of mice, Linux and X

[Ernest jw ter Kuile <ejwtk04@xs4all.nl>]

Just for completness. you don't seem to mention what type of mouse you have, 

Normally all this should be correctly detected by the automatic HW detection 
system. Automatique mouse detection is currently quite good, however, it has, 
indeed, been known to fail.

for mice plugged on the PS/2 port, you need module psmouse 

for mice on the usb bus, you need either module uhci_hcd or ohci_hcd. which 
one will depending on your system chipset :
- intel and via -> uhci_hcd
- the rest of the world (amd, nvidia, etc...) -> ohci_hcd
both these also require module usbhid.

Serial mice (yes, they still exist _and_ are still supported) need module 
sermouse.

Further more, all mice, ps/2, serial or usb, need module mousedev

Obviously all these modules can be compiled in the kernel, but if you have a 
debian kernel they wont be,

it is not a good idea to have unnecessary modules loaded, even though they 
should infact correctly detect the presence or absence of their respective  
mouse. 

In the X config file, as of kernel 2.6.9 (and probably before too), you should 
_only_ need the /dev/input/mice mouse device. The others are legacy, and will 
only work with their respective mice attached (e.g. /dev/psaux -> PS/2 mice).

Cheers,

Ernest.