Ok, this is a fun one. I'm running Debian 3.1, and downgraded from the 2.6 kernel to the 2.4 kernel in order for compliance with some programs I want to run (openmosix, for those who are interested). Anyway, the mouse simply won't work. I have to admit that I know very little about how Debian handles stuff like this.

Here is some potentially useful info:

USB HID compiled into kernel
HID Input layer also compiled in
Input core support enabled, along with the options for mouse and keyboard support. Keyboard (USB) works fine.

Hotplug is running, although I have no idea if I need to configure it.

cat'ing /dev/input/mice produces nothing, neither does /dev/input mouse0, mouse1, etc.

cat'ing /dev/psaux works just great, so I went ahead and set that up as a generic mouse under XFree86.

The crux of the problem is that for some reason the mouse is unusable and doesn't seem to be sending consistant data. It flies down to the bottom of the screen every two seconds and it's very erratic. It's completely unusable - I can't even make it to the top of the screen.

If anyone has any idea what's going on, or even if I've got the usb stuff set up correctly, I'd appreciate it.

Regards,

Tom

I think you've got what you need in the kernel to use a usb mouse..

you might want to look at using evdev - that's what I had to do to get full functionality of my mouse (all the buttons working), but I was not having the issues that you are with just moving the pointer around.

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Advanced_Mouse <--excellent guide for setting up evdev for usb mice.