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HID Mouse Configuration

In the kernel configuration stage, you need to turn on USB Human Interface Device (HID) support in the USB support and Mouse Support in the Input core support. You don't need to worry about the screen resolution entries for a normal mouse - these are for mouse-like devices such as a graphics tablet. Do not turn on USB HIDBP Mouse support. Perform the normal kernel rebuild and installation steps. If you are installing as modules, you need to load the input.o, hid.o and mousedev.o modules.

Plug in a USB mouse and check that your mouse has been correctly sensed by the kernel. If you don't have a kernel message, look for the changes to /proc/bus/usb/devices.

Since USB supports multiple identical devices, you can have multiple mice plugged in. You can get each mouse seperately, or you can get them all mixed together. You almost always want the mixed version, and that is what will be used in this example. You need to set up a device node entry for the mixed mice. It is customary to create the entries for this device in the /dev/input/ directory. Use the following commands: 

mkdir /dev/input
mknod /dev/input/mice c 13 63

If you cat /dev/input/mice you should see some bizarre looking characters as you move the mouse or click any of the buttons.

If you want to use the mouse under X, you have various options. Which one you select is dependent on what version of XFree86 you are using and whether you are using only USB for your mouse (or mice), or whether you want to use a USB mouse and some other kind of pointer device.

  • You need to edit the XF86Config file (usually /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XF86Config or /etc/X11/XF86Config).

  • If you are using XFree86 version 4.0 or later, add a InputDevice section that looks like the following: 

    Section "InputDevice"
         Identifier  "USB Mice"
         Driver      "mouse"
         Option      "Protocol"   "IMPS/2"
         Option      "Device"     "/dev/input/mice"
    EndSection
    or, if you want to use a wheel mouse, something like: 
    Section "InputDevice"
         Identifier  "USB Mice"
         Driver      "mouse"
         Option      "Protocol"   "IMPS/2"
         Option      "Device"     "/dev/input/mice"
         Option      "ZAxisMapping"   "4 5"
         Option      "Buttons"        "5"
    EndSection
    may be more useful. Consult the XFree86 documentation for a detailed explaination and more examples.

    You also need to add an entry to each applicable ServerLayout Section. These are normally at the end of the configuration file. If you only have a USB mouse (or USB mice), then replace the line with the "CorePointer" entry with the following line: 

         InputDevice "USB Mice" "CorePointer"
    If you want to use both a USB mouse (or USB mice) and some other kind of pointer device, then add (do not replace) the following line to the applicable ServerLayout sections: 
         InputDevice "USB Mice" "SendCoreEvents"

  • If you are using only a USB mouse (or USB mice) with XFree86 3.3, edit the Pointer section so that it looks like the following: 

    Section "Pointer"
        Protocol    "IMPS/2"
        Device      "/dev/input/mice"
    EndSection

  • If you are trying to use a USB mouse (or USB mice) in addition to another pointer type device with XFree86 3.3, then you need to use the XInput extensions. Keep the existing Pointer (or modify it as required for the other device if you are doing an initial installation), and add the following entry (anywhere sensible, ideally in the Input devices area): 

    Section "Xinput"
       SubSection "Mouse"
            DeviceName   "USB Mice"
            Protocol     "IMPS/2"
            Port         "/dev/input/mice"
            AlwaysCore
       EndSubSection
    EndSection

  • Restart the X server. If you don't have any mouse support at this point, remember that Ctrl-Alt-F1 will get you a virtual terminal that you can use to kill the xserver and start debugging from the error messages.

If you want to use the mouse under gpm, run (or kill and restart if it is already running) gpm with the following options. gpm -m /dev/input/mice -t imps2 (as superuser remember). You can make this the default if you edit the initialisation files. These are typically named something like rc.d and are in /etc/rc.d/ on RedHat distributions.

If you have both a USB mouse (or USB mice) and some other kind of pointer device, you may wish to use gpm in repeater mode. If you have a PS/2 mouse on /dev/psaux and a USB mouse (or USB mice) on /dev/input/mice, then the following gpm command would probably be appropriate: gpm -m /dev/input/mice -t imps2 -M -m /dev/psaux -t ps2 -R imps2. Note that this will make the output appear on /dev/gpmdata, which is a FIFO and does not need to be created in advance. You can use this as the mouse "device" to non-X programs, and both mice will work together.