[plug] Loss of X mouse control

[Greg Gamble]

Hi,

  I'm a bit of a newbie to Linux. I've installed Linux 2.0.34
from the Slackware 3.5 distribution on the second drive (which
is a Quantum Fireball SE/ST 4.3GB ultra). My system is an AMD K6-2.
I also have a 3 button PS/2 (V-Ideal if it matters) mouse, which
works as it's supposed to when the system is booted up with Win98
(on first drive).
  I have used the xf86config program to configure X-windows for
a 4MB Leadtek WinFast 3D S680 AGP video card which has an S3 ViRGE/GX2
chipset, and a 17'' Proview MultiMedia monitor. With the 3-button PS/2
mouse the correct Pointer settings in /etc/XF86Config are "PS/2" and
/dev/mouse with everything else commented out. Also /dev/mouse is a
symbolic link to /dev/psaux.
  My problem is that after getting it to work properly, I find that
after shutting down and re-booting the next time I do `startx' the
windows come up fine, but I don't have mouse control. I've also
noticed that if I remove the link /dev/mouse -> /dev/psaux and
make the link /dev/mouse -> /dev/gpmdata and then do a `startx'
the mouse will race around the terminal screen border with menus 
popping up every now and then. After quite a bit of trial-and-error
I've determined that if the link /dev/mouse -> /dev/gpmdata is left
in place at shutdown and removed after reboot and the link
/dev/mouse -> /dev/psaux replaced then I regain control of the mouse.
(presumably it would be enough to just remove the link prior to
shutdown and replace the link after booting). This is bizarre ...
What's going on? Does anyone have any idea? I now seem to have a
work-around ... is this a bug in the distribution? or am I doing
something wrong, possibly by neglecting to do something ...

  Regards and thanks for any advice in advance,
  Greg Gamble
___________________________________________________________________
Greg Gamble   __________________      mailto:gregg at maths.uwa.edu.au
Department of Mathematics ___                 
The University of Western Australia           Fax: +61-8 9380 1028
NEDLANDS WA 6907  AUSTRALIA         http://maths.uwa.edu.au/~gregg/
___________________________________________________________________