integrated Intel 82562ET Lan working, sound, and the new Nvidia linux drivers (can not use 24-bit color yet). Intel did not make this easy at all.

Thanks again.

This problem matches my own. Problem is, I've only been using Debian for 2 days now (recent Windows convert), so the help here is above my head. What do I do/type to change the protocol the mouse is using? Mine is a PS2 and when I ran the Debian installer, I set it up that way. Doesn't work, and I don't know how to reconfigure.

there are a couple programs that should allow you to configure X windows, try xf86cfg

Here is exactly what I did
 

I'll try and tell you exactly what I did because I definitely understand the newbie situation hehe.

1) #XFree86 -configure
This will try to auto detect all of your hardware including video card, etc. It will set everything up pretty much. After it runs it will tell you that it has created an XF86Conifg.new file in your /root directory.

2)#vi /root/XF86Config.new
This will allow you to edit the config file for X in the vi text editor. Page down to where you see your mouse stuff (i don't have the exact lines on hand, but you will see a mouse section that has these two lines "protocol" "auto" and "device" "/dev/mouse" or something close.

3) all you have to do is change the "auto" to "IMPS/2" and convert the "/dev/mouse" to "/dev/psaux"

That should set x up for a standard ps/2 mouse.

Some handy vi commands if you don't know them yet:
press 'i' for insert mode (where you can type in the file)
press Escape to get out of insert mode and then :wq to quit the vi editor (type the colon : ).

Also something else you may want to change is add a line that says,
DefaultDepth 24
with no quotes in this case.
Put this in your display section just in between the video stuff and the first display subsection. This will default your color to 24 bit when you get into x, kde, gnome, etc.

Hope this helps...sorry i didn't have my exact config file on hand. I'll gladly help you anyone I can though...I need to start paying back all the favors people on here have been doing for me :-)

Good Luck!

Oh, almost forgot......

After you save the config file you need to copy it into the correct place so that x uses it when you run "startx".

#cp /root/XF86Config.new /etc/X11/XF86Config-4

This will create the XF86Config-4 file in the right place and startx should then use it...I'm sorry if i am being too verbose, I just know how it is feeling like you have everything but one simple piece of info.

Again, good luck!