Hello Liquid Matrix,

This workaround is supposed to work under the Mandrake 9.0 linux distribution.

I can see that you are using the Slackware 8.1 that is maybe not organised in the same way than Mandrake (but I really don't know as I'm not an expert of this).

Maybe you could be more verbose to help those who can help you to analyse the problem... like :

Have you ever be able to use your wireless intellimouse explorer under linux ? (during the installation process for exemple, as it was the case for Mandrake 9.0)

Do you have some error messages in the log files ? (mainly in /var/log/messages on my box)

Is your mouse not working at all or does it have a strange behavior ?

What are the loaded modules ? (lsmod)

...

C U

Well, during the installation the mouse didn't work at all. I choosed a kernel that said something about USB devices and when i upload Linux i see that the system recognizes my Wireless Microsoft Intelli Mouse. Then, i get into KDE but the mouse has the strange behaviour when i use protocol Intelli Mouse and when i use /dev/input/mouse0 or mice. When i change those to /dev/usbmouse or /dev/psaux the mouse doesn't work at all. It's dead. This is my first Linux installation and i am a newbie and i had to change my graphic card to get into Linux 'cause the Slackware needed some extra parameters to work with my old Viper II S3 Savage 2000. Now i have the GeForce 4 MX420 and it runs smoothly. Hope you can help me with the mouse problem. Thanx.
Nicolas.

Guys a friend of mine helped me. I just changed the Protocol. Now it is Protocol "ExplorerPS/2" and then is /dev/input/mouse0 and it works fine. Now i have to find where is the Modem and how to configure it. Thanx again. Bye BYe.

Hi,

I'm also having a problem with my mouse. It's an optical Logitech "MouseMan Wheel" mouse with two buttons and a wheel on top and a button on the side which I have set up in Windows as a single click button for "double-clicking". I don't mind so much that the side button doesn't work in Linux on my dual-boot box, (Windows/Mandrake 8.1) but I'd like to get the wheel working.

The author of the Lockergnome Penguin Shell newsletter, Tony Steidler-Dennison, recently published a fix for the mouse wheel problem which apparently a lot of people have. I tried the fix on my mouse but it didn't work. I'll post it here because it might work for some of you and maybe somebody could help me solve my problem.

Here's part of Tony's comment in Penguin Shell:

"It's one of the few remaining small frustrations of Linux. Very few distros handle wheel mice well. Inevitably, it takes an XF86Config hack to activate the mouse wheel."

Here's Tony's hack:

Edit the following section of the XF86Config file:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
EndSection

To correct the problem, you'll need to add two letters to a critical line in the section.

Option "Protocol" "PS/2"

should read:

Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"

Notice the addition of IM to the PS/2 protocol. This distinguishes the mouse as using the IntelliMouse protocol. Save the file, exit from the console, and restart X using Ctrl-Alt-Backspace. When you return to your desktop, you'll have a fully functional mouse wheel.
--------------------

As I said, I tried this and it didn't work for me.

Here is what my XF86Config mouse section looks like:

Section "Pointer"
Protocol "MouseManPlusIMPS/2"
Device "/dev/psaux"
ZAxisMapping 4 5

I also tried this with "IMPS/2" in the Protocol line and it
didn't work. It had no affect.

Originally, it was "MouseManPlusPS/2" and of course, that didn't work
either.

My left and right buttons seem to work fine.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

What does the "7" mean in this line? I'm wondering if this will fix my wheel problem in Mandrake 8.1.

9nine9, if you just want your wheel to work use the protocol "IMPS/2", if you want your side button to work you'll need to use the protocol "ExplorerPS/2" and have a play around with the side buttons in x instructions at p-two.net

I tried that and it still didn't work.

I changed

"MouseManPlusPS/2"

to

"IMPS/2"

and also

"MouseManPlusIMPS/2"

and neither setting worked.

I'll check out the link.

thanks

How does you mouse connect to the computer?

I finally got my wheel working.

I changed "PS/2" to "IMPS/2" in both XF86Config and XF86Config-4

I wonder if somebody could tell me why both of these Config files are necessary.

i also have the same problem with mandrake 9 and my wireless intellimouse explorer.i am unable to make it work correctly. the pb i have is that i don't know the changes i have to do, how to do them and in which file (did you notice i'm a newbie ...? )
so please help me to manage with it

XFree86-3.x.x and XFree86-4.x.x use a different file syntax, so distro's that ship both versions include two config files. XFree86-4.x.x uses XF86Config-4 if it's there and XFree86-3.x.x only uses XF86Config.

Sorry, but I am completely new to Linux.
I am using KDE, and can't navigate too well with the keyboard - obviously i can't use my mouse (Wireless MS IntelliMouse Explorer Optical)

Exactly how do you implement the fix you outlined in your post above? I have no previous knowledge of Linux.

Hi,

Well, first you will have to log in a console.
Under Linux you can switch from the XWindows screen to several console screens by using the CTRL-ALT-FX combination of keys (where X can vary from 1 to 12 as FX means the Function keys).

So you have to switch to console 1 : press CTRL-ALT-F1

Then enter "root" as the login (root is the super user : the administrator that as all power on the system).
and the password you entered during the installation process.

Ok, now you must have a shell prompt (something like root@localhost# )

Type :
modprobe -r usbmouse
modprobe hid

Go back to the XWindows display with the CTRL-ALT-F7 keys (F7 is traditionally used as the Windowed Display under linux)

Your mouse should work fine.

Open a text editor as root by clicking on the appropriate icon - it depends on your favorite Windows Manager that is usually KDE or Gnome under Mandrake (you need to have root priviledges to modify the configuration files).

Open the /etc/modules.conf file and had the hid key word at the end of the appropriate line (every line containing something that looks like uhci-usb)
save (need root priviledges BEFORE launching the text editor - you could logoff your curent unpriviledge user and logon as root to do it simply) and quit.

After a reboot, the mouse should be OK.

Hope this help you.

Bye
julien

jumed, I am also new to Mandrake 9 and have an Intellmouse Explorer optical wireless, and have followed the directions in your last post but after I type modprobe -r usbmouse into the console, the computer freezes up, neither my keyboard or mouse will respond(both which are usb), i have also tried typing modprobe -r usbmouse and modprobe hid in the same line and nothing happens, what am I doing wrong?
Edit: after manual retart everything is working thank you very much!!

I have the wireless mouse in question. And tried it in mandrake first.
I had the same prob, so I checked the mandrake site and followed the instructions:

add 'hid' into file /etc/modules

rebooted and the mouse worked fine.

mandrake 9.0 does not load the "hid" (Human Interface Device) module unless specified in the modules file. Just add "hid" to the bottom of the file, on its own line.

cheers