Havin_it

I really should have studied your script more carefully! My misapprehension came from the wording of your explanation, more than the code (which I hadn't understood yet). Thanks for bearing with a fool! I'll run it and see how it goes, like I should have in the first place!

**POSSIBLE COP-OUT APPROACHING** Something occurred to me about the last part of the task. What I proposed in the last post is gonna require a few more pipes, a fair bit of looping, and goodness knows what else. Soooo... What if I just have synclient run _all_ the configs generated by the earlier steps? I'd still know if any newly-added configs were malformed because synclient would puke, and the commands run really quick so I know it's not taxing the system too much. Seems like a better option in practical terms, though it'd still be interesting to bear out the original method to see how it could be done. I'd still like to see some kind of output on the operation, to show what was changed. Maybe if I store the original synclient output before starting, then repeat afterwards, and do some type of 'diff' on the two outputs. Just thinking aloud really - what do you think, Yves? Would completing the script in the originally intended manner be a major resource-eater?

I got that stuff too, but no idea what it means. The procedure still worked, more or less. Here's another one, loosely on that subject: is anyone finding that some new icons added to the Quick Launch panel (sorry if it has another name under Linux) disappear again after reboot? It seems intermittent and I can't pin it down, but it keeps happening.

Not done yet by any means, but with the advantage of knowing some particulars of the file and the strings needed, I was able to come up with this, which takes us up to line [5] in your script. grep '^ Option' /etc/X11/xorg.conf | egrep -v Device\|Protocol\|SHMConfig | sed 's/[ ]\+Option[\t]\+"\([A-Za-z]\+\)"[\t]\+"\([0-9\.]\+\)"/=\1=\2/' # one line, I'm just shooting off commands in console so far... The Option lines I need to read were copied out of the driver's README file so their line-start spacing is unique in the file (handy!) - so as long as any additions I make also start with two spaces and use tabs inbetween, it remains effective. After that point - and I'll stress that I'm still not aware enough to be certain - I think you diverged from the spec. The thing is, the offending values that need to be corrected, _are_ already defined in the output, but defined wrong. So the next job, in effect, is to identify options that are in the synclient output, but whose values don't match the ones we've retrieved from the file. I'm sorry if I misunderstand what the final parts of the code is doing, I'm not certain at all, and I'm grateful for your help. We can use grep and sed again to construct a stream with the same format as the one we've produced from the file, so the last parts should be, 1) For each line in the XF86Config stream, search for the matching option in the synclient stream. If [a] it's there and the value is different, output it. 2) Take the output from (1) and execute 'synclient <line>' for each line.

Thanks for the detailed explanation, Yves. I do want to learn how to use these commands myself, not just grab a script off the shelf, so I appreciate you breaking it down for me so I can see what's what. I'm going to see if I can add what I learned overnight to what you have given me, because I just realised it might be wise for me to only read a smaller chunk of the XF86Config (from below the 'SHMConfig' line). I think I can do that now, but I'll post back what I come up with and if it works.

Okay, I bit the bullet and tried reading up a little on sed (not from the manpage, it's hopeless, but from some of the linked docs on the homepage). Still haven't understood much, but this does the trick for outputting a 'clean' list of option-value pairs from synclient: synclient -l | grep = | sed 's/[ ]//g' Guess doing the same for XF86Config is a fair bit harder, which is what the above is for? Will keep playing and see what I learn.

Hi Yves, thanks for the quick reply! Blimey, is that all one line? no wonder I got scared off with sed earlier... The synclient command is really quick in the terminal, so no problem there. And you're correct about the output format, apart from some spaces and tabs and the first line. The second code box in the linked post above is the exact output. so how do I specify /etc/X11/XF86Config as the file to be read from?

'ning, So I had some problems with my touchpad driver, and at present my fix is to manually fix some of the settings using the synclient program (shared-memory config client for the Synaptics touchpad driver for X). For background, look here: https://mandrivausers.org/index.php?showtop...39entry184939 I need to issue a series of commands of the syntax synclient <Option>=<value> Rather than rewriting the values in the script every time I tinker with xorg.conf, I'd like it to actually read the values from xorg.conf and use them for the commands needed at runtime. I'm not even quite sure what tools/commands are best to do this. I know there are some string-filtering functions built into the shell, but are they sufficient? I once tried to use sed on Windows, and didn't even get my head round the manual. Here, I guess, is what the script must do: 1 - run the command: synclient -l (to get the actual runtime values) into a pipe or temp file 2 - Read the option-name and value from each line generated by (1), possibly into an associative array or a pair of numeric arrays 3 - For each option, find the corresponding line in xorg.conf (if the line exists - some will not) and read the value 4 - If the values do not match, issue: synclient <option-name>=<value-from-xorg.conf> It sounds simple to my mind, but I don't know how to go about the string-parsing part in this environment. Can anyone help?

