Mouse Support in X11R6.8 : Configuration Examples
Previous: Mouse Gallery
Next: Mouse Support in X11R6.8

7. Configuration Examples

This section shows some example InputDevice section for popular mice. All the examples assume that the mouse is connected to the PS/2 mouse port, and the OS supports the PS/2 mouse initialization. It is also assumed that /dev/mouse is a link to the PS/2 mouse port.

Logitech MouseMan+ has 4 buttons and a wheel. The following example makes the wheel movement available as the button 5 and 6.

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"MouseMan+"
	Driver		"mouse"
	Option		"Device"	"/dev/mouse"
	Option		"Protocol"	"MouseManPlusPS/2"
	Option		"Buttons"	"6"
	Option		"ZAxisMapping"	"5 6"
EndSection

You can change button number assignment using the xmodmap command AFTER you start the X server with the above configuration. You may not like to use the wheel as the button 2 and rather want the side button (button 4) act like the button 2. You may also want to map the wheel movement to the button 4 and 5. This can be done by the following command:

	xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 6 3 2 4 5"

After this command is run, the correspondence between the buttons and button numbers will be as shown in the following table.

Physical Buttons	Reported as:
------------------------------------
1 Left Button		  Button 1
2 Wheel Button		  Button 6
3 Right Button		  Button 3
4 Side Button		  Button 2
5 Wheel Negative Move	  Button 4
6 Wheel Positive Move	  Button 5

For the MS IntelliMouse Explorer which as a wheel and 5 buttons, you may have the following InputDevice section. 

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"IntelliMouse Explorer"
	Driver		"mouse"
	Option		"Device"	"/dev/mouse"
	Option		"Protocol"	"ExplorerPS/2"
	Option		"Buttons"	"7"
	Option		"ZAxisMapping"	"6 7"
EndSection

The IntelliMouse Explorer has 5 buttons, thus, you should give "7" to the Buttons option if you want to map the wheel movement to buttons (6 and 7). With this configuration, the correspondence between the buttons and button numbers will be as follows:

Physical Buttons	Reported as:
------------------------------------
1 Left Button		  Button 1
2 Wheel Button		  Button 2
3 Right Button		  Button 3
4 Side Button 1		  Button 4
5 Side Button 2		  Button 5
6 Wheel Negative Move	  Button 6
7 Wheel Positive Move	  Button 7

You can change button number assignment using xmodmap AFTER you started the X server with the above configuration.

	xmodmap -e "pointer = 1 2 3 4 7 5 6"

The above command will moves the side button 2 to the button 7 and make the wheel movement reported as the button 5 and 6. See the table below.

Physical Buttons	Reported as:
------------------------------------
1 Left Button		  Button 1
2 Wheel Button		  Button 2
3 Right Button		  Button 3
4 Side Button 1		  Button 4
5 Side Button 2		  Button 7
6 Wheel Negative Move	  Button 5
7 Wheel Positive Move	  Button 6

For the A4 Tech WinEasy mouse which has two wheels and 3 buttons, you may have the following InputDevice section. 

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"WinEasy"
	Driver		"mouse"
	Option		"Device"	"/dev/mouse"
	Option		"Protocol"	"IMPS/2"
	Option		"Buttons"	"7"
	Option		"ZAxisMapping"	"4 5 6 7"
EndSection

The movement of the first wheel is mapped to the button 4 and 5. The second wheel's movement will be reported as the buttons 6 and 7.

The Kensington Expert mouse is really a trackball. It has 4 buttons arranged in a rectangle around the ball.

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "DLB"
	Driver      "mouse"
	Option      "Protocol" "ThinkingMousePS/2"
	Option      "Buttons" "3"
	Option      "Emulate3Buttons"
	Option      "Device" "/dev/mouse"
	Option      "DragLockButtons" "2 1 4 3"
EndSection
In this example, button 2 is a drag lock button for button number 1, and button 4 is a drag lock button for button 3. Since button 2 is above button 1 and button 4 is above button 3 in the layout of this trackball, this is reasonable.

Because button 2 is being used as a drag lock, it can not be used as an ordinary button. However, it can be activated by using the "Emulate3Buttons" feature. However, some people my be unable to press two buttons at the same time. They may prefer the following InputDevice section which defines button 4 as a master drag lock button, and leaves button 2 free for ordinary use. 

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "MasterDLB"
	Driver      "mouse"
	Option      "Protocol" "ThinkingMousePS/2"
	Option      "Buttons" "3"
	Option      "Device" "/dev/mouse"
	Option      "DragLockButtons" "4"
EndSection

Mouse Support in X11R6.8 : Configuration Examples
Previous: Mouse Gallery
Next: Mouse Support in X11R6.8