cartik.sharma@gmail.com wrote:

> Thanks Richard.
>
> I changed the graphics card to 3D Rage Pro and it seems to work fine
> with the new kernel
> 2.2.6 on Slackware 4.0. I might have had a the wrong drivers but kde
> loads up fine.
>
> Another problem I faced was with the PS2 mouse..it refused to show up
> by auto detection
>
> /dev/mouse
>
> so I changed it to
> /dev/psaux
>
> and it seems to be detected fine now. However its still displays some
> ad hoc behaviour..I suspect
> an irq conflict of some sort?
>
> The Xfree86Config file reads
>
> Section "Pointer"
> Protocol "ps/2"
> Device "/dev/psaux"
> Emulate3Buttons
> Emulate3Timeout 50
> EndSection
>
> Appreciate your help.

It might be a conflict with the gpm program configuration which supplies
mouse cut and paste functionality to the console. This is not a problem
with newer Slackware versions and is not mentioned in the current FAQ.

Note: please tell if the following works for you.

Richard James

From the old FAQ
http://wombat.san-francisco.ca.us/fa.../cache/22.html
Why doesn't my my mouse work in X?
Generally speaking, assuming your mouse is actually working in a terminal
(text-based, not X) window, and you have the correct protocol selected for
it in your X configuration, there are three ways to get the mouse to
actually work in X:

1. You can kill gpm (as root) with gpm -k (or killall gpm), then start
your X session as usual. For many reasons, this is not an optimal
solution -- see the next method.
2. You can edit the file /etc/rc.d/rc.gpm (or /etc/rc.d/rc.local, on
older systems) where gpm is started. Remove the -R flag from the gpm
command line, reboot and restart your X session. (If you do this, make sure
that your /etc/X11/XF86Config (or /etc/XF86Config, on older versions) file
points to the correct Device (see below). If you use /dev/mouse, make sure
it's a symlink to the correct device (/dev/psaux for PS/2 mice, for
example.)
3. If there is an -R flag present in the gpm command line, you can just
leave it and edit the file /etc/XF86Config, paying attention to the section
dealing with the Pointer device, as shown below: (Note: this only applies
to XFree86 version 3, not version 4, which comes with Slackware 8. Anyone
care to help me update this part?)

# ************************************************** ***************
# Pointer section
# ************************************************** ***************
Section "Pointer"
Protocol "Microsoft"
Device "/dev/mouse"

See the line dealing with 'Device?' Change that from /dev/mouse (or
whatever you may have) to /dev/gpmdata, save, and restart X as a normal
user. (This is actually the preferred method, although #2 works as well.)
Note that you probably don't want to fool with the 'Protocol' line: it is
correct for a Logitech three button serial mouse.

What's happening is gpm (which is more of a daemon than not) intercepts all
mouse movement events and sends them to the file /dev/mouse, EXCEPT when
the -R flag is present AND the system is in a graphics mode (such as X). In
that case, it sends them to /dev/gpmdata. It makes no difference what kind
of pointer device you have -- serial, bus, ps/2, or whatever. The default X
config file (/etc/XF86Config) tells X to look for mouse movement events
in /dev/mouse, but when you start X, the -R flag puts them in the
file /dev/gpmdata. Since the X server doesn't know to look there
if /etc/XF86Config says to look in /dev/mouse, well....

From man gpm:

-R Causes gpm to act as a repeater: any mouse data
received while in graphic mode will be produced on
the fifo /dev/gpmdata ... .

In short, gpm is NOT the cause of the mouse not working in X even though it
seems it is. Just killing gpm is NOT really a solution, even though it
seems to be.

(Editor's note: I don't run gpm on my system, because when I am using a text
console, I'm usually in no mood to use a mouse. Why bother using system
resources that I'm not going to use? YMMV, of course.)

2001-Jul-30 22:44 kkeller@speakeasy.net

Hallo, cartik.sharma@gmail.com,

Du meintest am 14.12.07:

> I changed the graphics card to 3D Rage Pro and it seems to work fine
> with the new kernel 2.2.6 on Slackware 4.0. I might have had a the
> wrong drivers but kde loads up fine.

"new kernel"? Kernel 2.2.6 dates from April 16 1999.

Viele Gruesse
Helmut

"Ubuntu" - an African word, meaning "Slackware is too hard for me".

On 2007-12-15, Helmut Hullen wrote:

> "new kernel"? Kernel 2.2.6 dates from April 16 1999.
>
> Viele Gruesse
> Helmut
>
> "Ubuntu" - an African word, meaning "Slackware is too hard for me".

Hey n00b, if you're gonna use my signature, at least learn how to
configure a signature in your Win-droid news application.


--
"Ubuntu" - an African word meaning "Slackware is too hard for me".

Helmut Hullen wrote:

> Hallo, cartik.sharma@gmail.com,
>
> Du meintest am 14.12.07:
>
>> I changed the graphics card to 3D Rage Pro and it seems to work fine
>> with the new kernel 2.2.6 on Slackware 4.0. I might have had a the
>> wrong drivers but kde loads up fine.
>
> "new kernel"? Kernel 2.2.6 dates from April 16 1999.

You must be new here.

Richard James

Helmut Hullen wrote:
>> with the new kernel 2.2.6 on Slackware 4.0. I might have had a the
>> wrong drivers but kde loads up fine.
>
> "new kernel"? Kernel 2.2.6 dates from April 16 1999.

It is about the newest kernel that still works with Slackware 4.0,
which is what the OP was talking about.
Furthermore, that version is from 2004, not 1999, and NO work at all
has been done anymore on the 2.2 kernel series since Jan 2005 (there
is a Release Candidate on kernel.org from that month).

I'm running 2.2.6 and Slw 4.0 too on my very old 486dx2/66, it just
doesn't have the RAM (and diskspace) for newer releases (max of 16 MB
of RAM and it only got a 540 MB disk) of Slackware/Kernel.
--
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