Problem with GPM, MsIntellimouse 1.2a, and Slackware 8.1

shilo · 11-21-2002, 06:32 PM

I have been ahving trouble with my mouse at the cli. I have Slackware 8.1 installed and my mouse is a Microsoft IntelliMouse 1.2a. My mouse works perfectly in X.

The problem that I have is that when I boot up, my mouse acts erratically. If I log in as root, kill gpm with 'gpm -k' , and re-start gpm with 'gpm -m /dev/mouse -t imps2' it works perfectly. my /etc/rc.d/rc.gpm is as follows

#!/bin/sh
# Start/stop the GPM mouse server:

if [ "$1" = "stop" ]; then
echo "Stopping gpm..."
gpm -k
else # assume $1 = start:
echo "Starting gpm..."
gpm -m /dev/mouse -t imps2
fi

This is the last script read, as far as I can see, during startup. I checked my /var/log/syslog and found the following:

Nov 21 14:37:14 local gpm[85]: imps2: PS/2 mouse failed to read id, assuming standard PS/2
Nov 21 14:37:14 local gpm[85]: imps2: PS/2 mouse failed setup, continuing...

Any ideas?

TIA

Shilo

DavidPhillips · 11-21-2002, 11:48 PM

if it's a usb mouse put this in rc.gpm

gpm -m /dev/input/mice -t imps2

if it's ps2 use this

gpm -m /dev/psaux -t imps2

shilo · 11-25-2002, 12:15 AM

Thank you for the help.

I have a ps2 mouse, not a USB. On my system, /dev/mouse is a symbolic link to /dev/psaux . I tried changing it per your suggestion anyway, but it didn't change anything.

Any other ideas?

Thanks again,

Shilo

DavidPhillips · 11-25-2002, 05:07 PM

try another mouse if you have one, some of them can act a little squirrelly

Half_Elf · 11-26-2002, 06:58 AM

MS mouse protocol aren't so good so sometime the stupid mouse react eractically when it's running in X and in text mode at the same time.

You have to play with your protocol (just gues and try). First, verify if gpm is working with PS2 instead of imps2. Ps2 protocol will slow doen your mouse but should give you less conflict. If it doesn't work, try any protocol you might judge "good" for that mouse. I suppose you want to keep your mouse fast in your X, so keep the imPS2 protocol for X, just play with GPM (btw be sure the X protocol is imPS2, sometime, using 2 different protocol can give you the same strange problem). There is no easy or absolute answer, just guess and try. This is a very common problem I saw about M$ mouse, but habitually it's easy to solve.