Hi , as we all know that the 2.6 kernel does not support a simple serial mouse ..

(at least it didnt support mine , even when i checked the serial mouse driver module under input in xconfig )


im quite sure many of you people installing the 2.6 kernel for the first time hav faced this problem..

as a result of which the Xserver doesnt tend to start .

and gives the message (failed to initialize core pointer device etc etc )
your graphical interface is not configured etc etc


Can anyone help me as in how to install the driver module for my serial logitech mouse ..

do i have to download the driver module or wat .. or do i have to compile it or something ... coz its very annoying not to be able to use the mouse ..

a detailed help is appreciated as im kinda a newbie to kernel modules loading , compiling etc ....
i compiled the 2.6.9 kernel btw ..


thx in advance .

2.6 does support serial mice. It's just that they are visible to Xserver (and all other user space applications) as psaux mice.
If you enabled serial mouse driver in the kernel .config, all you need to do is to change the XF86Config file to use psaux, not ttyS. edit: this is wrong, see bellow
Hope that helps,
R.

thx for ur time .. ., can u tell me as for how to go about it .. how do i know im using psaux and configuring etc ..
i do have a psaux file in /dev
i have 2 mice actually .. 1 is a serial logitech mouse and a p/s 2 iball optical mouse (currently damaged)

here's my XF86Config file:

# XFree86 4 configuration created by pyxf86config

Section "ServerLayout"

InputDevice "DevInputMice" "AlwaysCore"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"

# RgbPath is the location of the RGB database. Note, this is the name of the
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db"). There is normally
# no need to change the default.
# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Red Hat 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
FontPath "unix/:7100"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "fbdevhw"
Load "glx"
Load "record"
Load "freetype"
Load "type1"
Load "dri"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

#If the normal CorePointer mouse is not a USB mouse then
#this input device can be used in AlwaysCore mode to let you
#also use USB mice at the same time.
Identifier "DevInputMice"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
# Option "Xleds" "1 2 3"
# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.
# Option "XkbDisable"
# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults). For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
# Option "XkbModel" "pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
# Option "XkbModel" "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# or:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps"
# Or if you just want both to be control, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:nocaps"
#
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "Microsoft"
Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS0"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "700S"
DisplaySize 330 250
HorizSync 30.0 - 71.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 160.0
Option "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "i810"
VendorName "Videocard vendor"
BoardName "Intel 845"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Group 0
Mode 0666
EndSection

===================EOF==================

the first time i installed 2.6.9 i got the error then i commented the line for /dev/input/mice and rebooted , i got a gui ! but then there was no mouse motion ..
now no matter which part i comment i still get a error about a pointer device ...

hi , btw i got half the answer all rite ,

i lookedup the /dev folder n i saw that psaux was renamed to psaux.old . so first i renamed that back to psaux
after that i edited the /etc/X11/XF86config file n changed mouse0 to /dev/psaux .i.e


Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "Microsoft"
Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS0"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
EndSection


. i got the gui all rite .. thx a lot !! fc1 boots with the new kernel 2.6.9 just like 2.4 but then no mouse pointer motion


i cannot move my mouse at all .. i m still a bit confused .. u said psaux is used for serial mice .. but my mouse is on com port 1 that is /dev/ttyS0 ..

so .. duh .. ?? wat ?? /dev/psaux and /dev/ttyS0 .. wats the connection ??

and how do i get my mouse to move ?


thx again ..

Sorry I got you confused there.
It's not the "Device" section that is changed, it's the "Protocol" that is always ps.

So try this:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "PS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS0"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
EndSection

???

a ps2 protocol for a serial mouse on a serial port ?

is this possible ?

hmmmm... sounds interesting .. ill give it a shot