Re: gpm effectively turns my mouse into a Microsoft mouse

[Petr Cech <cech@atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz>]

On Tue, Apr 04, 2000 at 08:20:56AM -0700 , Eric Hanchrow wrote:
> I have discovered, through trial and error, that by default, the boot
> floppies install gpm, and that gpm sets /dev/mouse to be a symlink to
> /dev/gpmdata.  Nothing wrong with that, but I notice that X only works

which could be concidered OK.

> properly if I tell it that my mouse talks the Microsoft mouse
> protocol.  Nothing particularly wrong with that either, except that if
> I don't install gpm (and point /dev/mouse to /dev/psaux), I need to
> tell X that my mouse uses the PS/2 protocol.  Over the years I've come

yes

> to learn that my mouse -- which is a Microsoft mouse that says "Mouse
> Port Compatible Mouse 2.1A" on the bottom -- talks the "PS/2"
> protocol, and so I've formed a habit of telling X that.  But now comes
> gpm, which apparently changes it to the Microsoft protocol.

Or another one. You just need to tell gpm in which one. The thing with PS/2
is, that if you run gpm and want also to use mouse in X, X must be configured
to use /etc/gpmdata (or /dev/mouse) and NOT /dev/psaux, which will not work.

> So: I don't mind that gpm is doing that -- it probably has a good
> reason -- but I wish something had warned me about it.  I wasted a lot

I think gpm ask on install - the repeater option. Than you tell X to use this
selected type.

> of time wondering why my mouse pointer was moving erratically; if I'd
> seen a message from gpm when it installed itself, saying "Note: if you
> install X, tell it that your mouse talks the Microsoft protocol", that
> would have saved some time.
> 
> Should the boot floppies be responsible for this warning, or does this
> sound like a wishlist bug for gpm?

Maybe.

				Petr Cech
--
Debian GNU/Linux maintainer - www.debian.{org,cz}
           cech@atrey.karlin.mff.cuni.cz