moused(8)

NAME

moused - pass mouse data to the console driver

SYNOPSIS

moused [-DPRacdfs] [-I file] [-F rate] [-r  resolution]  [-S
baudrate]
       [-VH  [-U  distance]]  [-a  X[,Y]] [-C threshold] [-m
N=M] [-w N]
       [-z  target]  [-t  mousetype]  [-l  level]  [-3   [-E
timeout]]
       [-T distance[,time[,after]]] -p port
moused [-Pd] -p port -i info

DESCRIPTION

The moused utility and the console driver work together to

support mouse
operation in the text console and user programs. They vir

tualize the
mouse and provide user programs with mouse data in the stan

dard format
(see sysmouse(4)).

The mouse daemon listens to the specified port for mouse da

ta, interprets
and then passes it via ioctls to the console driver. The

mouse daemon
reports translation movement, button press/release events

and movement of
the roller or the wheel if available. The roller/wheel

movement is
reported as ``Z'' axis movement.

The console driver will display the mouse pointer on the

screen and provide cut and paste functions if the mouse pointer is enabled

in the virtual console via vidcontrol(1). If sysmouse(4) is opened by

the user
program, the console driver also passes the mouse data to

the device so
that the user program will see it.

If the mouse daemon receives the signal SIGHUP, it will re

open the mouse
port and reinitialize itself. Useful if the mouse is at

tached/detached
while the system is suspended.

If the mouse daemon receives the signal SIGUSR1, it will

stop passing
mouse events. Sending the signal SIGUSR1 again will resume

passing mouse
events. Useful if your typing on a laptop is interrupted by

accidentally
touching the mouse pad.

The following options are available:

-3 Emulate the third (middle) button for 2-button mice.

It is emu

lated by pressing the left and right physical but

tons simultaneously.

-C threshold

Set double click speed as the maximum interval in

msec between
button clicks. Without this option, the default

value of 500
msec will be assumed. This option will have effect

only on the
cut and paste operations in the text mode console.

The user program which is reading mouse data via sysmouse(4)

will not be
affected.

-D Lower DTR on the serial port. This option is valid

only if

mousesystems is selected as the protocol type. The

DTR line may
need to be dropped for a 3-button mouse to operate

in the
mousesystems mode.

-E timeout

When the third button emulation is enabled (see

above), the
moused utility waits timeout msec at most before de

ciding whether
two buttons are being pressed simultaneously. The

default timeout is 100 msec.

-F rate

Set the report rate (reports/sec) of the device if

supported.

-H Enable ``Horizontal Virtual Scrolling''. With this

option set,

holding the middle mouse button down will cause mo

tion to be
interpreted as horizontal scrolling. Use the -U op

tion to set
the distance the mouse must move before the

scrolling mode is
activated. This option may be used with or without

the -V
option.

-I file

Write the process id of the moused utility in the

specified file.
Without this option, the process id will be stored

in
/var/run/moused.pid.

-P Do not start the Plug and Play COM device enumera

tion procedure

when identifying the serial mouse. If this option

is given
together with the -i option, the moused utility will

not be able
to print useful information for the serial mouse.

-R Lower RTS on the serial port. This option is valid

only if

mousesystems is selected as the protocol type by the

-t option
below. It is often used with the -D option above.

Both RTS and
DTR lines may need to be dropped for a 3-button

mouse to operate
in the mousesystems mode.

-S baudrate

Select the baudrate for the serial port (1200 to

9600). Not all
serial mice support this option.

-T distance[,time[,after]]

Terminate drift. Use this option if mouse pointer

slowly wanders
when mouse is not moved. Movements up to distance

(for example
4) pixels (X+Y) in time msec (default 500) are ig

nored, except
during after msec (default 4000) since last real

mouse movement.

-V Enable ``Virtual Scrolling''. With this option set,

holding the

middle mouse button down will cause motion to be in

terpreted as
scrolling. Use the -U option to set the distance

the mouse must
move before the scrolling mode is activated.

-U distance

When ``Virtual Scrolling'' is enabled, the -U option

can be used
to set the distance (in pixels) that the mouse must

move before
the scrolling mode is activated. The default

distance is 3 pixels.

-a X[,Y]

Accelerate or decelerate the mouse input. This is a

linear
acceleration only. Values less than 1.0 slow down

movement, values greater than 1.0 speed it up. Specifying only

one value sets
the acceleration for both axes.

