Serial Mouse in Kernel 2.6

Serial Mouse in Kernel 2.6

[Christoph Pleger]

Hello,

When configuring Kernel 2.6.11.7, I found under Input Devices two
options which seem to have to do with serial mouse support:

1. Serial line discipline (module serport)
2. Serial Mouse support (module sermouse)

Ic compiled both these features as a module. But after rebooting with
the new kernel, the serial mouse is working well with gpm and with X11,
although none of the above modules are loaded.

So, what for are the modules mentioned above needed?

Kind regards
  Christoph

Re: Serial Mouse in Kernel 2.6

[Dmitry Torokhov]

Hi,

On 4/29/05, Christoph Pleger <Christoph.Pleger@uni-dortmund.de> wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> When configuring Kernel 2.6.11.7, I found under Input Devices two
> options which seem to have to do with serial mouse support:
> 
> 1. Serial line discipline (module serport)
> 2. Serial Mouse support (module sermouse)
> 
> Ic compiled both these features as a module. But after rebooting with
> the new kernel, the serial mouse is working well with gpm and with X11,
> although none of the above modules are loaded.
> 
> So, what for are the modules mentioned above needed?
> 

If you load the modules and use input_attach program to set up your
mouse then you can access it via /dev/input/mice together with the
rest of you mice, PS/2, USB, etc. This way you have only one input
device for you mouse and do not have to change millions of programs
(actually 2) if you happen to install a new mouse.

You seem to still using the mouse by accessing /dev/ttySx port and
using serial mouse driver.

-- 
Dmitry

Re: Serial Mouse in Kernel 2.6

[Wakko Warner]

Dmitry Torokhov wrote:
> If you load the modules and use input_attach program to set up your
> mouse then you can access it via /dev/input/mice together with the

Where does one get the input_attach program?

-- 
 Lab tests show that use of micro$oft causes cancer in lab animals

Re: Serial Mouse in Kernel 2.6

[Dmitry Torokhov]

On 4/29/05, Wakko Warner <wakko@animx.eu.org> wrote:
> Dmitry Torokhov wrote:
> > If you load the modules and use input_attach program to set up your
> > mouse then you can access it via /dev/input/mice together with the
> 
> Where does one get the input_attach program?
> 

http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/linuxconsole/ruby/utils/inputattach.c

I think RedHat packages it with GPM and Novell with input-utils. Not
sure about the others.

-- 
Dmitry

Re: Serial Mouse in Kernel 2.6

[Vojtech Pavlik]

On Fri, Apr 29, 2005 at 11:03:24AM -0500, Dmitry Torokhov wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On 4/29/05, Christoph Pleger <Christoph.Pleger@uni-dortmund.de> wrote:
> > Hello,
> > 
> > When configuring Kernel 2.6.11.7, I found under Input Devices two
> > options which seem to have to do with serial mouse support:
> > 
> > 1. Serial line discipline (module serport)
> > 2. Serial Mouse support (module sermouse)
> > 
> > Ic compiled both these features as a module. But after rebooting with
> > the new kernel, the serial mouse is working well with gpm and with X11,
> > although none of the above modules are loaded.
> > 
> > So, what for are the modules mentioned above needed?
> > 
> 
> If you load the modules and use input_attach program to set up your
> mouse then you can access it via /dev/input/mice together with the
> rest of you mice, PS/2, USB, etc. This way you have only one input
> device for you mouse and do not have to change millions of programs
> (actually 2) if you happen to install a new mouse.
> 
> You seem to still using the mouse by accessing /dev/ttySx port and
> using serial mouse driver.
 
You also get a much better update rate for the mouse than with X/GPM, 4x
for MouseSystems, and 2x for Microsoft mice. This makes the serial mouse
finally usable.

-- 
Vojtech Pavlik
SuSE Labs, SuSE CR