Does anyone here use a multi-button (as in more than 2) mouse with Linux? How well supported are they? I've had to get one recently for work. I was diagnosed with CTS and I now wear braces and use a wireless Intellimouse. Works great at work with Windows, but I'm unsure how much, if any support there is for Linux. Anyone have experience with this?
Preston
Preston Crawford wrote:
Does anyone here use a multi-button (as in more than 2) mouse with Linux? How well supported are they? I've had to get one recently for work. I was diagnosed with CTS and I now wear braces and use a wireless Intellimouse. Works great at work with Windows, but I'm unsure how much, if any support there is for Linux. Anyone have experience with this?
Preston
CentOS mailing list CentOS@centos.org http://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
Preston, I'm using the intellimouse explorer cordless IR mouse on two machines, and they are recognized immediately. No problems at all that I've seen, and of course the things work for all functions that I've tried.
Hope this helps......
Sam
Preston Crawford me@prestoncrawford.com wrote:
Does anyone here use a multi-button (as in more than 2) mouse with Linux?
The late '60s first "modern mouse" (a ball design driving perpenducular axis) had 3 buttons. In fact, the inventor was so ahead of his time, he also invented the 5-chord keyboard so you could input any keystroke without having to use the QWERTY keyboard (unless you were typing at full speed -- which you wouldn't be using the mouse at the same time).
[ SIDE NOTE: Imagine if he had established the 5-chord like the 10-key numeric pad -- we wouldn't have all those varying and non-standard gamepad controllers,. ;-]
The early '70s Xerox PARC Alto had 3 buttons.
And early '80s X-Window system begin with and still _requires_ 3 buttons (even if you just emulate the 3rd button with 2). ;->
More recent X-Window releases have supported 5 or 7 buttons.
How well supported are they?
I always scoffed in the early '90s when I plugged in a Logitech 3-button to Linux and I instantly had full 3 button support. It wasn't until Windows 98 before Microsoft started including 3 button support without having to load additional software.
I've had to get one recently for work.
A 3-button mouse? You mean you've been using 2-button mice?
I was diagnosed with CTS and I now wear braces and use a wireless Intellimouse.
"Wheel" mice were easily adapted as 5-button mice. Button 2 (3rd button) is when the wheel is depressed (just like any 3-button mice). Button 3 and 4 (4th and 5th buttons) are mapped as the up/down of the secondary Y axis (secondary to the Y-axis in the ball/optical).
Most modern mice have native drivers in XFree86-4/Xorg-6.7 that can read variable rate and other, more "rich" feedback.
Works great at work with Windows, but I'm unsure how much, if any support there is for Linux.
Intellimice will be recognized immediately in any modern Linux distribution. Not only for X, but for console (e.g., gpm) as well.
Anyone have experience with this?
Been using 3 button mice in Linux since I started in 1993. I mapped buttons in X for a few 5 and 7 button digitizers before any wheel mice ever came out.
The X-Window system has always had extremely flexible input options. Especially since X is designed for multiuser/multidevice (multiple input/output devices) on a system.
Preston Crawford me@prestoncrawford.com wrote:
Does anyone here use a multi-button (as in more than 2) mouse with Linux?
The late '60s first "modern mouse" (a ball design driving perpenducular axis) had 3 buttons. In fact, the inventor was so ahead of his time, he also invented the 5-chord keyboard so you could input any keystroke without having to use the QWERTY keyboard (unless you were typing at full speed -- which you wouldn't be using the mouse at the same time).
Okay, now you're "flaunting" again. :-)
Seriously, though, good info and thanks everyone for the replies. Mainly what I hope to do is map a couple frequently used key combinations like Alt-Tab, as I use that a lot as a web developer. Otherwise, whatever other options I think up in the future....
Preston
Preston Crawford me@prestoncrawford.com wrote:
Okay, now you're "flaunting" again. :-)
Yep -- I was there! Before I was born! I was hacking right with Englehart! I was the pioneer at PARC. And I definitely invented Ethernet -- so Al Gore could go on to invent the Internet later on (an idea he stole from me ;-)!
Seriously, though, good info and thanks everyone for the replies. Mainly what I hope to do is map a couple frequently used key combinations like Alt-Tab, as I use that a lot as a web developer.
GNOME, KDE, etc... do a great job of that.
Otherwise, whatever other options I think up in the future....
Speaking of which ... 2D input is like soooooo '70s!
If you want to know about the future, read up on the Picker in Sun's Looking Glass. Looking Glass is the future of the Linux desktop. And no, I'm not talking about the eye candy demo that 99.99% of other people talk about.
I'm talking the Looking Glass APIs -- they will replace X. All while still supporting legacy X11, GLX, etc..., which is largely all the eye candy demo did.
E.g., imagine bringing a wind into focus by just looking at it. With traditional windowing frameworks, that would be layer upon layer of software. With the picker, designed for all sorts of new input approaches right in the API, it's _native_.
Preston Crawford wrote:
Does anyone here use a multi-button (as in more than 2) mouse with Linux? How well supported are they? I've had to get one recently for work. I was diagnosed with CTS and I now wear braces and use a wireless Intellimouse. Works great at work with Windows, but I'm unsure how much, if any support there is for Linux. Anyone have experience with this?
Preston
I am writing this on a SuSE 8.2 Box, kernel 2.4.20 (i.e. older Linux), using a Kensington optical mouse w/ 3 buttons (w/ a USB-to-PS/2 adapter), the middle one both button & roller. I hot-swapped it a few months ago when the old one croaked & was off to the races, not a hint of problems since. YMMV & all that.
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Bryan J. Smith -
Preston Crawford -
Sam Drinkard -
William A. Mahaffey III