Unable to set mouse to left hand

[linuxguy1000]

Hello! I am pretty new to the Linux world and have made the trip via Mandriva 10.1. I am a lefty and after some digging around I found the method to change the mouse from right hand to left hand, but it's ghosted out for the left hand option!

I am not at all familiar with the command line (but willing to learn!) and I am still trying to understand the Linux structure. I know there are configuration files that I can modify, that much I have gathered from searching around here. But I don't know which one is for the mouse! If one of you great people could lend a hand I would appretiate it very much. Using the mouse right handed is very awkward for me.

Thank you!

Oh... one more thing, I am running a Mobile Intel Celeron laptop (Toshiba Satelite A15-129) and for some reason or other when I try to run the updates it says there are no repositories available for me to use. Where do I go to find the fix for that as well?

Again, Thank You!! :D

[linuxguy1000]

but it's not working. So I did a Google search and found this XF86Free (http://www.faqs.org/docs/Linux-mini/3-Button-Mouse.html#s12) help file / page. And I figured out where the file they were talking about is located. So after making the appropriate changes, I rebooted the laptop and it still doesn't work. Any ideas?

PS: Here is what I used to make the changes...

Swapping buttons: use the xmodmap command to change which physical button registers as each mouse click. eg: xmodmap -e "pointer = 3 2 1" will turn round the buttons for use in the left hand. If you only have a two-button mouse then it's just numbers 1 & 2.

I have a 4 button trackball with a wheel, the wheel works and it's USB. Below is a copy of the section I changed as well, if that will help.

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "6 7"
xmodmap -e "pointer = 4 3 2 1"
EndSection

[paj12]

Just use your right hand. It's like a whole other person. :)

Seriously, though, xmodmap is a command, not an option in your XF86Config file. Mandriva uses X.org so it's xorg.conf anyway. To use xmodmap, you would execute it on the command line. I'm not sure but look for a file called "rc.local", maybe in "/etc/init.d/", and paste it there to have xmodmap start on boot-up.

EDIT: Regarding your second question: post it in a seperate thread with a proper title. That way you'll have a better chance of catching a Mandriva guru who can help you.

[cybertron]

Yeah, the rule is 1 question 1 post, but since this is your first time we'll let it go and answer the second question anyway.:)

Check out this site: http://easyurpmi.zarb.org It'll get you up and running for updates.

[linuxguy1000]

Hi, thanks for the help!!! But I did something, I had found another solution and was trying that, and messed the whole GUI up! I tried to fix it... but since I didn't really know how I think I made it worse.

So I had to re-install. Is that a newb thing or what!?

Okay so I am supposed to put my xmodmap in a file, and thanks for telling me where and what it is. But the question I have now is, when I type the xmodmap command in like you say, I get this message:

"[linuxguy1000@g280xpxp linuxguy]$ xmodmap - "pointer = 4 3 2 1"
xmodmap: commandline:0: bad number of buttons, must have 7 instead of 4
xmodmap: 1 error encountered, aborting
"[linuxguy1000@g280xpxp linuxguy]$"

So I am confused as to how I can tell which button is which. I have an Inland Trackball with a scroll wheel (USB) and 4 buttons, 2 per side of the trackball. How is that equal to 7?

And thank you for telling me how to post, makes sense! I appreciate your kindness!! And also thank you for the help with the urmpi information! As soon as I get this mouse thing fingered out I will tackle that one!

[paj12]

Found a thread on another forum that has the solution to your problem:
http://justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=142175

Here's the short and sweet:
1. Run "xmodmap -pp" to find the current configuration of your buttons.
2. Reverse the order of the buttons you use and tack the others on the end. Yours would probably look like:
xmodmap -e "pointer = 4321675"
3. Put that somewhere where it gets run on boot-up. I'd reccomend "/etc/init.d/rc.local" but the poster of this thread used "~/.kde/Autostart". Six of one...

Also note that this thread was the first result in a Google for Linux (http://www.google.com/linux) search for "mouse left" (http://www.google.com/linux?hl=en&lr=&q=mouse+left&btnG=Search).

[linuxguy1000]

Success!

xmodmap -e "pointer = 3 2 1 6 7 4 5"

This maps out to the following (For others to make it easier to understand!)

Position 1 = Left Lower Button Value 3 will assign as right
Position 2 = Left Upper Button Value 2 is non-functional (at this time)
Position 3 = Right Lower Button Value 1 will assign as left
Position 4 = Unknown to me at the moment Value 6 is non-functional (at this time)
Position 5 = Right Upper Button Value 7 is non-functional (at this time)
Position 6 = Scroll wheel Value 4 will assign scroll up
Position 7 = Scroll wheel Value 5 will assign scroll down

I believe Position 6 and 7 are also refered to as Z Axis mapping?

I hope this makes sense to those reading. It took 22 attempts before I figured the sequence and assignments out. But I did it with the initial help of you guys and gals! Again thanks!

Now to hard code that puppy so I don't lose it!!!

:D :eek:

[cybertron]

It took 22 attempts before I figured the sequence and assignments out.
Did you keep count? :p

And the nice thing about posting your solution back here (thanks for that BTW) is that if for some reason you do ever need to do it again it will always be here.:)

[paj12]

Congratulations!

The great thing is now that you have it working, it won't stop working unless YOU change it. Glad to see you got everything figured out. I don't think I've ever seen such a difficult problem for someone's first post. :D