Steve, that looks terrif! Sadly you have caused the silly javascript bug to bite me again. Are you still interested in a scrolling version? I'm intrigued by that notion and intend to play around a little with the idea. I'm quite obsessed with doing Flash-like things with js, and this sounds like a fun challenge. If I come up with anything I'll post back. I should point out though, that my animation scripts tend to melt CPUs. By the way, who is Dave Barry?

Thanks, I spent some time playing around with different fonts but sans still seems best for readability (Arial, Verdana and a couple of others are not bad too, but no better). It's the actual text content inside various windows that really seems to suffer. Prime examples are Kwrite, and the majority of web content in both Konq and Firefox. Is there something 'Global' in the X server setttings that I could try tinkering with? All the window-decor is tolerable now, it's just the things that (maybe) aren't covered by the WM that still suck.

Had to come back to this, for two reasons, one 'good', one not-so-good. 1 - hacking the xorg.conf for this driver is frighteningly addictive! I've spent about the last two days tinkering and tweaking with the synclient utility to get my tapping responses just-so (and I'm not done yet). FWIW, here is the current state of my conf: Section "InputDevice" Identifier "SynapticsMouse1" Driver "synaptics" Option "Device" "/dev/psaux" Option "Protocol" "auto-dev" Option "SHMConfig" "1" Option "LeftEdge" "120" Option "RightEdge" "830" Option "TopEdge" "120" Option "BottomEdge" "650" Option "FingerLow" "14" Option "FingerHigh" "15" Option "MaxTapTime" "150" Option "MaxTapMove" "110" Option "MaxDoubleTapTime" "400" Option "ClickTime" "30" Option "EmulateMidButtonTime" "75" Option "VertScrollDelta" "20" Option "HorizScrollDelta" "20" Option "MinSpeed" "0.3" Option "MaxSpeed" "0.75" Option "AccelFactor" "0.015" Option "EdgeMotionMinSpeed" "2" Option "EdgeMotionMaxSpeed" "4" Option "UpDownScrolling" "1" #Option "CircularScrolling" "1" #Option "CircScrollDelta" "0.1" #Option "CircScrollTrigger" "2" EndSection Not major changes, besides adding "MaxDoubleTapTime" and "ClickTime" because double-clicking wasn't working without them. Oh and the EdgeMotion---Speeds were WAY too high (200 for each, which means hit the edge area, and your drag/scroll hits the roof/floor instantly). Now, this is all very well, BUT! 2 - Unfortunately, the driver is possibly just a bit buggy, as some of the options aren't read correctly. There is a newer version available, but I'm not 100% sure if I want to install from source in this case - hey, at least it's semi-working now. To get an idea of the problem, here's the output of the command synclient -l Parameter settings: LeftEdge = 120 RightEdge = 830 TopEdge = 120 BottomEdge = 650 FingerLow = 14 FingerHigh = 15 MaxTapTime = 0 MaxTapMove = 110 MaxDoubleTapTime = 180 ClickTime = 100 EmulateMidButtonTime = 75 VertScrollDelta = 20 HorizScrollDelta = 30 MinSpeed = 0.3 MaxSpeed = 0.75 AccelFactor = 0.015 EdgeMotionMinZ = 30 EdgeMotionMaxZ = 160 EdgeMotionMinSpeed = 200 EdgeMotionMaxSpeed = 200 EdgeMotionUseAlways = 0 UpDownScrolling = 1 TouchpadOff = 0 GuestMouseOff = 0 LockedDrags = 0 RTCornerButton = 2 RBCornerButton = 3 LTCornerButton = 0 LBCornerButton = 0 TapButton1 = 1 TapButton2 = 2 TapButton3 = 3 CircularScrolling = 0 CircScrollDelta = 0.1 CircScrollTrigger = 0 CircularPad = 0 The most serious one is MaxTapTime=0; this means you cannot tap at all (without bending the laws of time, anyhoo...). Of course, all these can be fixed on-the-fly using synclient OPTION=VALUE, provided the SHMConfig option is on. So, for the time being, my fix is going to be to write a script to correct the values after X has started. Expect to see a question about this in the Programming forum within a few minutes. Note to developers: I'd love to see the synaptics project forked, to provide a dedicated ALPS driver. From what's been achieved thus far, the talent is certainly there, but this might cut down the redundancy and conflicts that apparently remain.

