TM RC-2010.08.20 Doesn't See Serial Mouse

[TMinCO]

I installed TinyMe RC-2010.08.20 on an ancient mid '90s relic kit computer, 166MHz Pentium-S, 128Mb memory, 4.4Gb HD, Microsoft 2 Button Serial Mouse. It runs quite well considering the low spec. My problem is that TinyMe doesn't see the serial mouse. I've been using a USB mouse temporarily, but would like to use the serial mouse, as I need the USB port for other purposes. I have done the following things:

- Run the PC with Puppy Linux, where the serial mouse works just fine. Hardware is AOK.
- Used the Unity Control Center to try to set the mouse to (serial/Generic 2 Button Mouse). That did nothing.
- Added several iterations of "InputDevice" section to xorg.conf, but basically something like:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "Microsoft" #mouse0protocol
Option "Device" "/dev/ttyS0"
EndSection

The InputDevice sections that I added kept disappearing from xorg.conf for some reason (???). It was the same file though, as I had made changes to HorizSync & VertRefresh in the Monitor section, and those changes persisted.

My questions are:

1. Has anyone actually gotten TinyMe RC-2010.08.20 to work with a serial mouse?
2. If so, what had to be done to get it to work?

Thanks. TMinCO..

[KDulcimer]

Could you try installing gpointing-device-settings and tell me if it sees your mouse?

[TMinCO]

(09-07-2010 09:52 PM)KDulcimer Wrote:  Could you try installing gpointing-device-settings and tell me if it sees your mouse?

Hello KDulcimer,

Thanks for the quick response. I used Smart Package Manager to download and install gpointing-device-settings from the repository. I then opened a terminal session, and with both USB and serial mouses attached, I invoked gpointing-device-settings at the command line, with the following result:

[rudy@localhost ~]$ gpointing-device-settings
Gtk-Message: (for origin information, set GTK_DEBUG): failed to retrieve property `gtk-enable-event-sounds' of type `gboolean' from rc file value "((GString*) 0x9bb5570)" of type `gboolean'
Gtk-Message: (for origin information, set GTK_DEBUG): failed to retrieve property `gtk-enable-input-feedback-sounds' of type `gboolean' from rc file value "((GString*) 0x9bb5600)" of type `gboolean'

(I tried to insert a gpointing-device-settings screenshot here, but couldn't figure out how to do that using a local image file)

Not sure what the 2 warning messages are about, but gpointing-device-settings opened successfully, showing only info about the USB mouse.

I don't know how to operate the user interface with only the keyboard. So after rebooting, I used the USB mouse up to the point of opening a terminal session. Then, I pulled the USB mouse from the USB port, leaving only the serial mouse attached. I invoked gpointing-device-settings at the command line, with the following result:

[rudy@localhost ~]$ gpointing-device-settings
Gtk-Message: (for origin information, set GTK_DEBUG): failed to retrieve property `gtk-enable-event-sounds' of type `gboolean' from rc file value "((GString*) 0x9a49560)" of type `gboolean'
Gtk-Message: (for origin information, set GTK_DEBUG): failed to retrieve property `gtk-enable-input-feedback-sounds' of type `gboolean' from rc file value "((GString*) 0x9a495d0)" of type `gboolean'
Segmentation fault
[rudy@localhost ~]$

The same 2 warning messages displayed, followed by the "Segmentation fault" message this time. The gpointing-device-settings program failed to open.

By simply reattaching the USB mouse, I could again reinvoke gpointing-device-settings successfully, showing only the USB mouse.

[KDulcimer]

OK, I have one more idea. Run this in a terminal:

Code:

su
#[give root password]
ln -s /dev/ttyS0 /dev/mouse

[TMinCO]

(09-09-2010 12:07 AM)KDulcimer Wrote:  OK, I have one more idea. Run this in a terminal:

Code:

su
#[give root password]
ln -s /dev/ttyS0 /dev/mouse

OK, I started a terminal session, and pulled the USB mouse from the USB port. After pulling the USB mouse, I performed the command line operation, resulting in:

[rudy@localhost ~]$ su
Password:
[root@localhost rudy]# ln -s /dev/ttyS0 /dev/mouse
[root@localhost rudy]#

After this, the serial mouse still didn't work. I reattached the USB mouse, and the USB mouse worked normally.

I did the whole operation over again, leaving the USB mouse attached. The result was exactly the same. The USB mouse continued to work normally, and the serial mouse didn't work.