Ubuntu cant find my serial mouse

[awergh]

On my AMDK6-2 350Mhz 128MB RAM which has no usb or ps2 ports.

Ubuntu 5.04 doesnt detect my serial Microsoft IntelliMouse

With the LiveCD it just starts up but the mouse doesnt move,

it seems like it doesnt seem to be detected

Tried Ubuntu 7.04 live CD but it doesnt work either

and it would be too slow for an AMDK6-2 i think

[bj-kaiser]

well, at least the bug is known. why it isn't fixed by now, who knows.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/9068

this should help you:

...

1. [only for releases prior to 6.06/Dapper] Install the 'joystick' package (don't ask)

2. Run 'inputattach --help' and find the appropriate protocol option to match your mouse

3. Run 'inputattach <protocol option> /dev/ttyS0'. This command must be run at system startup in order for this configuration to be permanent; in Dapper, it may be added to /etc/rc.local

...

[slipk487]

considering your system specs i would say u should try xubuntu almost the same but uses xfce windows manager instead of gnome and its much liter on resources and see if it will allow u to use your seiral mouse

[awergh]

got my mouse working on ubuntu 5.04, i ran xorgconfig and set the mouse to /dev/ttyS0 instead of just skipping the option.

[Camarade_Tux]

Ubuntu7 should find it unless its kernel doesn't support serial mice (I configured and recompiled my kernel so many times I know nearly all* options).

Do you have its .config?

*OK, maybe not the 2000 options but at least a big part of them.

[awergh]

well i didnt try ubuntu 7 much i only ran the live cd, it would be too slow, ubuntu 5.04 is a bit slow as it is

[bj-kaiser]

for such a system as you have, you should go with a GUI that hasn't to high system requirements, like XFCE. Besides, for 5.04 you won't get any security updates. (I'd encourage you to at least get the 6.06/LTS release)

have a look at http://www.xubuntu.org

[awergh]

i wasnt ever going to download any security updates if they were available.

i spend most my time with 98se and nt4 so i dont really worry about security updates.

would xubuntu be that much faster than ubuntu 5.04? ubuntu 6+ uses the liveCD installer which is annoying on a slow machine

[bj-kaiser]

Can't say I have ever used Ubuntu/Xubuntu on a machine similar to yours, so I can't help you compare. I can only go by system requirements, where Xubuntu only needs 128 MB RAM as opposed to Kubuntu/Ubuntu which needs 256 MB RAM as minimum requirement.

you have 2 options for upgrading, either upgrade your existing installation, and upgrade the way 5.04 -> 5.10 -> 6.06 (as recommended by ubuntu), or download Xubuntu alternate cd (textmode installer) and do a new installation.

Downside is, as far as I can tell the problem with serial mice still persists. So you will still have to configure your mouse by hand. The upgrade/new installation will 'only' give you a newer system (including applications) and a less hardware hungry GUI. Your's to decide if you want to do it.

useful links:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DapperUpgrades

http://www.xubuntu.org/get

[awergh]

well ubuntu 5.04 says it only requires 32mb ram when installed but i dont know if that includes gnome

i should have a look at Xubuntu i just havent really thought about it ive always used ubuntu