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NAME

       gpm-types - pointer types (mice, tablets, etc.) managed by gpm.
       The  information below is extracted from the texinfo file, which is the
       preferred source of information.

DESCRIPTION

       This manpage describes the various pointer types currently available in
       gpm.  If you look at the source code, you’ll find that pointer-specific
       code is confined to ‘mice.c’ (while  it  used  to  only  include  mouse
       decoders, gpm now supports tablets and touchscreens as well).

       The  mouse  type is specified on command line with the ‘-t’ option. The
       option takes an argument, which represents the name of  a  mouse  type.
       Each  type  can  be associated to different names. For old mouse types,
       one name is the old selection-compatible name, and another is the XFree
       name.  After  version  1.18.1  of  gpm, the number of synonyms was made
       arbitrary and the actual name being  used  is  made  available  to  the
       function responsible for mouse initialization. Therefore it is possible
       for a mouse decoder to behave slightly  differently  according  to  the
       name being used for the device (if this feature was already present, we
       wouldn’t have for example ms+ and ms+lr as different mouse types).

       The initialization procedure of each mouse type can also receive  extra
       option, by means of the -o command line option. Since interpretation of
       the  option  string  is  decoder-specific,  the  allowed  options   are
       described  in  association  to  each mouse type. When no description of
       option strings is provided, that means the option string is unused  for
       that  mouse  type  and  specifying  one  generates  an  error. When the
       document refer to ‘‘standard serial options’’ it means that one  of  -o
       dtr,  -o  rts,  -o both can be specified to toggle the control lines of
       the serial port.

       The following mouse type are corrently recognized:

       bare Microsoft
              The Microsoft protocol, without any extension. It  only  reports
              two  buttons.  If  your  device has three, you should either try
              running the mman decoder or msc. In the latter case, you need to
              tell  the mouse to talk msc protocol by toggling the DTR and RTS
              lines (with one of -o drt, -o rts or -o both) or  invoking  ‘gpm
              -t  msc’ while keeping the middle button pressed. Very annoying,
              indeed.  This mouse decoder  accepts  standard  serial  options,
              although they should not be needed.

       ms     This  is  the  original Microsoft protocol, with a middle-button
              extension.  Some  old  two-button  devices  send  some  spurious
              packets  which  can be misunderstood as middle-button events. If
              this is your case, use the ‘bare’ mouse  type.   Some  new  two-
              button  devices  are ‘‘plug and play’’, and they don’t play fair
              at all; in this case  try  -t  pnp.   Many  (most)  three-button
              devices  that  use  the  microsoft  protocol fail to report some
              middle-button events during mouse motion.   Since  the  protocol
              does  not distinguish between the middle button going up and the
              middle button going down it would be liable to get out of  step,
              so this decoder declares the middle button to be up whenever the
              mouse moves. This prevents dragging with the middle  button,  so
              you  should  probably  use  ‘-t  ms+lr’ instead of this decoder,
              especially if you want to use X.   This  mouse  decoder  accepts
              standard serial options, although they should not be needed.

       ms+    This is the same as ‘-t ms’ except that the middle button is not
              reset during mouse motion. So  you  can  drag  with  the  middle
              button.   However,  if  your  mouse  exhibits  the  usual  buggy
              behaviour the decoder is likely to get out of step with reality,
              thinking  the middle button is up when it’s down and vice versa.
              You should probably use ‘-t  ms+lr’  instead  of  this  decoder.
              This  mouse  decoder  accepts  standard serial options, although
              they should not be needed.

       ms+lr  This is the same as ‘-t ms+’ except that there is an  additional
              facility to reset the state of the middle button by pressing the
              other two buttons together. Do this when the decoder gets into a
              confused state where it thinks the middle button is up when it’s
              down and vice versa. (If you get sick  of  having  to  do  this,
              please  don’t  blame gpm; blame your buggy mouse! Note that most
              three-button mice that do the microsoft protocol can be made  to
              do  the  MouseSystems  protocol  instead.  The ‘‘3 Button Serial
              Mouse mini-HOWTO’’ has  information  about  this.)   This  mouse
              decoder  accepts  standard  serial options, although they should
              not be needed.

       msc MouseSystems
              This is the standard protocol for three-button  serial  devices.
              Some of such devices only enter MouseSystem mode if the RTS, DTR
              or both  lines  are  pushed  low.  Thus,  you  may  try  -t  msc
              associated with -o rts, -o dtr or -o both.

       mman Mouseman
              The  protocol  used  by  the  new  Logitech  devices  with three
              buttons.  It is backward compatible with the Microsoft protocol,
              so  if  your  mouse  has  three  buttons and works with -t ms or
              similar decoders you may try -t mman instead to use  the  middle
              button.   This  mouse  decoder  accepts standard serial options,
              although they should not be needed.

