Re: Microsoft mouse in X11
On Fri, 20 Mar 1998, Paul Bernays wrote:
> Okay, I'm a complete beginner in Linux and I really need help in trying
> to configure the X-windows system. I can't configure the mouse to work
> at all.
What have you tried to do? Did you run XF86Setup (included in the package
xserver-vga16)? The XF86Setup program is a graphical utility that lets you
choose different types of mice and try if it suits your hardware. If you
have a standard "Microsoft mouse" then that should be easy, as it is the
default setting.
If there is something weird with the mouse and you can't get it working
within 30 minutes, consider going to the shops and buying a cheap 3-button
mouse. These things will almost always work as "Microsoft" mouse. The
small amonut of money will almost certainly be worth the time you'll save.
As a beginner, you're making much better use of your time reading eg. the
bash manpage than all the more technical xfree86 docs.
Oh, another tip: Ctrl-Alt-<keypad minus> and Ctrl-Alt-<keypad plus> change
the resolution of the xserver (when it is running). You can also make a
certain mode the default by putting it in front of the line in
/etc/XF86Config that lists the modes.
> I read on XFree's site that I needed to download the gpm1-13
> package and use the mouseman protocol. Unfortunately, this requires
> libc6. I already have libc5 installed, and libc6 conflicts with this
> package. However, libc5 is required by too many other packages. Do I
> have to upgrade the libc5 package? How do I work around this problem?
Two things:
- gpm is the textmode mouse driver; you should almost never have to use it
to get the mouse working in X11. If you have a mouse that is badly
supported by X11, get a new one unless you're quite a bit of a guru.
- stay with libc5 for a while until 2.0 is out. 2.0 will only be released
when the upgrade mechanism from libc5 to libc6 is working under all
circumstances. Right now there are still some problems that you might
encounter when you upgrade.
> I should also add that the libc6 and gpm1-13 packages were from the
> unstable catagory, whereas the libc5 package was a stable one. Could
> this be a problem?
Yes, quite definately so. You'd have to install a lot of new packages,
essentially you would relace the guts of your system. It is better to wait
a month until a fully automated mechanism is provided.
In the mean time, there is nothing wrong with libc5-based Debian 1.3. It
is very stable and you should be able to get things working fine with it.
Some more tips:
Install the package dwww; it is an interface to the documentation,
manpages and info documents that come with Debian packages. You'll also
need to install apache (a web server) and lynx (a web browser) to use it.
In X11 you can use Netscape instead of lynx, but it is bulkier and slower
and there are no pretty pictures or javascript in dwww anyway.
If you run X11, install the package menu. It automatically puts pacages
that you install in the window-manager's (try fvwm2 for starters) menu.
You should also consider buying a book about Linux, like "Running Linux"
by Matt Welsh or the book about Debian written by Dale Scheetz titled
"Debian Linux user's guide." Both can also be read online, the latter one
can be found at www.linuxpress.com
O'Reilly has a variety of linux and unix oriented books. I can recommend
"Linux in a nutshell" and "Learning the bash shell."
Cheers,
Joost
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