[ubuntu-arizona] Wireless Mice (and some wired mice) and xorg.conf

[Shane Lofgren]

Thank for the info Ken and welcome.  I personally welcome all Linux and FOSS
information.
-slofgren


On Wed, Jun 4, 2008 at 11:31 PM, Ken Nelan, s.f.o. <kjnelan at msn.com> wrote:

>  (I hope it's okay to send stuff like this.  Please let me know if it is
> not correct form.  It is also a bcc to mulitple forums.  Thank you.)
>
> I am recently a new convert to Linux though I have been using it for years
> off and on; not really serious, but at the same time eager to move into the
> free os world.
>
> More than anything else however, I have loved the challenge of getting
> things to work through time and patience and ceiling climbing (its a new
> sport, I promise).
>
> Recently after installing Ubuntu 8.04 on my desktop, laptop and ceiling (at
> least claw marks if not the cd's from the botched writes), I came across a
> problem that had plagued me since my first days with linux: a wireless mouse
> that doesn't work well.
>
> Specifically, the wheel scroll thingy and the back and forward button
> thingys never seemed to work at the same time and the scroll would always go
> to heck in a hand basket.
>
> I even found a bug report at:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gtk+2.0/+bug/124440 describing
> the same problem with similar mice.
>
> I found the same problem with a standard wired mouse as well, but the
> answer bugged the heck out of me, but I think I may have found a solution.
> One that a great many people seemed to have over looked.  It's the number of
> actual buttons on a mouse.  Today's mice have more than 3 and 5 buttons.
> They more often than not have 7,9 or more buttons.
>
> Putting the correct number of buttons in the xorg.conf seems to resolve all
> issues with scroll lines, back and forward clicks and so forth.  ( at least
> it did for me and only after weeks of frustrating trial and error.)
>
> I used the following xorg.conf modification on all of these mice: Microsoft
> Wireless Laser Mouse 5000, GE Optical Mouse WK2803 (usb mosue), Dynatech
> Wireless Mouse, No name off the shelf mouse.  With the exception of the
> Microsoft mouse, all had 7 buttons (Right, Left, Back, Forward, scroll up,
> scroll down, press scroll button in = 7).  The Microsoft mouse had 9 buttons
> (Right, Left, Back, Forward, scroll up, scroll down, press scroll button,
> move scroll button left, move scroll button right, = 9)
>
> (my xorg.conf now looks like this)(mines located at /etc/X11/):
>
> Section "InputDevice"
>         Identifier "Configured Mouse"
>         Driver "mouse"
>         Option "CorePointer"
>         Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
>         Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
>         Option "Buttons" "7" <-- for my Microsoft mouse, I changed this to
> 9 and everything worked properly.
>         Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
>         Option "ButtonMapping" "1 2 3"
>         Option "Emulate3Buttons" "false"
> EndSection
>
> The side to side actions and the depression on the scroll wheel may not
> work correctly unless they are properly mapped, but I don't know many people
> who use those anyway.  (I can learn not to use them for now).
>
> I hope this helps anyone out there who may have had or is currently having
> a similar problem with no scroll or no back or forward (side buttons)
> clicking on their mice.
>
> Peace to All,
>
> kjnelan
>
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