Running X without a mouse
Nachman Yaakov Ziskind
for power- fail shutdown. Apparently, they have no text mode client
anymore; everything is through xpowerchute. So, I actually got X
Windows to run(!) but I have no mouse - adding a mouse requires a
reboot. :-( And setting up VNC on SCO seems to be a challenge.
So, I'd like to use the keyboard in the X Windows session. I'm
theorizing that this is possible, as the menu options appear to have
hot keys. But, I haven't hit upon any hot keys yet (except to shutdown
X and to switch to another multiscreen.)
Anyone have a clue?
--
_________________________________________
Nachman Yaakov Ziskind, EA, LLM aw...@ziskind.us
Attorney and Counselor-at-Law http://ziskind.us
Economic Group Pension Services http://egps.com
Actuaries and Employee Benefit Consultants
Bela Lubkin
> .. so, I finally tried setting up Powerchute, to connect to the ups
> for power- fail shutdown. Apparently, they have no text mode client
> anymore; everything is through xpowerchute. So, I actually got X
> Windows to run(!) but I have no mouse - adding a mouse requires a
> reboot. :-( And setting up VNC on SCO seems to be a challenge.
>
> So, I'd like to use the keyboard in the X Windows session. I'm
> theorizing that this is possible, as the menu options appear to have
> hot keys. But, I haven't hit upon any hot keys yet (except to shutdown
> X and to switch to another multiscreen.)
>
> Anyone have a clue?
Yes: X won't start at all unless it thinks a mouse is configured. Your
question implies that X is starting, therefore it thinks it has a mouse.
OSR5 supports 4 hardware-level drivers for talking to mice:
keyboard(PS/2), bus, serial and USB. Which of those does X think it's
talking to? Run `mkdev mouse`, choose "1. Display current
configuration", what's it say?
I can guess: probably serial, possibly USB. If it was bus or PS/2, X
wouldn't start because it would detect immediately that the mouse wasn't
present.
If it's serial: connect a serial mouse; use it.
If it's USB: connect a USB mouse; use it.
A relink & reboot would probably be necessary _if_ you needed to
configure for one of those, but we know that the system is already
configured for one of those, so you do not need to relink/reboot, just
attach the hardware.
>Bela<
Nachman Yaakov Ziskind
> Nachman Yaakov Ziskind wrote:
>
> > .. so, I finally tried setting up Powerchute, to connect to the ups
> > for power- fail shutdown. Apparently, they have no text mode client
> > anymore; everything is through xpowerchute. So, I actually got X
> > Windows to run(!) but I have no mouse - adding a mouse requires a
> > reboot. :-( And setting up VNC on SCO seems to be a challenge.
> >
> > So, I'd like to use the keyboard in the X Windows session. I'm
> > theorizing that this is possible, as the menu options appear to have
> > hot keys. But, I haven't hit upon any hot keys yet (except to shutdown
> > X and to switch to another multiscreen.)
> >
> > Anyone have a clue?
>
> Yes: X won't start at all unless it thinks a mouse is configured. Your
> question implies that X is starting, therefore it thinks it has a mouse.
> OSR5 supports 4 hardware-level drivers for talking to mice:
> keyboard(PS/2), bus, serial and USB. Which of those does X think it's
> talking to? Run `mkdev mouse`, choose "1. Display current
> configuration", what's it say?
Sorry, Bela:
"Reading device entries....
"There are no devices or terminals currently configured".
> I can guess: probably serial, possibly USB. If it was bus or PS/2, X
> wouldn't start because it would detect immediately that the mouse wasn't
> present.
>
> If it's serial: connect a serial mouse; use it.
>
> If it's USB: connect a USB mouse; use it.
>
> A relink & reboot would probably be necessary _if_ you needed to
> configure for one of those, but we know that the system is already
> configured for one of those, so you do not need to relink/reboot, just
> attach the hardware.
>
> >Bela<
Anyway, it's a late model Proliant, and the mouse is of the PS/2 variety.
NYZ
Nachman Yaakov Ziskind
Folowing up: adding a mouse (either hi-res or low-res) prevented X from
starting:
Open Event Driver Failed.
Fatal Server Error:
Check Mouse Configuration
giving up.
...
Removing the mouse let X start again.
But back to my original question: how do I use the X session without a mouse?
I mean, the menus indicate hot keys (_File _Edit _Options _Tools); there
*must* be a way.
Right?
Bela Lubkin
> Folowing up: adding a mouse (either hi-res or low-res) prevented X from
> starting:
>
> Open Event Driver Failed.
>
> Fatal Server Error:
> Check Mouse Configuration
>
> giving up.
> ...
>
> Removing the mouse let X start again.
Hmmm, my mistake. I guess I've never tried to run X with _no_ mouse
configured, only with one configured-but-absent.
> But back to my original question: how do I use the X session without a mouse?
> I mean, the menus indicate hot keys (_File _Edit _Options _Tools); there
> *must* be a way.
>
> Right?
You'd think. I've never been able to figure it out. There ought to be
a true "keyboard mouse" event driver, allowing you to generate "mouse
events" with keyboard sequences, but there isn't. And you ought to be
able to invoke the menu hotkeys somehow, but I've never gotten that to
work.
At a guess, it's looking for a modifier key that isn't bound to any of
the usual keyboard keys. X has this complex input path where normal
modifiers (like "Shift") are translated back and forth to things like
"Modifier3". If the secret sauce is "Modifier5 + F" to bring up the
"File" menu, and nothing on the keyboard is bound to Modifier5, that's
that... You might look into xmodmap(X) and its "see also"s, see if you
can chase anything down.
You could get the mouse working by rebooting; but you said you didn't
want to do that. What about coming in over X from another system (with
a working mouse)? Should be as simple as:
displaybox$ xhost +upsbox
upsbox$ DISPLAY=displaybox:0 xpowerchute &
>Bela<