-c Some mice report middle button down events as if the

left and

right buttons are being pressed. This option han

dles this.

-d Enable debugging messages.

-f Do not become a daemon and instead run as a fore

ground process.

Useful for testing and debugging.

-i info

Print specified information and quit. Available

pieces of information are:

port Port (device file) name, i.e. /dev/cuad0,

/dev/mse0 and

/dev/psm0.

if Interface type: serial, bus, inport or

ps/2.
type Protocol type. It is one of the types

listed under the

-t option below or sysmouse if the driver

supports the
sysmouse data format standard.

model Mouse model. The moused utility may not

always be able

to identify the model.

all All of the above items. Print port, in

terface, type

and model in this order in one line.

If the moused utility cannot determine the requested

information,
it prints ``unknown'' or ``generic''.

-l level

Specifies at which level moused should operate the

mouse driver.
Refer to Operation Levels in psm(4) for more infor

mation on this.

-m N=M Assign the physical button M to the logical button

N. You may

specify as many instances of this option as you

like. More than
one physical button may be assigned to a logical

button at the
same time. In this case the logical button will be

down, if
either of the assigned physical buttons is held

down. Do not put
space around `='.

-p port

Use port to communicate with the mouse.

-r resolution

Set the resolution of the device; in Dots Per Inch,

or low,
medium-low, medium-high or high. This option may

not be supported by all the device.

-s Select a baudrate of 9600 for the serial line. Not

all serial

mice support this option.

-t type

Specify the protocol type of the mouse attached to

the port. You
may explicitly specify a type listed below, or use

auto to let
the moused utility automatically select an appropri

ate protocol
for the given mouse. If you entirely omit this op

tion in the
command line, -t auto is assumed. Under normal cir

cumstances,
you need to use this option only if the moused util

ity is not
able to detect the protocol automatically (see

Configuring Mouse
Daemon).

Note that if a protocol type is specified with this

option, the
-P option above is implied and Plug and Play COM de

vice enumeration procedure will be disabled.

Also note that if your mouse is attached to the PS/2

mouse port,
you should always choose auto or ps/2, regardless of

the brand
and model of the mouse. Likewise, if your mouse is

attached to
the bus mouse port, choose auto or busmouse. Serial

mouse protocols will not work with these mice.

For the USB mouse, the protocol must be auto. No

other protocol
will work with the USB mouse.

Valid types for this option are listed below.

For the serial mouse:
microsoft Microsoft serial mouse protocol.

Most 2-button

serial mice use this protocol.

intellimouse Microsoft IntelliMouse protocol.

Genius Net

Mouse, ASCII Mie Mouse, Logitech

MouseMan+ and
FirstMouse+ use this protocol too.

Other mice
with a roller/wheel may be compati

ble with this
protocol.

mousesystems MouseSystems 5-byte protocol.

3-button mice may

use this protocol.

mmseries MM Series mouse protocol.
logitech Logitech mouse protocol. Note that

this is for

old Logitech models. mouseman or

intellimouse
should be specified for newer mod

els.

mouseman Logitech MouseMan and TrackMan pro

tocol. Some

3-button mice may be compatible

with this protocol. Note that MouseMan+ and

FirstMouse+ use
intellimouse protocol rather than

this one.

glidepoint ALPS GlidePoint protocol.
thinkingmouse Kensington ThinkingMouse protocol. mmhitab Hitachi tablet protocol.
x10mouseremote X10 MouseRemote.
kidspad Genius Kidspad and Easypad proto

col.
versapad Interlink VersaPad protocol.

gtco_digipad

GTCO Digipad protocol.

For the bus and InPort mouse:
busmouse This is the only protocol type

available for the

bus and InPort mouse and should be

specified for
any bus mice and InPort mice, re

gardless of the
brand.

For the PS/2 mouse:
ps/2 This is the only protocol type

available for the

PS/2 mouse and should be specified

for any PS/2
mice, regardless of the brand.

For the USB mouse, auto is the only protocol type

available for
the USB mouse and should be specified for any USB

mice, regardless of the brand.

-w N Make the physical button N act as the wheel mode

button. While

this button is pressed, X and Y axis movement is re

ported to be
zero and the Y axis movement is mapped to Z axis.

You may further map the Z axis movement to virtual buttons by

the -z option
below.

-z target

Map Z axis (roller/wheel) movement to another axis

or to virtual
buttons. Valid target maybe:
x
y X or Y axis movement will be reported when the

Z axis move

ment is detected.

