Subject: Re: gpm and X mouse conflicts

From: Mark Phillips <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 05 Aug 1996 02:59:43 +1000

>> When I try to run startx, it dies complaining that:
>> 
>> Fatal server error:
>> Cannot open mouse (Device or resource busy)
>> 
>> I then kill gpm and startx works fine.  How can I get both to work
>> together?  I could do this under slackware.
>> 
>Read the man page for gpm. I think you want the -R option and some setup
>in X to use /dev/gpmdata.

I read man, and it seems that the -R option is designed primarily for
bus-mice and I quote:
      "-R     Causes  gpm  to  act  as a repeater: any mouse data
              received while in graphic mode will be produced  on
              the  fifo  /dev/gpmdata  in  mouse-system protocol.
              This means that you can configure the X  server  to
              use  that  fifo  as  a mouse device. This option is
              useful for bus-mouse owners to override the single-
              open  limitation. ..."

But my mouse is a normal, MouseSystems compatible, serial mouse.
Surely I shouldn't have to use the -R option?  I didn't have to under
slackware.

Thanks,

Mark Phillips.  ([email-masked])

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From: Dale Scheetz <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 5 Aug 1996 20:30:17 -0400 (EDT)

> Surely I shouldn't have to use the -R option?  I didn't have to under
I suspect that slackware runs the daemon with the -R option and sets up X
to use /dev/gpmdata. Try it ;-)

Dwarf

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aka   Dale Scheetz                   Phone:   1 (904) 877-0257
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From: "David M. Cooke" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 06 Aug 1996 07:13:40 -0400

> to use /dev/gpmdata. Try it ;-)

No, Slackware doesn't either.  In fact the "-R" option is NOT needed for
most systems to get gpm and X to happily share the mouse.  My system at
home, several friends' systems and many systems at work all work fine
without the "-R" option.  However, "-R" does seem to be needed for bus
mice and in some cases it seems to be needed even for serial mice.  I
don't know what the common denominator is for these cases but since I've
seen a couple, I'd sure like to know.

-- 
________________________________________________________________________
David M. Cooke                                   [email-masked]

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From: Mark Eichin <[email-masked]>
Date: 06 Aug 1996 16:10:58 -0400

> mice and in some cases it seems to be needed even for serial mice.  I

It *used* to be needed for busmice and in particular ps2 mice.
However, many of the busmouse drivers (and definitely the ps2 mouse
driver) were fixed to permit multiple opens during 1.3, so -R is not
needed *any more* for most if not all of the cases it was used for
previously.