HOWTO: Get side mouse buttons working

jago25_98 · 10-14-2004, 07:56 AM

last time I checked X couldn't set a mouse button to a key action, such as:

Mouse button 5 = backspace, to allow browse back browsing and use in apps that can't use mouse button

eternauta3k · 10-14-2004, 05:28 PM

Not saying you're not right, but we're using imwheel for that

eternauta3k · 10-14-2004, 05:40 PM

Quote:

I'm not sure that that's a reliable method. After the first click I don't seem to get any output in my terminal for clicking the left (primary) mouse button. I suppose it has something to do with how the terminal renders the raw data.

I piped /dev/input/mice into hexdump (which outputs readable hex), clicked the side buttons for a while with the mouse in the air (to avoid getting movement events), and got no output.

Code:

cat /dev/input/mice | hexdump
[after clicking left button a few times]
00001e0 0009 0800 0000 0009 0800 0000 0009 0800
[after clicking side buttons for a while]
nothing happens

Just to make it more clear

verdeboy2k · 04-11-2005, 01:28 PM

In slack 10, I didn't have to install imwheel, the side buttons on my Logitech Mx310 worked fine after running xmodmap.

dave`2005 · 09-05-2005, 07:41 AM

Thanks bluephile

I got up to the

Code:

xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 2 3 6 7 4 5"

part and it said could not find display or something similar, so i used

Code:

echo "pointer = 1 2 3 6 7 4 5" > ~/.Xmodmap

. Did that as root first, loaded KDE and the wheel was working, so i did it as my user and it worked there too, didnt have to use imwheel.

Thanks Again

EDIT: just noticed the guy up there ^ said the same thing, oops

Old_Fogie · 05-03-2006, 11:32 AM

Thank you for posting this how-to, it worked for me. I'm glad the other slacker's posted too as I knew then I did not have to put in the imwheel.

I'm using logitech mx310 and slackware 10.2

For me, I'm lefty so I had to tweak my start-up for me and let the others be as indicated. I had to switch the 3 & 1 in the xmodmap. Here is what I did:

1. Created an "lefty.sh" file in my /home/username/.kde/Autostart and make it executable.

2. Put this code in "lefty.sh"

Quote:

#! /bin/sh
# swap 3 and 1 below for right handed
/usr/X11R6/bin/xmodmap -e "pointer = 3 2 1 6 7 4 5"

3. Edited my xorg.conf for this:
Identifier "Mouse1" #this differs for many
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Buttons" "7"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "6 7"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"

4. Note: slackware package tool has me setup for PS/2 mouse and I really am using this mouse as PS/2. Have not tried it as USB.

5. Hit ctrl+alt+backspace to restart X and boom..golden.

Now side buttons work perfect in firefox, opera, and Unreal Tournament 2004 sees the side buttons as "mouse 4" and "mouse 5" so I can map them to stuff there woot, time to play.

Thanks again.

Deej510 · 07-11-2006, 09:38 PM

running fedora 5 with intellimouse explorer 2.0A

[root@deej ~]# xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 2 3 6 7 4 5"
xmodmap: commandline:1: bad number of buttons, must have 11 instead of 7
xmodmap: 1 error encountered, aborting.

I only have 7 ways to use the mouse... I don't know why it says I have 11.. so I tried this for the hell of it...

[root@deej ~]# xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 2 3 10 11 4 5 6 7 8 9"
[root@deej ~]#

It worked! scroll and side buttons.