Ok so I am kind of new to me using linux, I have completed to 2 courses at a local college and for some reason I can't get my mouse to work. I am running SuSe 8.1 as my router box and I am trying to go into the gui so I can just get more comfortable with linux in general. Any ideas on how to get it to recognize the mouse. It does move or anything, the cursor just stays centered.

well, i will assume the kernel is compiled with mouse-support (and if you have not compiled one yourself, then it should already be there)

make sure your XF86Config file is setup properly; you can edit it in /etc/X11 manually under the mouse section, or just run xf86config

hmmm, ok, I am a big newbie, as I have not used any of the coding for a while, so how do I go into the etc and change it so it will bring up my mouse. Or even if I can get the mouse to be recognized at boot up I would be happy. Yes it has all been installed to be a fully function OS as well as my router box. I did it for a class Whoa and extra credit, took it home and use it for my 4 or 5 computers here at home. Since then I have just let it sit there as you can with a linux box, cause yeah you don't need to do anything after it is configd. But I realized I could add new stuff for security purposes and now I can't get the mouse to work.

the best thing to do is to run xf86config on a console (hit ctrl alt f6); you should exit out of gui when you do it, so login as root and do telinit 3

then relogin (you can switch to other consoles with ctrl alt f1-6) as root

type xf86config, and just go through the setup... make sure you know your horizontal and vertical monitor sync rates and if you use a standard mouse, just accept the defaults for the mouse configuration
as some advice, when asked for the horizontal sync in that application, don't enter your own custom range; choose from the available options

after it has written the XF86Config file, you can logout, login as a normal user, and then hit startx to see if mouse works

btw, to change directories, use "cd", for example cd /etc/X11; use the commands dir or ls to view a folder's contents; vi lets you edit files on command line (pico or nano are easier to use, though)

yes I found my old book from my linux class and tried that, but I don't know my monitor refresh rate, I am going to try an internet search and maybe I will find it, as I bought the 15 monitor for 30 bucks at a pawnshop. looks great though. I forgot about the part where I need to initiailize the xf86config after I change it.

I got my mouse working, I just played around with the keyboard till I was able to get inot yast
it was all good and simple from there. Thanks for your help.