Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Vertical Ergonomic Devices for Linux?

Posted by Cliff on from the saving-your-wrists dept.

NonNullSet asks: "I am having trouble finding a truly programmable mouse for Linux. I'm a longtime (read older) computer user and have to use an ergonomic mouse (http://www.evoluent.biz) to work on Windows. I would like to find something similar (vertical shape, if possible, programmable buttons) for Linux, but haven't had any luck. Have any Slashdot readers been successful at finding/using programmable ergonomic hardware on Linux? Vertical shape plus click and hold would be excellent!"

7 of 18 comments (clear)

  1. Well... by Vaevictis666 · · Score: 4, Informative

    If the vertical mouse is USB, why wouldn't linux be able to pick it up as a four-button HID? As far as the machine is concerned all it should need to know is that it's got a pointer and some buttons...

  2. What are you talking about? by CyberVenom · · Score: 3, Informative

    The mouse you linked to claims to be Linux compatable already. Since it is USB/PS2 I wouldn't doubt that claim as both PS2 and USB HIDs have been supported properly by Linux for some time.
    -CyberVenom

    1. Re:What are you talking about? by NonNullSet · · Score: 3, Informative

      I have communicated with the vendor. All they say is that the mouse will be detected as a "two button" mouse. None of the programability (available via the Windows driver) will be present. So while the mouse would "work", it wouldn't have the feature set I want.

    2. Re:What are you talking about? by 0x0d0a · · Score: 2, Informative

      If it is USB and HID-compliant, it probably already works (note that using many-button USB mice is a pain to set up -- here's my XF86Config section for a five-button (plus up and down on a scrollwheel, which is not properly detected by Fedora) config:

      Section "InputDevice"
      Identifier "Mouse0"
      Driver "mouse"
      Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
      Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
      Option "Buttons" "7"
      Option "ZAxisMapping" "6 7"
      Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
      EndSection

      I believe that this is a pain in the ass with PS/2 mice, as the protocols can differ.

      --
      May we never see th
  3. XFree86 Pointer Button (and Keyboard) Re-mapping by infernalC · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here is the xmodmap documentation you are looking for.

  4. Clarification of my above comment by infernalC · · Score: 2, Informative

    I think that the questioner has some misconceptions about "mice" as they relate to "Linux".

    Mice are not (generally) programmable. You can change the way your computer programs handle the input given them by the Linux kernel from mice. Most programs do not talk to the kernel directly about mice; they use a "middleman" program, which is in most cases X (for GUI applications) or gpm.

    These middleman programs have ways of swapping the meanings of the pressed buttons. The link in the parent comment shows how to do it for graphical applications running as clients to an XFree86 X server, which is likely the middleman program for the software the questioner wants to use on pretty much any stock GNU/Linux or BSD system.

    1. Re:Clarification of my above comment by NonNullSet · · Score: 3, Informative

      I understand the X11 paradigm. [In fact, I was an X11 developer back in the days of R4.] What I would like to do is be able to click a button and release it, but have the action (mouse event) be that the button is "held down" until I click again (at which point a button up event is generated). This is possible on many programmable mice on MS PCs (using a vendor driver). The reason I want this is that holding down a mouse button can (and does) cause RSI pain.