N Report down events for the virtual buttons N

and N+1 respec

tively when negative and positive Z axis move

ment is
detected. There do not need to be physical

buttons N and
N+1. Note that mapping to logical buttons is

carried out
after mapping from the Z axis movement to the

virtual buttons is done.

N1 N2

Report down events for the virtual buttons N1

and N2 respectively when negative and positive Z axis move

ment is
detected.

N1 N2 N3 N4

This is useful for the mouse with two wheels of

which the
second wheel is used to generate horizontal

scroll action,
and for the mouse which has a knob or a stick

which can
detect the horizontal force applied by the us

er.

The motion of the second wheel will be mapped

to the buttons
N3, for the negative direction, and N4, for the

positive
direction. If the buttons N3 and N4 actually

exist in this
mouse, their actions will not be detected.

Note that horizontal movement or second

roller/wheel movement may not always be detected, because there

appears to be
no accepted standard as to how it is encoded.

Note also that some mice think left is the neg

ative horizontal direction; others may think otherwise.

Moreover, there
are some mice whose two wheels are both mounted

vertically,
and the direction of the second vertical wheel

does not
match the first one.

Configuring Mouse Daemon

The first thing you need to know is the interface type of

the mouse you
are going to use. It can be determined by looking at the

connector of
the mouse. The serial mouse has a D-Sub female 9- or 25-pin

connector.
The bus and InPort mice have either a D-Sub male 9-pin con

nector or a
round DIN 9-pin connector. The PS/2 mouse is equipped with

a small,
round DIN 6-pin connector. Some mice come with adapters

with which the
connector can be converted to another. If you are to use

such an
adapter, remember the connector at the very end of the

mouse/adapter pair
is what matters. The USB mouse has a flat rectangular con

nector.

The next thing to decide is a port to use for the given in

terface. For
the bus, InPort and PS/2 mice, there is little choice: the

bus and InPort
mice always use /dev/mse0, and the PS/2 mouse is always at

/dev/psm0.
There may be more than one serial port to which the serial

mouse can be
attached. Many people often assign the first, built-in se

rial port
/dev/cuad0 to the mouse. You can attach multiple USB mice

to your system
or to your USB hub. They are accessible as /dev/ums0,

/dev/ums1, and so
on.

You may want to create a symbolic link /dev/mouse pointing

to the real
port to which the mouse is connected, so that you can easily

distinguish
which is your ``mouse'' port later.

The next step is to guess the appropriate protocol type for

the mouse.
The moused utility may be able to automatically determine

the protocol
type. Run the moused utility with the -i option and see

what it says.
If the command can identify the protocol type, no further

investigation
is necessary on your part. You may start the daemon without

explicitly
specifying a protocol type (see EXAMPLES).

The command may print sysmouse if the mouse driver supports

this protocol
type.

Note that the type and model printed by the -i option do not

necessarily
match the product name of the pointing device in question,

but they may
give the name of the device with which it is compatible.

If the -i option yields nothing, you need to specify a pro

tocol type to
the moused utility by the -t option. You have to make a

guess and try.
There is rule of thumb:

1. The bus and InPort mice always use busmouse protocol

regardless of
the brand of the mouse.

2. The ps/2 protocol should always be specified for the

PS/2 mouse
regardless of the brand of the mouse.

3. You must specify the auto protocol for the USB mouse.
4. Most 2-button serial mice support the microsoft proto

col.
5. 3-button serial mice may work with the mousesystems

protocol. If itdoes not, it may work with the microsoft protocol al

though the third
(middle) button will not function. 3-button serial

mice may also
work with the mouseman protocol under which the third

button may
function as expected.

6. 3-button serial mice may have a small switch to choose

between
``MS'' and ``PC'', or ``2'' and ``3''. ``MS'' or ``2''

usually mean
the microsoft protocol. ``PC'' or ``3'' will choose

the
mousesystems protocol.

7. If the mouse has a roller or a wheel, it may be compat

ible with the
intellimouse protocol.

To test if the selected protocol type is correct for the

given mouse,
enable the mouse pointer in the current virtual console,

vidcontrol -m on

start the mouse daemon in the foreground mode,

moused -f -p _selected_port_ -t _selected_protocol_

and see if the mouse pointer travels correctly according to

the mouse
movement. Then try cut & paste features by clicking the

left, right and
middle buttons. Type ^C to stop the command.

