Very Computer

I have a Compaq Contura laptop with a built-in 2-button trackball which works
great in X. I've also have an external 3-button Logitech mouseman when
using my laptop in it's dockingstation. Now, I wan't to use the real mouse
when it's availible (with 3 buttons) and the trackball otherwise.

My question to you is now - Can I get XFree to auto-detect when I'm using
the mouse and then disable the Emulate3Buttons feature?

/Jakob

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Phone:  +46 31-772 1019, +46 70-595 07 94    Department of Computing Science
Fax:    +46 31-16 56 55                      Chalmers University of Technology
http://www.cs.chalmers.se/~jakob/            S-412 96 Goteborg

I faced a similar dilemma with my TI4000M - only I wanted to use both internal
and external mice at the same time.  There is no provision in XFree86 to
detect the number of buttons on your mouse (that I know of), and the middle
button doesn't work with Emulate3Buttons.

Fortunately, the source to XFree86 is publically available.  I located the
appropriate section of the mouse-handling code and added a small code patch
to pass along middle button events.  I replaced the module in my server
link kit and relinked my X server.  The net result is that I can use either
the middle button on my external mouse or a chorded left+right on my internal
pointing device to generate a middle mouse-button event.

I posted a summary to comp.windows.x.i386unix, so you might try to retrieve
that article if it has yet expired.  I tried crossposting it here, but it
never made it.  In short, although I included the source patch in my posting,
applying it is very difficult if you don't have a full XFree86 source tree
on your hard drive.  I have recompiled object modules and libraries for the
link kit, so you can just drop them in and relink.  E-mail me for details.
--
Thomas Wu                                 PCMCIA - People Can't Memorize

US Snail: Rains Apt. 13C, 704 Campus Dr.  (415) 497-6437
          Stanford, CA 94305              Why is there a "cult" in "culture"?

Have you actually tried this yourself?  The problem is that, at least on my laptop,
the internal and external mice are handled in hardware and presented to the OS as a
single mouse.  gpm/X can't tell whether I've moved or clicked my internal pointing
device or my external mouse.  Unless gpm performs the function of Emulate3Buttons and
passes along middle-button events as well, my X server patch is still necessary AFAIK.
--
Thomas Wu                                 PCMCIA - People Can't Memorize

US Snail: Rains Apt. 13C, 704 Campus Dr.  (415) 497-6437
          Stanford, CA 94305              Why is there a "cult" in "culture"?

: >
: >  I have a Compaq Contura laptop with a built-in 2-button trackball which works
: >  great in X. I've also have an external 3-button Logitech mouseman when
: >  using my laptop in it's dockingstation. Now, I wan't to use the real mouse
: >  when it's availible (with 3 buttons) and the trackball otherwise.
: >
: >  My question to you is now - Can I get XFree to auto-detect when I'm using
: >  the mouse and then disable the Emulate3Buttons feature?

: I faced a similar dilemma with my TI4000M - only I wanted to use both internal
: and external mice at the same time.  There is no provision in XFree86 to
: detect the number of buttons on your mouse (that I know of), and the middle
: button doesn't work with Emulate3Buttons.

: Fortunately, the source to XFree86 is publically available.  I located the
: appropriate section of the mouse-handling code and added a small code patch
: to pass along middle button events.  I replaced the module in my server
: link kit and relinked my X server.  The net result is that I can use either
: the middle button on my external mouse or a chorded left+right on my internal
: pointing device to generate a middle mouse-button event.

A little simpler process is possible if you normally run gmp for text
mode cut and paste.  Grab gpm-1.04 from sunsite (or a mirror) and
configure away.  As a fix for the busmice and PS/2 mice people, gpm-1.04
has a repeater option.  When enabled, the mouse events are read by gpm
converted to mousesystems protocol and passed through a fifo called
/dev/gpmdata.  Thus, by setting up X to read the fifo as a mousesystems
mouse, gpm handles the text consoles and passes the mouse events on to X
when you are in X.  Works great for my boxes with PS/2 mice.

You are probably wondering how this helps you, right?  Well gpm-1.04
also has a "-M" option for multiple mice ("-M" will automatically force
the repeater behavior).  You can specify options for either mouse
depending on where the options are in relation to the "-M" option, and
the 2 button-ness and 3 button-ness of the mouse is handled by gpm.
Since gpm is translating the mouse events into the mousesystems protocol
and providing a single device, X doesn't know or care when you switch
between your mouse and a trackball in the same session.

Pretty cool, eh?

Tom
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| Tom Webster                    | "Funny, I've never seen it   |


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