Getting USB mouse to work in X
Hi, I've recently started (trying) to use Slackware, using FVWM as my window manager. I'm running it on a laptop which of course has the builtin touch pad mouse. This works fine, but I also have a USB mouse which I prefer to use when I can, which does not work. I have KDE and Gnome installed as well, and have tried them. In KDE the USB mouse works, but not in Gnome. Now, my question is where do I start to get this to work under at least FVWM if not any window manager?
Another question, which I didn't feel warranted a new topic - why does my laptop's fan come on periodically simply running X and some apps (like Firefox and Gaim), but when I run WinXP it only comes on if I'm gaming? |
you can configure input devices globally in xorg.conf
|
OK, I added this section to my xorg.conf file:
Code:
Section "InputDevice" |
You can get nice drivers for the touchpad here: http://web.telia.com/~u89404340/touchpad/
Make a search for synaptics and/or touchpad here on the forum or in the web and you'll find a lot of documentation on how to do it. Also, try being more specific with errors, saying "nothing worked" doesn't give any usefull hint :) |
Well, my /etc/X11/xorg.conf has:
Code:
InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer" |
Aha! Silly me, I forgot to add Mouse2 to that section at the end. It works now, thanks.
|
I'm glad I found this thread since its exactly my problem too. I've recently installed slack 10.2 dual boot (thanks to guys who helped in that thread) but now I can't get startx to run my window manager (fluxbox). I get the error "xf86openserial: cannot open device /dev/input/mice". Here is what my core pointer input device section of xorg.conf looks like:
Identifier "Mouse1" Driver "mouse" Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice" Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2" Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" and this is between the input device section tags. I have a touchpad too that I'm sure will be another problem to get working but for now I'd just like to get my usb mouse to work. I was thinking the kernel simply doesnt support the mouse since I am currently using the kernel from the installation cd. Is there a way to now for sure if its a kernel issue or simply an xorg.conf error? Any help is appreciated. - slacker |
a mouse is a mouse is a mouse. mouse problems are not kernel problems.
You need the mouse driver and the synaptics touchpad driver, and you have to have the right xorg.conf for both. Study the layout and put the entries for both in every place they need to go. perhaps jnsg could be strong-armed into sending the relevant xorg.conf :) In my case, I have "Load "synaptics"" at then end of the modules section, as well as the following: Code:
Section "InputDevice" InputDevice "Mouse0" "SendCoreEvents" InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad" "CorePointer" at the end of it's list. |
I've setup the xorg.conf exactly as written above except I've commented out the synaptic section because I haven't downloaded and installed those drivers yet.
Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Mouse0" Driver "mouse" Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2" Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice" Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true" EndSection is there tho and I get the following error: xf86OpenSerial: Cannot open device /dev/input/mice. No such device. Mouse0L cannot open input device Preinit failed for input device "Mouse0" No core pointer. Looks like I'm still out of luck. - slacker |
OK - this error message suggests that /dev/input/mice is either missing or being hogged by something else. Check - did you comment out the old InputDevice entry?
I note the old entry has the same /dev options line, (and you did report this error before.) Better check that /dev/input/mice exists: Code:
ls -ld /dev/input/mice Is Mouse0 added to the ServerLayout section at the end of the xorg.conf file? |
Here is my complete xorg.conf, if it helps any:
Code:
Section "Module" |
Sorry for the lack of an update. I've been a bit stressed out lately what with the new problems I've had lately and work..and bills..and stuff. Ok onto the updates.
I've yet to get my USB mouse working regardless of the settings. I've tried ALL that were mentioned. I did get the touchpad working by downloading synaptic drivers. After that, the touchpad worked perfectly. And I didn't enable that god awful TAP-CLICK thing which I hate so much so it's even better. I'm begining to think I need to download some drivers for my USB mouse because whether I point to /dev/mouse or /dev/input/mice its the same result of no such device. The file there exists but apparently X doesn't like it. My current problem is my wireless intel 2200 bg card. I've done research and there is a project providing drivers for this. These drivers aren't the most convenient either, I need to download a new ieee80211 stack and some other driver AND some firmware. And it requires the 2.6 kernel. I've downloaded 2.6.15 as well as 2.6.15.6 (no idea what the diff here is) and compiled and installed each in turn. Through LILO I can boot with either my working 2.4 kernel or the 2.6 kernel which VFS: Kernal panics constantly. This is my main source of stress. 2.6 refuses to boot. It cannot recognize my root partition. "vfs: mount cannot mount /dev/hda4 no such device or address" or something to that effect. I am 500% sure ext3 and jbd are compiled INTO the kernel not as modules. However I heard MAYBE the problem is I need a initrd anyway. So I modularized ext3 and used mkinitrd to create a boot rd to load ext3/jbd support before loading my root partition. Did this help? NO. Same exact problem with the exception that I get a nice little init rd complaining instead of kernel panic. But I get the kernel panic when I type exit at the prompt which comes up after it says "/dev/hda4 no such device or address" anyway so its the same problem. This only happens when I boot from the 2.6 kernel, 2.4 boots just fine and has no issues with ext3. As you can see my problems just seem to multiply as my fixes lead to more problems. Anyway, thanks to all who tried to help. At least I got my 2.4 kernel to recognize my touchpad ;> - slacker |
You can read my article about installing kernel from source or from binary package and also about activating WiFi, and also upgrading your Centrino Driver
Everything was placed in my writings section at my small home page |
I gather the intel 2200 bg driver will work with ndiswrapper.
However - learning about kernels is fun... |
Thanks for the links. The kernel compiling resource is excellent, and I wish I had found it before I learned to do it. It would have saved me unending troubles. I'd just like to point out that I've done all those things mentioned and 2.6 refuses to boot.
If I could just get the 2.6 to boot I could install the ipw2200 drivers/firmware/ieee80211 stack that I've downloaded in preparation for it. I still cannot understand why the kernel panics tring to load my ext3 root partition. I've compiled the kernel with ext2/ext3/jbd/and various other filesystems and still nothing stops this problem. I'd like to clear something up if possible since we're on the topic of kernels. When I downloaded the 2.6 kernel I had a choice between 2.6.15 and 2.6.15.x where x varied from 1 to 6. What is the difference? Also on kernel.org when you click the 2.6 link you are referred to the 2.6.16 patch. I'm assuming patches work on the version 0 of the kernels as in 2.6.16.0? Thanks again for all your suggestions. - slacker |
All times are GMT -5. The time now is 03:05 PM. |