Introduction

One of the main reason why people choose Slackware is because it's stable, robust, and most of all, Simple. It contains general packages which can be used for server or home desktop purposes. For server installation, most of them doesn't use mouse, so in default configuration, you won't have your mouse scroll working. Most home users (like i did in the past) was quite confused why does the scroll doesn't work anymore, since i have tried several distro and they can work flawlessly. After searching for answers and asking from some mailing list, finally i got the answer and now my scroll mouse is working again. Somebody in my Tag-Board has asked me to write down an article about how to do this, so here you goes...

Configuration

All of mouse configuration is located on /etc/X11/xorg.conf (if you are using the latest Slackware version, then you will use Xorg rather than XFree86). It is a simple file, since it is divided in sections. For mouse configuration, it is located on InputDevices section. There are 2 devices which is located here, keyboard and mouse (perhaps more if you have more input devices, like touch screen). Switch to root user and open this file and then scroll down until you find :

# **********************************************************************
# Core Pointer's InputDevice section
# **********************************************************************

It is here that you will find configuration for your mouse. Next, find a line which declares what protocol did you use. My configuration is like this:

Next, find a line which declares what devices are being used. Here is mine:

If you have 2 button mouse, then you should uncomment this lines:

And for the last recipe, give this line to activate your mouse scroll:

Save and restart your XServer (you can restart your computer, but you can do it also by logging out and login again). It will read your new configuration and apply the new configuration. On your next visit to your desktop, you will have your scroll working. Test it by opening a long websites or long documents. Try to scroll down and up. If it doesn't work, you can try to change the protocols or the device options. For many systems, the above code is correct. I have used the same code for my PC and my laptop, so i think it will work on many systems as well.

Conclusion

Slackware is always compatible with all of mouse just as most GNU/Linux distro. With a little tweak, your mouse will work on Slackware and you can start scrolling. I don't know why it didn't detect them automatically, but everything can be changed, since GNU/Linux is about freedom. You can change all the configuration as long as you know how to do it. Viva Slackware.

Last Update : 15 July 2006 :: 08:45:26