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<A HREF="mouse.html"><EM>Mouse Support in XFree86</EM></A>
 <b>:</b> <EM>Supported Hardware </EM><BR>
<b>Previous:</b> <A HREF="mouse1.html"><EM>Introduction </EM></A><BR>
<b>Next:</b> <A HREF="mouse3.html"><EM>OS Support for Mice </EM></A>


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  <H2><A NAME="2"></A>2. Supported Hardware </H2>

<p>XFree86 X servers support three classes of mice:
serial, bus and PS/2 mice.</p>
<p>
<dl>
<dt><b>Serial mouse</b><dd><p>The serial mouse has been the most popular pointing device for
PCs.
There have been numerous serial mouse models from a number of
manufactures.
Despite the wide range of variations, there have been relatively
few protocols (data format) with which the serial mouse talks
to the host computer.</p>
<p>The modern serial mouse conforms to the PnP COM device specification
so that the host computer can automatically detect the mouse
and load an appropriate driver.
The XFree86 3.3.2 X servers support this specification and can detect
popular PnP serial mouse models.</p>

<dt><b>Bus mouse</b><dd><p>The bus mouse connects to a dedicated interface card in an expansion
slot.
Some video cards, notably those from ATI, and integrated I/O
cards may also have a bus mouse connector.
Some bus mice are known as `InPort mouse'.</p>
<p>Note that some mouse manufactures have sold a package including a serial mouse
and a serial interface card.  
Don't confuse this type of products with the genuine bus mouse.</p>

<dt><b>PS/2 mouse</b><dd><p>They are sometimes called `Mouse-port mouse'.
The PS/2 mouse is becoming increasingly common and popular.</p>
<p>The PS/2 mouse is an intelligent device and may have more than
three buttons and a wheel or a roller.
The PS/2 mouse is usually compatible with the original PS/2 mouse from IBM
immediately after power up.
The PS/2 mouse with additional features requires a specialized
initialization procedure to enable these features.
Without proper initialization, it behaves as though it were an ordinary
two or three button mouse.</p>
</dl>
</p>
<p>Many mice nowadays can be used both as a serial mouse and as a PS/2 mouse.
They has a logic to distinguish which interface it is connected to.
However, the mouse which is not marketed as compatible with both
serial and PS/2 mouse interface lacks this logic and cannot be
used in such a way, even if you can find an appropriate
adapter with which you can connect the PS/2 mouse to a serial port
or visa versa.</p>
<p>XFree86 now supports the mouse with a wheel, a roller or a knob.
Its action is detected as the Z (third) axis motion of the mouse.
As the X server or clients normally do not use the Z axis movement of the 
pointing device, a new configuration option, <code>ZAxisMapping</code>,
is provided to assign the Z axis movement to another axis or a pair
of buttons (see below).</p>

 <HR NOSHADE>
<A HREF="mouse.html"><EM>Mouse Support in XFree86</EM></A>
 <b>:</b> <EM>Supported Hardware </EM><BR>
<b>Previous:</b> <A HREF="mouse1.html"><EM>Introduction </EM></A><BR>
<b>Next:</b> <A HREF="mouse3.html"><EM>OS Support for Mice </EM></A>



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