Multiple Mice
As many instances of the mouse daemon as the number of mice

attached to
the system may be run simultaneously; one instance for each

mouse. This
is useful if the user wants to use the built-in PS/2 point

ing device of a
laptop computer while on the road, but wants to use a serial

mouse when
s/he attaches the system to the docking station in the of

fice. Run two
mouse daemons and tell the application program (such as the

X Window
System) to use sysmouse(4), then the application program

will always see
mouse data from either mouse. When the serial mouse is not

attached, the
corresponding mouse daemon will not detect any movement or

button state
change and the application program will only see mouse data

coming from
the daemon for the PS/2 mouse. In contrast when both mice

are attached
and both of them are moved at the same time in this configu

ration, the
mouse pointer will travel across the screen just as if move

ment of the
mice is combined all together.

FILES

/dev/consolectl device to control the console
/dev/mse%d bus and InPort mouse driver
/dev/psm%d PS/2 mouse driver
/dev/sysmouse virtualized mouse driver
/dev/ttyv%d virtual consoles
/dev/ums%d USB mouse driver
/var/run/moused.pid

process id of the currently running moused

utility

/var/run/MouseRemoteUNIX-domain stream socket for X10 MouseRe

mote events

EXAMPLES

moused -p /dev/cuad0 -i type

Let the moused utility determine the protocol type of the

mouse at the
serial port /dev/cuad0. If successful, the command will

print the type,
otherwise it will say ``unknown''.

moused -p /dev/cuad0
vidcontrol -m on

If the moused utility is able to identify the protocol type

of the mouse
at the specified port automatically, you can start the dae

mon without the
-t option and enable the mouse pointer in the text console

as above.

moused -p /dev/mouse -t microsoft
vidcontrol -m on

Start the mouse daemon on the serial port /dev/mouse. The

protocol type
microsoft is explicitly specified by the -t option.

moused -p /dev/mouse -m 1=3 -m 3=1

Assign the physical button 3 (right button) to the logical

button 1 (logical left) and the physical button 1 (left) to the logical

button 3 (logical right). This will effectively swap the left and right

buttons.

moused -p /dev/mouse -t intellimouse -z 4

Report negative Z axis movement (i.e., mouse wheel) as the

button 4
pressed and positive Z axis movement (i.e., mouse wheel) as

the button 5
pressed.

If you add

ALL ALL = NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/killall -USR1 moused

to your /usr/local/etc/sudoers file, and bind

killall -USR1 moused

to a key in your window manager, you can suspend mouse

events on your
laptop if you keep brushing over the mouse pad while typing.

CAVEATS

The moused utility does not currently work with the alterna

tive console
driver pcvt(4).

Many pad devices behave as if the first (left) button were

pressed if the
user ``taps'' the surface of the pad. In contrast, some

ALPS GlidePoint
and Interlink VersaPad models treat the tapping action as

fourth button
events. Use the option ``-m 1=4'' for these models to ob

tain the same
effect as the other pad devices.

Cut and paste functions in the virtual console assume that

there are
three buttons on the mouse. The logical button 1 (logical

left) selects
a region of text in the console and copies it to the cut

buffer. The
logical button 3 (logical right) extends the selected re

gion. The logical button 2 (logical middle) pastes the selected text at

the text cursor
position. If the mouse has only two buttons, the middle,

`paste' button
is not available. To obtain the paste function, use the -3

option to
emulate the middle button, or use the -m option to assign

the physical
right button to the logical middle button: ``-m 2=3''.

SEE ALSO

kill(1), vidcontrol(1), keyboard(4), mse(4), pcvt(4),

psm(4), screen(4),
sysmouse(4), ums(4)

STANDARDS

The moused utility partially supports ``Plug and Play Exter

nal COM Device
Specification'' in order to support PnP serial mice. Howev

er, due to
various degrees of conformance to the specification by ex

isting serial
mice, it does not strictly follow the version 1.0 of the

standard. Even
with this less strict approach, it may not always determine

an appropriate protocol type for the given serial mouse.

HISTORY

The moused utility first appeared in FreeBSD 2.2.

AUTHORS

The moused utility was written by Michael Smith

<msmith@FreeBSD.org>.
This manual page was written by Mike Pritchard <mpp@FreeB

SD.org>. The
command and manual page have since been updated by Kazutaka

Yokota
<yokota@FreeBSD.org>.

BSD November 12, 2004

BSD