getting around Mandrake/Gnome without mouse

[Mojo2000]

Sorry if this is the wrong place; mods, feel free to relocate as necessary. I'm still a Linux novice, so all help is appreciated.

Using Mandrake 9.1, Gnome desktop. Logitech iTouch cordless PS/2 keyboard, Microsoft corded Optical Wheel Mouse, and get this: cheap-butt KVM switch. You guessed it! I got problems - my mouse simply will not work. So I went on the Web with my Windows box and found that I could use the Ctrl-Shift-NumLock trick to enable keyboard mouse controls via keypad. Yeah, it's very slow. The webdoc I read (derived from Mandrake site docs) claims that I can move the pointer faster by depressing any OTHER key along with the keypad. Wrong; I get no speed increase. Why is this?

While figuring out a solution to the KVM/mouse conflict, I'm sure I can get by without a real mouse so long as the KB mouse could be sped up sufficiently. Ergo, advice from you pros is highly valued.







Side question: I don't think this makes any difference, but anyway, how do you switch from Gnome to KDE? Can you do it real-time, or is it a change that can only occur after a reboot?

[Hayl]

Switching to and from KDE or Gnome would just require a restart of X.

I have no idea on the mouse problem.

[sharth]

try fiddling with the control center's mouse speeds. ou might be able to find something in there :)

[Mojo2000]

Originally posted by Hayl
Switching to and from KDE or Gnome would just require a restart of X.Thanks for your reply. So within the GUI environment, I type Ctrl-Alt-Backspace to reach a CLI; then I just type "startx" and I will automatically get a menu to choose a desktop manager from those available? (I am pretty sure I enabled the package installation of at least four...)

[Mojo2000]

Originally posted by sharth
try fiddling with the control center's mouse speeds. You might be able to find something in there :) I do remember enough from the pre-KVM days that there were very few mouse configuration options - certainly nothing that allowed me to duplicate the feel of the same mouse I got under Windows. (this seems to be well-corroborated around the Web...)

Seems to me that the whole keyboard mouse thingy is a quiet little secret, not meant to be unearthed by mortals...?

[sharth]

in a console, xset m 10 10 will speed it up quite a bit... (thats the arcane way :) )

[Mojo2000]

Originally posted by sharth
in a console, xset m 10 10 will speed it up quite a bit... (thats the arcane way :) ) Thanks a lot for that handy tip! I fiddled around with xset a bit and found that "m 6 1" was just right for me. :D

BTW, it's worth noting that for no apparent reason, my mouse did start working under Linux via the KVM. Not a moment too soon, either - I was really starting to feel bogged down. The "keyboard mouse" controls did not change at all.

I thank everybody for their time, generous spirit and suggestions.