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Old 07-26-2005, 02:41 PM   #1
RedCharlie
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Registered: Jul 2003
Location: Arkansas
Distribution: Fedora, Ubuntu, CentOS
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two mice, one for the left hand, one for the right. Possible?


I have two mice, (Logitech "marble mouse" USB 2button trackball, and logitech cordless wheel mouse, part of "cordless comfort duo") both mice currently work fine (although I had to turn bluetooth off to get FC4 to boot with usb)

My question:
How can I configure one mouse to be "left handed" and the other to be "right handed"?

system info:
ecs k75a, 256mb, Duron 950
FC4 (2.6.12)
can also boot to Knoppix 3.8 (2.6.5) but into below obtained under FC4

# dmesg | grep -i mouse
mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
logips2pp: Detected unknown logitech mouse model 62
input: ImExPS/2 Logitech Explorer Mouse on isa0060/serio1
input: USB HID v1.10 Mouse [Logitech USB Trackball] on usb-0000:00:02.3-1

# tail -16 /proc/bus/input/devices
I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0006 Version=003e
N: Name="ImExPS/2 Logitech Explorer Mouse"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio1/input0
H: Handlers=mouse0 event1
B: EV=7
B: KEY=1f0000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=103

I: Bus=0003 Vendor=046d Product=c408 Version=1400
N: Name="Logitech USB Trackball"
P: Phys=usb-0000:00:02.3-1/input0
H: Handlers=mouse1 event2
B: EV=7
B: KEY=1f0000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=3

(below from /etc/X11/xorg.conf)
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
EndSection

for what it's worth, the trackball is on the onboard SIS USB 1.0 controller
# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 735 Host (rev 01)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Virtual PCI-to-PCI bridge (AGP)
00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS85C503/5513 (LPC Bridge)
00:02.1 SMBus: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS961/2 SMBus Controller
00:02.2 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 07)
00:02.3 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 07)
00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE] (rev d0)
00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Sound Controller (rev a0)
00:03.0 Ethernet controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS900 PCI Fast Ethernet (rev 90)
00:09.0 Network controller: RaLink Ralink RT2500 802.11 Cardbus Reference Card (rev 01)
00:0b.0 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 61)
00:0b.1 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 61)
00:0b.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. USB 2.0 (rev 63)
00:11.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 11)
00:11.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 11)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400] (rev b2)

when I do
cat /dev/input/mice | hexdump
it's pretty obvious that the input from both mice appears the same, so that the normal x configuration tools (like xmodmap) won't do the trick, because as far as X knows, there is only one mouse device (/dev/input/mice) so specifying different button mappings will have to happen upstream from there. But I don't have a clue as to how to do that.

So, besides using a screwdriver and a soldering iron, is there any way to make one a lefty mouse while leaving the other in a right handed orientation?

oh, yeah, if you're wondering why I would want to do such an odd thing...
My wife is a lefty, I'm a righty; the trackball sits on the left, the corless mouse on the right; we have small children who like the trackball (they can move it more easily with their little fingers); I like the cordless mouse as it has a scroll wheel and, well, because it's wireless ....

-RedCharlie
 
Old 07-26-2005, 02:58 PM   #2
tuxdev
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Registered: Jul 2005
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 2,012

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You can tell X that there is another mouse by creating another InputDevice section. It has to have a different identifier e.g. "Mouse1" and must SendCoreEvents. Mouse0 is probably already configured to be CorePointer, so you do not have to mess with that. It seems like xmodmap should work to only remap the trackball, but I am not sure.
Note: Have never done anything like this myself, just summarizing another LQ thread about connecting two sets of monitors, keyboards, and mice.
 
Old 07-26-2005, 04:09 PM   #3
RedCharlie
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Registered: Jul 2003
Location: Arkansas
Distribution: Fedora, Ubuntu, CentOS
Posts: 26

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 15
Smile

ahhh
when I first read your reply, I thought, "but wouldn't I need separate devices: one for each mouse?"
Then I realized, "ah, maybe I already do have separate devices..."

Sure enough
cat /dev/input/mouse0 | hexdump
showed that mouse0 was ONLY the cordless wheel mouse
Likewise, /dev/input/mouse1 was the trackball

new xorg.conf sections:
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Mouse1" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
# Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mouse1" #usb trackball
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mouse0" #cordless wheel mouse
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
EndSection

and indeed, the mouse configuration only applies to Mouse0, so it's lefty, and the other is righty.
So, thanks! it now works great!

-RedCharlie
 
Old 06-17-2006, 08:05 AM   #4
RedCharlie
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Jul 2003
Location: Arkansas
Distribution: Fedora, Ubuntu, CentOS
Posts: 26

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 15
Thumbs up fixed

fixed

(read somewhere that posting a "fixed" msg is helpful to those looking for solutions)
 
  


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