SDB:PPC: Mouse button emulation

From openSUSE

Version: 7.0 - 7.3

Request:

Generally, Linux is used most efficiently with three button mice. However, it is possible to achieve, more or less, the same functionality with the one button mice that are common on Macintosh computers. This can be achieved by an 'emulation' of the missing buttons with dedicated keys. To activate this feature (it is not active by default) use the the following commands.

Note:
This feature is not included in the standard kernel at kernel.org.
It came from the PowerMac tree of http://ppclinux.apple.com/~benh/.

Procedure:

(If you are not logged in as root please type

su -

first and enter your root password.)

echo "1"  > /proc/sys/dev/mac_hid/mouse_button_emulation
echo "87" > /proc/sys/dev/mac_hid/mouse_button2_keycode # F11
echo "88" > /proc/sys/dev/mac_hid/mouse_button3_keycode # F12

This makes the function keys F11 and F12 take on the function of the respective mouse buttons -- at least until the next reboot. To make the change permanent, put the three 'echo' commands at the end of the file /sbin/init.d/boot.local which is exexuted at each system startup.

Instead of doing these changes by hand, you might prefer to install the package mouseemu from our ftp server that does all this. It can be downloaded at:
ftp://ftp.suse.de/private/poeml/7.0/mouseemu-0.2-0.ppc.rpm

for 7.0, and
ftp://ftp.suse.de/private/poeml/7.1/mouseemu-0.2-0.ppc.rpm

for 7.1. You can easily install the package with the command

rpm -Uhv ftp://...

After that the emulation can be started by entering rcmouseemu start as root. The default is determined by the variable START_MOUSEEMU in /etc/rc.config.

Another way of solving the problem is, of course, to attach a three button mouse ;-)

-> A note for iBook users: In general you have to hold down the 'fn'-key when you want to access the function keys. In the case of the mouse button emulation this is not necessary.