Yo,
I just wrote a really long email to the list. So long
that my web mail secretly logged me out during the time
that I was writing it. The upshot of this is that 1) I am
angry and 2) you are all spared the rambling version and
hopefully get the more succinct version summarized here:
I have RedHat Linux Enterprise 3 or somesuch. I got a
wireless multi-button mouse and RedHat's auto configure
thing (kudzu) managed to get it working after a fashion.
Middle click (i.e. clicking the scroll wheel), however,
was very sluggish and I couldn't get it reliably work more
than a dismal 1 in 10 tries. Is this a problem for you?
Then read on...(although maybe it's only me as I haven't
heard a peep about it)...
I figured why not map one of the currently non-functioning
side buttons so that it behaves like the middle button.
Changed XF86Config file to treat the mouse as a 7-button
mouse (see below). The ZAxisMapping stuff is for the
scroll wheel.
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
### To enable scrolling on a ps/2 or usb scroll
Option "ZAxisMapping" "6 7"
This resulted in all buttons being active, if not doing
quite what I wanted yet (can run "xev" to check for mouse
events). That is, middle click was still on the scroll
wheel, and the scroll wheel itself was showing unusual
behavior in various applications.
Then found out about xmodmap which allows you to remap
things. The on-the-fly version goes something like:
xmodmap -e "pointer 1 6 3 7 2 4 5"
Since that worked for me I put the
pointer 1 6 3 7 2 4 5
line in my ~/.Xmodmap file.
Naturally the normal ordering of the pointer is 1 2 3 4 5
6 7, corresponding I think to left, middle, right, side1,
side2 buttons and scroll wheel up or down. So by swapping
position 2 to send function 6, I deactivate the middle
scroll wheel button to do something else (whatever 6 is),
and then position 5 (one of the side buttons) now sends
function 2 (a middle click). There was some other issue
with the scroll wheel which necessitated shuffling around
the 4 and 5 part, as well, but much to my amazement I now
have a side button that is nice and responsive as a middle
click, the scroll wheel still works both in pymol and
other apps like web browsers, and serendipitously, the
other side button is a double middle click so I can center
with a single click...although this glory will be brief as
it sounds like Warren is about to introduce that in the
new changes (looking forward to it!)
I thought this might have some bearing on Charlie's
question about mapping zoom functionality to scroll wheel
instead of clipping planes, but this method will probably
affect the mouse behaviour in all applications so maybe
that's not a viable solution for him. There is also
imwheel which apparently allows you to map mouse clicks to
other events/keystrokes in an application-dependent manner
but I haven't tried it.
Wow, this is pretty long anyway. Trust me, the other was
longer. Heck, maybe it even got sent even though I see no
sign of it in which case you get double dosage...ouch!
By the way, this was with microsoft wireless desktop pro
mouse (similar or same as explorer mouse?). ImPS/2 is
another XF86Config protocol you could try if this isn't
working...
Last things were just mouse interface feedback for Warren,
and to make those short...
1) Warren...I really like the mouse interface, basically
one of the best I've ever used, the upcoming improvements
seem just that...improvements.
2) Animation is slick, Dr. DeLano! Particularly helps in
sharing structures as people currently get disoriented
when I recenter if they aren't "driving". Don't feel
strongly if it's on or off by default, though, since I
tend to set things up how I like them using start up
scripts (e.g. auto_zoom off like Tom was mentioning)
-seth
