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From: Richard L. Hamilton on 3 May 2010 05:09
In article <hof07u$bke$3(a)reader1.panix.com>,
dkcombs(a)panix.com (David Combs) writes:
> In article <729on.260548$OX4.71232(a)newsfe25.iad>,
> Colin B. <cbigam(a)somewhereelse.shaw.ca> wrote:
>>Richard L. Hamilton <rlhamil(a)smart.net> wrote:
>>> In article <hlkm5j$n1b$1(a)reader2.panix.com>,
>>> dkcombs(a)panix.com (David Combs) writes:
>>>> In article <N0Pdn.8391$YR1.1268(a)newsfe17.iad>,
>>>> Richard L. Hamilton <rlhamil(a)smart.net> wrote:
>>>>>In article <hkvk80$qd3$2(a)reader2.panix.com>,
>>>>> dkcombs(a)panix.com (David Combs) writes:
>>>>>[...]
>>>>>> Right now I'm using Windows XP with a Microsoft mouse that,
>>>>>> on top, has a LEFT, a wheel, and a RIGHT, and one more on
>>>>>> each side (on each vertical wall of the mouse).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Those final two work for going fwd and backward in eg firefox.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I[f] stupid MS can have these things working ok, why the H. can't
>>>>>> sun! Maybe we should complain to that guy who runs Oracle?
>>>>>[...]
>>>>>
>>>> ...
>>>> ...
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>I would not however expect Sun (Oracle), or even RedHat to pay
>>>>>for most of that though; and for sure, the makers of the fancy
>>>>>input device wouldn't bother, since they make 99% of their money
>>>>>from Windows users. I'd expect that most of the initial work
>>>>>would be done by individuals, just because they want it to happen
>>>>>and think they know enough to get it done sooner themselves.
>>>>>
>>>>>You could be one of those individuals. Or you could offer a
>>>>>bounty to someone to do the work. Maybe you're hoping that if
>>>>>you're annoying enough, someone will do it just to get you to
>>>>>_shut_up_. Tempting, but I'm sorry to say it takes less time
>>>>>(and is about as much fun) to tell you where to get off than it
>>>>>would take to implement a solution to your problem, which is so
>>>>>not _my_ problem because I don't work for Sun/Oracle, and I don't
>>>>>own a five button mouse...
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for the clear explanation!
>>>>
>>>> You might not have a 5-button mouse, but once you tried one, you'd
>>>> sure like it. Makes browsing so much easier -- go back just by
>>>> clicking the "button" (long) along the left wall, and back
>>>> forward again by the one on the right wall.
>>>>
>>>> Sure beats having to move the mouse up to those arrows at the
>>>> upper left corner of the screen.
>>>>
>>>> And the wheel is *really* nice.
>>>>
>>>> Now, I bet (well, hope) sun DOES support that, the wheel?
>>>
>>> Solaris has supported vertical scroll for a long time, the same way
>>> Linux does (steps of the wheel up/down correspond to clicks of
>>> a fictional 4th/5th button, although I may have that backwards).
>>>
>>> Not sure whether or not they implemented support for _horizontal_
>>> scrolling, which pretends to use buttons 6 and 7 similarly.
>>
>>The vertical scrolling does indeed work as advertised. Horizontal
>>scrolling in Solaris doesn't. I have a Logitech MX620 here (best mouse
>>ever - but still not perfect), and find the following works:
>>
>>- mouse movement
>>- left, right, and centre buttons
>>- vertical scroll
>>
>>What doesn't work is:
>>- horizontal scroll
>>- forward/back buttons on the side under the thumb
>>- the 'magnifier' button
>>
>>I'm sharing my keyboard and mouse with other machines (running Windows)
>>via synergy (http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/) and none of the non-working
>>signals are passed to the other machines either.
>>
>>Presumably the buttons/features on more complicated mice would fail
>>as well.
>>
>>Colin
>
>
> What would it take to hack -- what, the driver for solaris? --
> so that the fwd and backward (for firefox) WOULD work.
>
> That feature is SO valuable (as I use it here on a cheap Dell).
>
> (Keep saying I'll take the mouse upstairs to the blade-2500, but
> haven't gotten around to it yet.)
>
> David
>
>

The GUI on Solaris is X11, just like on Linux. In Solaris 10
and earlier, it's their own variant of the X server, diverged
enough that a lot of the code is different. In OpenSolaris,
the new X server (Xorg instead of Xsun) is almost identical
to the open code (some added or left out as needed), and
is open (except where proprietary graphics card drivers are
involved - that happens sometimes too even on Linux).

If one could demonstrate that a many-button and multi-scroll
mouse worked under X11 on Linux, one could perhaps look at
the differences to see what would be needed to make it work
on Xorg on OpenSolaris. Xsun is dead - bug fixes only, AFAIK.
Adding functionality, even functionality that others already
have, is not a bug, per se.

But even if it was "easy", that's more than a few hours of
work for someone with major clue (of which there are few),
plus all the process needed to ensure it's correct and
otherwise suitable and acceptable. _If_ someone with
suitable clue had the time, it might get done (for OpenSolaris,
not for Solaris 10 and earlier) in a matter of months.

Most people with sufficient clue have their time filled up,
AFAIK.

I don't have sufficient clue in Xorg code or USB drivers
to be any use, nor the time or attention span to aquire,
let alone apply, said clue...
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