Re: Wheel mouse and xorg

On Tuesday 16 August 2011 14:30 in uk.comp.os.linux, chris enlightened
humanity with the following words...:

On 08/16/2011 01:06 PM, Daniel James wrote:
I've been having a strange problem with a wheel mouse, and I wondered
whether anyone else might have an inkling where the problem lies.

The mouse I'm currently is a cheap Chinese knock-off of a basic
Microsoft optical wheel mouse. It's a wired PS/2 mouse that's
connected to my KVM switch. I previously saw the same fault with a
genuine Microsoft wired PS/2 ball intellimouse, so I don't think the
actual mouse in use has a bearing here.

This mouse works fine when switched to a Windows box.

If I power up just a Linux box (I've tried Ubuntu Lucid x86 and
AMD64, and Debian (Lenny and more recently Squeeze) AMD64) it works
as a 2- button mouse but the wheel is not recognized. I should note
that the Ubuntu AMD64 box has no PS/2 mouse port so there is a PS/2
to USB converter between the system unit and the KVM. The other boxes
have PS/2 keyboard and mouse connections.

However: If I switch to another PC and boot into Windows the wheel is
recognized ... and if I then switch back to a Linux PC the wheel
continues to work there until that PC is powered off. Running Windows
in a VM on the Linux box does NOT do this, though.

However, the PCs I use most of the time are the Linux boxes. I don't
want to have to start a Windows PC just to get the mouse wheel to
start working!

I've tinkered with xorg.conf ... adding all the usual things that,
according to Google, seem to have worked for others ... in
particular:

Option "Buttons" "5"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

which has had the effect of getting the wheel to function as a third
button, but does not enable wheel-scrolling.

The other odd thing is that xmodmap -pp tells me that I have 13
physical buttons (which is a blatant lie). It says the same thing
regardless of whether I've switched to a Windows box to start the
mouse wheel working.

What the fruitbat is going on here?

What type of mouse does X think it's using? Look in
/var/log/Xorg.0.log or similar and look for a line that looks
something like this: (--) Mouse0: PnP-detected protocol:
"ExplorerPS/2"

Here, my system has auto-detected my mouse as being like an MS
explorer type mouse (i.e. one with several buttons and a wheel). It's
actually a logitech trackman mouse, but that doesn't matter.

OP is using a KVM switch, and in my many years of Usenet, I have
witnessed complaints and reports with regard to misconfigured and/or
barely usable keyboards and mice exactly because of a KVM being
involved.

Your mileage may vary.

--
Aragorn
(registered GNU/Linux user #223157)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Wheel mouse and xorg
    ... Microsoft optical wheel mouse. ... This mouse works fine when switched to a Windows box. ... If I switch to another PC and boot into Windows the wheel is ... and if I then switch back to a Linux PC the wheel ...
    (uk.comp.os.linux)
  • Re: Wheel mouse and xorg
    ... Microsoft optical wheel mouse. ... It's a wired PS/2 mouse that's ... This mouse works fine when switched to a Windows box. ... If I switch to another PC and boot into Windows the wheel is ...
    (uk.comp.os.linux)
  • Re: Wheel mouse and xorg
    ... Microsoft optical wheel mouse. ... Microsoft wired PS/2 ball intellimouse, so I don't think the actual ... This mouse works fine when switched to a Windows box. ... If I switch to another PC and boot into Windows the wheel is ...
    (uk.comp.os.linux)
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  • Wheel mouse and xorg
    ... whether anyone else might have an inkling where the problem lies. ... Microsoft optical wheel mouse. ... This mouse works fine when switched to a Windows box. ... If I switch to another PC and boot into Windows the wheel is ...
    (uk.comp.os.linux)