       sun    The protocol used on Sparc computers and  a  few  others.   This
              mouse  decoder  accepts  standard  serial options, although they
              should not be needed.

       mm MMSeries
              Title says it all.  This mouse decoder accepts  standard  serial
              options, although they should not be needed.

       logi Logitech
              This is the protocol used by old serial Logitech mice.

       bm BusMouse
              Some  bus devices use this protocol, including those produced by
              Logitech.

       ps2 PS/2
              The protocol used by most busmice.

       ncr    This ‘type’ is able to decode the pointing  pen  found  on  some
              laptops (the NCR 3125 pen)

       wacom  The  protocol  used by the Wacom tablet. Since version 1.18.1 we
              have a new Wacom decoder, as the old one was  not  working  with
              new  tablets. This decoder was tested with Ultrapad, PenPartner,
              and  Graphire  tablets.   Options:  -o  relative  (default)  for
              relative mode, -o absolute for absolute mode.

       genitizer
              The This mouse decoder accepts standard serial options, although
              they should not be needed.

       logim  Used  to  turn  Logitech  mice  into   Mouse-Systems-Compatible.
              Obviously, it only works with some of the Logitech mice.

       pnp    This  decoder  works  with  the  new mice produces by our friend
              Bill, and maybe with the old ones as well. The Pnp  protocol  is
              hardwired at 1200 baud and is upset by normal initialization, so
              this is a -t bare decoder with no initialization at  all.   This
              mouse  decoder  accepts  standard  serial options, although they
              should not be needed.

       ms3    A decoder for the new serial IntelliMouse devices, the ones with
              three  buttons  and a protocol incompatible with older ones. The
              wheel is currently unused.

       imps2  ‘‘IntelliMouse’’ on the ps/2 port. This type can  also  be  used
              for a generic 2-button ps/2 mouse too, since it will auto-detect
              the type.

       netmouse
              Decodes the ‘‘Genius NetMouse’’ type  of  devices  on  the  ps/2
              port.  For serial ‘‘Netmouse’’ devices, use the ‘‘ms3’’ decoder.

       cal    A decoder of the ‘‘Calcomp UltraSlate device.

       calr   Same as above, but in relative mode.

       twid   Support for the twiddler keyboard. As of gpm-1.14  this  decoder
              includes  a char generator for the text console, but doesn’t yet
              support X keycodes. If used with ‘-R’, ‘gpm’ will anyway  repeat
              mouse  events  to  the X server. More information about twiddler
              support  can  be  found  in  ‘README.twiddler’,   in   the   gpm
              distribution.

       syn synaptics
              A  decoder  for  the  Synaptics TouchPad connected to the serial
              port.  This  mouse  decoder  accepts  standard  serial  options,
              although they should not be needed.

       synps2 synaptics_ps2
              Same as above, but for the devices attached to the ps2 port.

       brw    A  decoder for the Fellowes Browser, a device with 4 buttons and
              a wheel.  This mouse decoder accepts  standard  serial  options,
              although they should not be needed.

       js Joystick
              This  mouse  type  uses  the  joystick  device to generate mouse
              events. It is only available if the header ‘linux/joystick.h’ is
              found  at  compile time. The header (and the device as well) has
              been introduced only during 2.1 development, and is not  present
              in version 2.0 of the kernel.

       summa  This  is a decode for the Symmagraphics of Genius tablet, run in
              absolute mode. A repeater is associated to this decoder,  so  it
              can  -R  summa  can  be used to generate X events even for other
              absolute-pointing  devices,  like  touchscreens.  To   use   the
              repeated data from X, you need a modified xf86Summa.o module.

       mtouch A  decoder  for the MicroTouch touch screen. Please refer to the
              file ‘README.microtouch’ in the source tree of gpm  for  further
              information. In the near future, anyways, I plan to fold back to
              this documentation the content of that file.

       gunze  A decoder for the gunze touch screen. Please refer to  the  file
              ‘README.gunze’   in   the   source   tree  of  gpm  for  further
              information. In the near future, anyways, I plan to fold back to
              this documentation the content of that file. The decoder accepts
              the following options: smooth=, debounce=. An higher  smoothness
              results  in  slower  motion  as well; a smaller smoothness gives
              faster  motion  but,  obviously,  less  smooth.    The   default
              smoothness  is  9.  The debounce time is express in milliseconds
              and is the minimum duration of an up-down event to be taken as a
              tap. Smaller bounces are ignored.

       acecad The Acecad tablet in absolute mode.

       wp wizardpad
              Genius WizardPad tablet

FILES

       src/mice.c           The source file for pointer decoders

SEE ALSO

        gpm(8)      The General Purpose Mouse server

       The  info  file  about ‘gpm’, which gives more complete information and
       explains how to write a gpm client.