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Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!haven.umd.edu!darwin.sura.net!howland.reston.ans.net!math.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!linac!att!att-out!cbnewsj!dwex From: dwex@mtgzfs3.att.com (David E. Wexelblat) Subject: Re: Mouse button 2 doesn't work Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Date: Wed, 6 Oct 1993 17:32:50 GMT Message-ID: <CEHKqv.Fy8@cbnewsj.cb.att.com> References: <1993Oct4.140601.3834@alw.nih.gov> <MYCROFT.93Oct6061210@duality.gnu.ai.mit.edu> Sender: news@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (NetNews Administrator) Nntp-Posting-Host: mtgz058.mt.att.com Lines: 56 In article <MYCROFT.93Oct6061210@duality.gnu.ai.mit.edu> mycroft@duality.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Charles Hannum) writes: > > In article <1993Oct4.140601.3834@alw.nih.gov> crtb@helix.nih.gov > (Chuck Bacon) writes: > > The mouse is a no-name, CompuDyne mouse with a slide switch on the > bottom which says (Microsoft <-> Mouse systems), and I have switched > it to Microsoft. I also changed Logitech to Microsoft in Xconfig. > > Can I get a real 3-button mouse out of this? Or is perhaps the > Microsoft mouse inherently a 2-button thing, and my mouse disables > the middle button? > > Um, `yes'. The Microsoft Mouse normally has only two buttons, and as > I recall XFree86 only deals with two. It's not clear to me whether or > not the hardware protocol actually deals with all three buttons on a > Microsoft mouse, but the driver seems to think it does. (Anyone with > more information on this is welcome to send me email or post...) > > If you're using the NetBSD mouse drivers (and maybe the 386BSD ones by > Erik Forsberg on which the NetBSD ones are based), you might try > telling XFree86 that it's a Logitech mouse. Both drivers use the same > protocol, and my Logitech three-button mouse works dandy. > Yet again people are assuming that the mouse keywords in the Xconfig file refer to the mouse vendor. They don't. They refer to the mouse protocol. 'Logitech' is the protocol older Logitech mice (up to and including the Series 9 mice) used; this is emulated by a lot of clones. The Microsoft protocol only understands two buttons officially, although there is some interpretation of what would be a center button if Microsoft weren't idiots (:->). When using a current Logitech mouse, you use the MouseMan protocol (MouseMan mouse -> MouseMan protocol, not that hard to understand). The MouseMan protocol is an MS protocol with an extension for the middle button. Logitech did this, I guess, so that people could use their mice with SW that only spoke MS mouse without requiring drivers to be installed. Using the Microsoft protocol with a Logitech MouseMan/TrackMan will likely lead to some odd behavior. That's why the MouseMan protocol and corresponding keyword were added. Of course, none of these really relates to bus mice, because those require OS support, and there's no guarentee that the OS drivers will always translate things the same way. -- David Wexelblat <dwex@mtgzfs3.att.com> (908) 957-5871 Fax: (908) 957-5305 AT&T Bell Laboratories, 200 Laurel Ave - 3F-428, Middletown, NJ 07748 XFree86 requests should be addressed to <xfree86@physics.su.oz.au> "If you don't expect too much from me, you might not be let down." -- Gin Blossoms, "Hey Jealousy"