3Button Emulation under X
Hello all,
A newbie to Linux, I installed slink a couple of months back and
shortly thereafter got a somewhat usable X-server up and running
using XF86Setup. I say 'somewhat' because although I am certain I
specified the option during installation, I was to date been unable
to get 3-button emulation working with my vanilla logitech ps2 mouse.
Lurking on this list, I soon discovered I was not alone. Over a few
weeks I saw a number of solutions proposed and duly tried them all in
every conceivable combination.
Diligently I reset the protocol from PS/2 to Microsoft, MouseSystems,
Logitech and back. I pointed the device at /dev/psaux, at /dev/mouse,
at /dev/gpmdata. I put gpm into repeat mode, fiddled with other
switches, killed it altogether - all to no avail. Along the way I got
to know the old /etc/XF86Config file pretty well, I thought -
debugged a problematic modeline, got my preferred resolution to come
up by default - but still no 3-button emu. Through hundreds of
'startx's, pressing those two buttons together produced the same
sublime lack of response.
Now, I like to think of myself as a reasonably patient and persistent
type, but by now the thrill of the chase had frankly begun to wane.
Life in a CLI-oriented system with no cut&paste was beginning to seem
like a bit of a drag. I was no closer to solving the problem but for
the increasing suspicion that gpm played no part in it. Reluctantly
(and without much faith), I had more or less decided to go shopping
tomorrow for a real 3-button mouse.
But tonight, in a last ditch effort, scouring the net for example
XF86Config files, I noticed something I had previously missed. It was
a line in the 'pointer' section of some examples, which I realised
was curiously absent from mine. The gurus here will have guessed it
already:
Emulate3Buttons
That's right folks - I had a line in my config file to set the
*#@$ing timeout, but none to turn the feature on in the first place!
So I wrote it into my file, saved, restarted X and hey presto - I can
paste, get that window list in WM ...wow... life is complete. My
actual hoots of joy brought wife and kids running to see what was up.
Moral of the story: Never neglect the bleeding obvious. I relate my
saga just in case anyone out there having trouble with this has
suffered the influence of the same cosmic rays that perhaps affected
my initial XF86Setup session, and/or a subsequent
selective-blindness/stupidity equal to mine.
Now maybe I can get on with stuff that matters (or at least set up an MTA).
regards,
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