Hello all,

I just cast off the sometimes convenient and sometimes terribly frustrating shackles of Windows, and am brand new to Linux. My buddy installed Debian (Kernel 2.4.27-1-386) on my computer, and I run all my jazz from XWindows. I tried to plug in my trackball mouse (Logitech TrackMan Wheel) to the PS/2 port where my old mouse was. The pointer works fine, as do buttons 1, 2, and 3 (3 being scroll wheel depression). I looked around the forums and found lots of information that seemed to scream:

change your XF86Config file to read:

Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
Option "Buttons" "5"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

Which I did (that's copied straight from my XF86Config file). And yet, "buttons" 4 and 5 do bubkis. As far as I can tell, absolutely zilch.

I got some suggestions to change "IMPS/2" to "ImPS/2," and to change device to "/dev/psaux" and to ensure I truly have 5 buttons (left, right, the swheel depression, swheel up, and swheel down). I've tried it all, but to no avail.

Is it possible the hardware just doesn't jive with the system? It's a Logitech TrackMan Wheel, with an optical sensor, and it connects to the computer via an included USB to PS/2 adapter. I know I could screw the PS/2 route and try to hook it up as USB, but I use my USB port with some frequency and would rather not plug it up with a mousey.

I appreciate the help!

best,
Jake

IMPS/2 is the spelling that works for me.

Try commenting out "Buttons" "5" and see if that helps. The line no longer exists in my file, though it used to.

I have a Logitech wireless MOUSE--not a trackball. If I understand correctly, you're using a trackball device (stationary, move the ball with your index finger, right?). Thus you have more than up/down, you have all directions available from the ball device. I wonder if that requires a different setup. I don't have one to experiment with--gave mine away...

Re: USB--I doubt that moving to USB would solve this problem anyway. However, you might eventually want to buy an inexpensive USB hub so you'll have 4 or more ports available--my USB performance on everything improved after I put a hub on my computer. (And I do use USB with the mouse now.)

I've tried optioning out the button #, but it didn't help. And the trackball does not have a slew of associated buttons; it's just like any other mouse, but the ball (on the underside of yours) is on top of mine. Any other suggestions?

I appreciate the help!

Jake

Actually, my mouse doesn't have a ball at all--it's optical (uses high-intensity red light beam instead of a ball). The one before that was, too, only it was corded and this one is cordless.

If I hadn't given my MouseMan trackball away, I'd plug it in and test it, but it's inaccessible right now.

Have you gone into the Mandrake Control Center and checked "Mouse" and seen what kind yours is currently defined as? Mine says "Any USB/PS2 mouse." That works for me.

Under "PS/2"however there's a "Logitech MouseMan+" listing you might try.

Here's the mouse section of my XF86Config file (which is same as xorg.conf, which for who-knows-what-reason is symbolically linked to it in MandrakeLinux):

As you can see, it's like yours....

If I think of anything or come across anything that might help, I'll post it.

Sorry not to be able to solve this so far.

Thanks for the attention, Jon.

You mention going into the Mandrake Control Center thingy... Is there a version of this for Debian? I'd like to check it out.

Thanks again,
Jake

I don't know why I was thinking you were a fellow Mandrake user--I see now your post was about a Debian installation. Sorry...

There is a similar function in SOME Debian-based distros, yes. For example Libranet has a pretty thorough-going GUI allowing changing system parameters relatively painlessly. And as I recall SimplyMepis has something like that (could be wrong--it's been a while...). And I imagine others do, too, since one reason people have made Debian-based distros has been to simplify Debian installation and maintenance for those who aren't as technically inclined (and/or don't have as much time!) as hard-core Debian aficionados.

If KDE is available, there's a wealth of tweaking function available from its myriad of menus. I personally don't like to use KDE but I do think it's a useful, feature-rich environment. Maybe you could work with the trackball from KDE and get it fixed... It would definitely be worth a try and only take a few minutes, if KDE is already installed on the system.

I did Google searching for your problem and was surprised how little I came up with.

Well, once again an old thread here has helped me greatly. I had a mouse wheel not working on Xubuntu 7.10. I read this post, commented out the "Emulate3Buttons" line and changed the protocol to "IMPS/2". Now I'm scrolling away again.

I do appreciate this forum!