2.6.0 and mice

2.6.0 and mice

[Norman Diamond]

On a machine with an Alps touchpad, I have built 2.6.0 several times.

1.  Some of the SuSE 8.2 boot-time operations report various errors which I
am trying to minimize.  Somehow I got modules partly working, and some of
the boot-time errors can be minimized by compiling some drivers as modules
instead of built into the kernel.  Changing the Event interface from
built-in to module removed one boot-time error.  Changing the Joystick
interface from none to module removed another.  However, I cannot build the
Mouse interface as a module.  In Input device support, "make xconfig" offers
Mouse interface (NEW) with settable Horizontal and Vertical resolutions but
no settable Y or N or M.  The help information says that Y and M are
possibilities but doesn't say how I can say or choose either of them.  The
help information says that M would make the module called mousedev which
would surely remove one more boot-time error.  In a while I might try
editing the .config file using either "vi" or "make menuconfig", but surely
"make xconfig" should also be capable.

2.  Also in Input device support, there is a section on Mice, PS/2 mouse,
and Synaptics TouchPad.  These I compiled in and they don't seem to be
causing any problems.  It seems that the Alps TouchPad is being recognized
as an Intelli/Wheel mouse instead of being recognized as a Synaptics
TouchPad, which is unfortunate but not really causing any problems.  I've
read that Synaptics is most common in foreign countries but Alps is most
common in Japan.  Help information says I could make a module called psmouse
but this wouldn't resolve the boot-time error about mousedev so I'm still
compiling these in instead of changing them to modules.

3.  In section Character devices there is another section on Mice.  Help
says that most people have serial mice.  Funny, the other section on Mice
and PS/2 mouse didn't say that most people have serial mice.  Anyway this
section is older, and I always used to say that I had a Bus Mouse, because I
knew I didn't have a serial mouse.  In 2.4 there was a separate section for
USB mouse which I had to use for one machine, and I also enable it for other
machines just to allow the possibility of attaching additional mice, but
that isn't a problem.  Now there is the confusion of which is the opposite
of a serial mouse, is it a Bus Mouse or is it a PS/2 mouse?  Do I need to
enable both Bus Mouse and PS/2 mouse, or just one of these?  As an
experiment one time I tried deselecting Bus Mouse and it made no difference,
but the Help information and the existence of these multiple options sure
cause confusion.

Re: 2.6.0 and mice

[Peter Osterlund]

"Norman Diamond" <ndiamond@wta.att.ne.jp> writes:

> On a machine with an Alps touchpad, I have built 2.6.0 several times.
...
> 2.  Also in Input device support, there is a section on Mice, PS/2 mouse,
> and Synaptics TouchPad.  These I compiled in and they don't seem to be
> causing any problems.  It seems that the Alps TouchPad is being recognized
> as an Intelli/Wheel mouse instead of being recognized as a Synaptics
> TouchPad, which is unfortunate but not really causing any problems.  I've
> read that Synaptics is most common in foreign countries but Alps is most
> common in Japan.

The synaptics kernel driver doesn't try to recognize alps touchpads.
However, in the XFree86 driver

        http://w1.894.telia.com/~u89404340/touchpad/index.html

there is a kernel patch (alps.patch) that makes the kernel recognize
alps touchpads and generate data compatible with the XFree86 synaptics
driver.

It doesn't work perfectly though, at least not for some hardware. The
problem seems to be how to interpret the gesture bit in the alps mouse
packets. Unfortunately I can't debug this problem myself, because I
don't have the hardware and there doesn't seem to be any public
documentation available for alps touchpads.

-- 
Peter Osterlund - petero2@telia.com
http://w1.894.telia.com/~u89404340

Re: 2.6.0 and mice

[Norman Diamond]

Peter Osterlund replied to me:

> > 2.  Also in Input device support, there is a section on Mice, PS/2 mouse,
> > and Synaptics TouchPad.  These I compiled in and they don't seem to be
> > causing any problems.  It seems that the Alps TouchPad is being recognized
> > as an Intelli/Wheel mouse instead of being recognized as a Synaptics
> > TouchPad, which is unfortunate but not really causing any problems.  I've
> > read that Synaptics is most common in foreign countries but Alps is most
> > common in Japan.
>
> The synaptics kernel driver doesn't try to recognize alps touchpads.

I guess that explains why the Synaptics driver didn't cause any problems
:-)

> However, in the XFree86 driver
>         http://w1.894.telia.com/~u89404340/touchpad/index.html
> there is a kernel patch (alps.patch) that makes the kernel recognize
> alps touchpads and generate data compatible with the XFree86 synaptics
> driver.

Looking at that page, I'll guess that SuSE 8.2's version of XFree86 probably
already has that patch, because under X the touchpad is performing more than
half of those operations correctly already.

> It doesn't work perfectly though, at least not for some hardware. The
> problem seems to be how to interpret the gesture bit in the alps mouse
> packets.

That's OK, Alps supplies notebook vendors with drivers for Monopolysoft
OSes, and it seems that Alps hasn't completely got this working correctly
either.

Re: 2.6.0 and mice

[Larry Sendlosky]

I can't get my Microsoft wheel mouse to work left-handed via USB or PS/2 
adaptor.
This is with 2.6.0 and KDE from RH9.  I can only manage to get both 
buttons to
be seen as right-handed mb3 or "normal" right-handed, i.e. mb1 and mb3.  
I do
want to run 2.6.0, but I can't!  Any ideas?  (of course it all works 
fine with 2.4.23).

larry

Norman Diamond wrote:

>Peter Osterlund replied to me:
>
>  
>
>>>2.  Also in Input device support, there is a section on Mice, PS/2 mouse,
>>>and Synaptics TouchPad.  These I compiled in and they don't seem to be
>>>causing any problems.  It seems that the Alps TouchPad is being recognized
>>>as an Intelli/Wheel mouse instead of being recognized as a Synaptics
>>>TouchPad, which is unfortunate but not really causing any problems.  I've
>>>read that Synaptics is most common in foreign countries but Alps is most
>>>common in Japan.
>>>      
>>>
>>The synaptics kernel driver doesn't try to recognize alps touchpads.
>>    
>>
>
>I guess that explains why the Synaptics driver didn't cause any problems
>:-)
>
>  
>
>>However, in the XFree86 driver
>>        http://w1.894.telia.com/~u89404340/touchpad/index.html
>>there is a kernel patch (alps.patch) that makes the kernel recognize
>>alps touchpads and generate data compatible with the XFree86 synaptics
>>driver.
>>    
>>
>
>Looking at that page, I'll guess that SuSE 8.2's version of XFree86 probably
>already has that patch, because under X the touchpad is performing more than
>half of those operations correctly already.
>
>  
>
>>It doesn't work perfectly though, at least not for some hardware. The
>>problem seems to be how to interpret the gesture bit in the alps mouse
>>packets.
>>    
>>
>
>That's OK, Alps supplies notebook vendors with drivers for Monopolysoft
>OSes, and it seems that Alps hasn't completely got this working correctly
>either.
>
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