[Tfug] Wireless Mice (and some wired mice) and xorg.conf

[Ken Nelan, s.f.o.]

(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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