Re: Mouse

[Kent West <westk@acu.edu>]

Mark wrote:

>    Hi, I just managed to install Debian GNU/Linux 3.0r2 on a P-166 
> with 48Mb and a 10GB HD. It took several tries since there are 
> installation questions and terms that are not designed for a new user. 
> I read the installation manual which helped a lot. I used the boot 
> disks and driver disks with the base system file on a seperate HD. 
> Debian is installed on a partition with a swap file on another. No 
> DOS. I used Tasksel to get the "Desktop Environment" which would seem 
> to be Gnome. The computer boots to the login part of Gnome. Login is 
> successful :-)
>    The problem is that my mouse doesn't work. It is attached to serial 
> port (com) 1. During the installation I selected something like tty0? 
> as the port, not knowing if it was correct. Obviously it was not. The 
> web site mentions using xf86config to install a new mouse but doesn't 
> say exactly how or where to use it. Eventually I plan to know this OS 
> inside and out as I do Win98SE, 95, XP, Win3.11 and DOS. I have no 
> clue how to fix my mouse with Debian except by starting all over again 
> and hoping to get it right again.

There are quite a few variables in the equation, but the assumptions I 
make about you and your setup will probably be accurate enough to 
provide a quick fix.

Edit the file "/etc/X11/XF86Config-4" with your favorite text editor (I 
like nano for things like this). You can do so by switching to a text 
console with Ctrl-Alt-F2, then logging in, then running "nano 
/etc/X11/XF86Config-4". Scroll down to the section dealing with the 
mouse; you'll see some lines similar to:

       Option          "Device"                "/dev/ttyS0"
       Option          "Protocol"              "ImPS/2"

These two lines are what need to be tweaked. (The "xf86config" tool 
(which is obsolete nowadays), and other tools like "dpkg-reconfigure 
xserver-xfree86" (which is what you'd want to use instead) do this 
tweaking that you're about to do by manually editing the file.)

/dev/ttyS0 corresponds to the DOS-speak of COM1
/dev/ttyS1 = COM2
/dev/ttyS2 = COM3
/dev/ttyS3 = COM4

The protocol line determines what "language" your mouse speaks. A good 
one to try would probably be "ps2" or "ms". There are others; probably 
the easiest way (for now) to get a list of possibilities is to google 
for them.

Then restart your X session. Your session manager is probably gdm, so 
the command "/etc/init.d/gdm restart" should restart X for you (be aware 
that if you left anything running in X, it shut down without saving 
files, etc). If your session manager is kdm instead of gdm, the command 
would be "/etc/init.d/kdm restart". Same for xdm and wdm.

(Of course, you'll have to execute these commands as root. But learn not 
to log in as root except when absolutely needed. Once you've learned a 
bit, install sudo and use it instead.)

> P.S. I may have some suggestions in the near future to make the 
> installation process easier for dummies. Mainly adding better help 
> descriptions about what the system is asking for and talking about. 
> This installation is far from self explanatory.
The next version of Debian has (from what I've heard) a better 
installer. So you might want to hold off on your comments until you've 
tried that version's installer.