Late last year, I was handed a gift - a Logitech Wireless USB mouse. Not quite sure why I would want to install it - I had a PS2 mouse, and was perfectly happy with that rodent.
Finally, today, I decided I had to do something with it (if nothing else, just to clear some more desk space). I would install the wireless mouse on my Debian Sarge machine. Of course, the box came with a install CD that supports only Windows and Mac OS X.
So, I googled around to see how I should install a cordless mouse under Linux (Debian).
It turned out to be rather easy. Essentially, you need to reconfigure your X-Window to use the new mouse.
- While the computer is powered down: disconnect the existing PS2 mouse, and connect the cordless mouse receiver to a USB port.
Interesting how it claims to be cordless when I could see a nice long cord hanging from the receiver!!
- Power on your Debian Sarge computer. The X-Window Login screen appears.
- Hit the Cntrl-Alt-F1 to get a command login prompt. It would be a major inconvenience to have to login and operate in X without a mouse.
- Login as root.
- dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86
When prompted, select this USB mouse type: "/dev/input/mice"
- Restart X.
What I did was hit Cntrl-Alt-F7 to go to the existing X login screen. Then, I hit Cntrl-Alt-Backspace to kill the X process and start a new one.
- The X login screen should re-appear.
- Don't forget to press the Connect button on both the receiver and the wireless mouse.
"Simple. Less Clutter. More freedom. Eliminate tangled mouse cords." So claimed the Logitech box.
Simple? Maybe.
Less Clutter? Do the math: 1 receiver + 1 mouse = 2. Can someone tell me how it could be less?
More freedom. Sure, but don't forget to replace the AA batteries when they run out.
Eliminate tangled mouse cords. Absolutely. But just don't tangle up the receiver cord which to me is just as long if not longer.
3 comments:
My experience with a cordless mouse has been even easier. I have a laptop running openSUSE (and before that, Ubuntu). For both distros, installing my Logitech Cordless Mini Optical Mouse was as simple as plugging the USB receiver into an appropriate USB port. No rebooting, no mucking around with the terminal or config files. If you let it, Linux can truly be a plug-n-play OS.
What version of Ubuntu were you running?
Debian Sarge (what I was using) is perhaps using a older kernel version??
Glad that it was plug n play for you.
I think it depends a lot on where you put the RF reciever and your particular needs.
My reciever occupies a far off corner of my desk where I can't see it. Out of sight = out of mind.
Switching to wireless in my case actually did free me up more. The cord to my old mouse had to drag clear across my desk and often would get tangled in the other cords behind my desk, making it impossible to move the mouse very much and requiring me to go untangle it.
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