Documentation email list?

[Martin Maney]

On Fri, Oct 01, 2004 at 12:02:10PM -0700, Hudson Delbert J Contr 61 CS/SCBN wrote:
> 	Not sure but i think you may be right about the number of
> 	requests for assistance for laptop users. 

Laptops are the home of the most peculiar, quirky, non-standard parts
one is likely to encounter in modern PCs.  :-/

> 		maybe you have some insight.
> 
> 		thinkpad refuses to let me use my microsoft serial mouse and
> clings tenaciously to the trackpoint which i despise.
> 
> 		any ideas.

'fraid not.  The Inspiron is the only laptop I've owned other than a
really old Compaq that was only really useful in text mode.  The Dell
came with a midget optical USB mouse, and it's just worked for me.  I'm
not sure I have any serial mice around any longer!  I seem to recall
that the tricky bit was setting up the correct protocol (in the mouse's
input section in XFree86-Config - which sometimes meant by trial and
error.  Oh, and the serial port - that's not difficult, but almost
certainly has to be done by hand since serial devices don't
self-identify the way USB peripherals do.  Come to think of it, I
wouldn't be surprised if you needed to set this up by hand, still.

BTW, you can very well have two (or more) mice configured at once in X,
so no need to decomission the trackpoint until the serial mouse is made
to work.  Just need to add a new "InputDevice" section and add a second
InputDevice line (with the new section's identifier) to "ServerLayout".

Luck!

-- 
One discharges fancy homunculi from one's scheme
by organizing armies of idiots to do the work.  -- Dennett