I installed Puppy Linux (and I think I put in the wrong mouse info, so the mouse didn't work - I had to use the touchpad) recently. Now I am really sick of using the touchpad all of the time. How can I make the mouse work?

The mouse is on a USB hub, and the hub is connected directly to the laptop. Anyways, how can I reconfigure it?

Also, when Puppy was installed, I had a direct connection to my cable modem. Now, I have wifi, so I go through a wireless router. How can I reconfigure this as well?

Thanks.

What X system does Puppy use: Xorg or XFree86? If it is Xorg, check here in /etc/X11/xorg.conf:
This section tells Xorg what mouse device to use, in my case, it's /dev/input/mice. I believe the section is the same if you use XFree86, but the config file is named xf86config (I think, it's been a long time). Have you checked Puppy's docs to see what it uses as the mouse device? It may use something entirely different, so check to make sure.

No such file exists, so I must be using xFree86.

Also, can I fix the ethernet problem the same way?

Look through the contents of /etc/X11 and let me know what's there - that will tell if you have XFree86, or Xorg. As for the ethernet, that's totally different. I guess I have to ask first, is your wireless nic supported by Puppy? Does Puppy have some sort of hardware compatibility list so you'll know if the kernel they supply has drivers included? I am assuming you have a nic installed, so I guess I have to ask - are you using a nic, or some sort of usb ethernet device?

In X11, there's two folders... Config and something else. I'm not in Linux now so I can't tell.

What's a nic? Well whatever here's a little diagram:

Cable in Wall -> Cable Modem -> Wireless Router -> Laptop

Ok, in /etc/X11, you will be looking for a file not a directory. It will be a text file named either xorg.conf, or XF86Config (I think). As for a nic, that's a "network interface card", but since you are using a laptop, it's probably built in. Can you find out what type of wireless hardware the laptop has? That will help find out if there is even a driver for it.

There are no files in X11, just directories.

802.11g wireless I am pretty sure.

Now you have me at a loss. X runs? What distro is this again? As for the wireless, 802.11g is just a speed standard. Do you have the manufacturer's name of the wireless chipset: Orinco, Realtek, Broadcom, Atheros, etc. I gues that's not so important if your distro picks up the wireless hardware - does it do that, or have you checked yet?

Puppy Linux. GUI and everything. But almost as small as DSL.

It's broadcom something... But as I said before, the router was installed in Windows after Linux was installed. So the install wasn't setup with the router, so I can't use the router in Linux. Ok?

Ok - since you say there are no files, only directories in /etc/X11, what does the Puppy documentation say about where the X config file is for their distro?

As for the wireless card, does Puppy recognize it, or provide a way to set it up? I have a Broadcom on my laptop and have had zero luck getting it work in linux because it is windoze only. No idea what chipset # it is though, and we may have totally different models, so don't give up yet. If you find out the wireless card is not supported by Linux, you may be able to run it by using a windoze driver with a package called ndiswrapper. I have never been able to get that working either, but lots of people do, I just don't care because I have other Linux boxes and don't need the laptop.

I'm not in Linux now... I've got a lot of work to do here. I dunno, why doncha search up Puppy Linux - it almost certainly says there.

When booting up, it says "No ethernet found..." something about a dead cable. So, is that "no"?

Are you kidding? The purpose of these forums is to help point you in the right direction so you learn how your system works yourself, and can fix it yourself. Point your own browser over to puppy and WTFM - something you probably should have done first, but clearly did not.

really i have never used ur distro, but also had mouse problems with debian,
i solved the problem with switching usb mouse control in bios from "os" to "bios"
Just hope u have this option in ur bios

dunno if that will help....

good luck,

well, will that screw up windows?

oh crap don't eat me. anyways screw the router problem, it's too complicated. and you dont understand my mom is a very angry person -- she only lets me go on the computer for like 30 minutes. i am deprived

There may be one additional thing that you must do.

After you have defined the USB-mouse device as defined in Sargek's post, you must add it to the ServerLayout section with the SendCoreEvents option:
This tells XWindows/XOrg that this additional device can also generate the same core events as the trackpad does. When this is done, either or both devices may be used simultaneously to move the mouse-pointer.

Obviously, InputDevice names, such as "TrackPad," "Keyboard0," "Mouse1," must correspond to the names used in Section "InputDevice" entries which describe those devices, as illustrated in Sargek's post.

Restart "X", e.g. Ctrl+Alt+Bksp, for the changes to take effect. This will log you off any graphic session.