Right, just to round this off: I was asking about the config options and what they meant. Well, I found those too, in the last place I thought to look - the driver package's README file. Yep, it's all there, though it still doesn't explain what circular scrolling is! Anyway, I haven't mentioned it yet, so here's where to find the driver packages: http://web.telia.com/~u89404340/touchpad/files/ And that's it. Get a 2.6.11.x kernel, get this driver for X, and yer laughing. Bye now...

Thanks devries, that seems the best setting I've tried yet. There is still some blurring, especially in the titlebar text, but a bit less hard on the eyes at least. The window contents (esp. in Firefox as I type this) seem to show the greatest improvement. Why such difference between the different areas of the UI?

Latest: I tried hitting the switch right after the GRUB menu, before X started, and was able to get the desktop on my screen - albeit at too high a resolution for the TV. Unfortunately, when I tried to play an AVI movie, it puked so badly I couldn't restore the display to EITHER screen, and had to do a hard poweroff. So - progress, but not a lot. I need to learn the dark arts of XOrg monitor configuration, anyone got any suggestions?

'ning, Ever since I started using Linux (MDK 10.0) I've wondered why the fonts rendered so badly on screen. I see people's screenshots and everything looks so crisp and smooth, but I can never match this. I've diddled with the anti-alias and sub-pixel hinting settings in KDE and tried every possible combination (I think), but the results never seem to change. Anti-alias on = 'dense' characters like 'a' and 's' badly blurred, hard on the eyes Anti-alias off = BADLY pixellated characters (actually look distorted in some cases) I turn hinting off in Windows on the same laptop because it renders blurry on my LCD, but I guess it is still anti-aliased because there's no pixellation, and the fonts look fine. But this middle-ground doesn't seem possible under Mandrake/KDE. Can anyone teach me more about this? Does being on an LCD screen mean this is the best it's gonna get, or is there anything else I can try? Thanks in advance... [moved from Laptops by spinynorman]

STOP PRESS! I now seem to have a fully-functional pad!!! The big breakthrough was reading the synaptics README.alps file. Note: In the last post, I said I was using the xorg.conf suggested in that file. THAT WAS BALONEY (forgive me - I was tired and emotional) - it was the one you offered me recently, ac_. Soo, I DID use it this time - see below - rebooted, and voila, all extras enabled it seems! I actually have a HORIZONTAL scroll-track too, which never does anything in Windows. Admittedly, All I've made it do so far is go back/forward pages in Firefox (quite annoying when done accidentally) but it should be interesting to learn what else happens with it. Notably, the KSynaptics applet has now gone dead again - wonder why that happened? I won't lose too much sleep over that though. ac, thanks for your interest in this. I think I would have given up before now if you hadn't been around. Ironic to think that I only updated to the 2.6.11 kernel just before starting this quest. Wonder how much more pain would have ensued if I hadn't? Brrrr... I'll be back here if I find any more useful info about the XOrg configs for this device, but for now I'll sign off with another question: What the HELL is circular scrolling?

Well, I have a mix of news. 1 - I tried 'modprobe psmouse' and no such module exists on my system - not sure what to do about that...! 2 - Here's the tail of Xorg.0.log after I removed that boot argument you suggested earlier: (II) Synaptics touchpad driver version 0.13.5 (--) SynapticsMouse1 auto-dev sets device to /dev/input/event1 (**) Option "Device" "/dev/input/event1" (**) Option "SHMConfig" "on" (**) Option "LeftEdge" "1700" (**) Option "RightEdge" "5300" (**) Option "TopEdge" "1700" (**) Option "BottomEdge" "4200" (**) Option "FingerLow" "25" (**) Option "FingerHigh" "30" (**) Option "MaxTapTime" "180" (**) Option "MaxTapMove" "220" (**) Option "VertScrollDelta" "100" (--) SynapticsMouse1 ALPS touchpad found (**) Option "AlwaysCore" (**) SynapticsMouse1: always reports core events (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "SynapticsMouse1" (type: MOUSE) (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Mouse1" (type: MOUSE) (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Keyboard1" (type: KEYBOARD) Synaptics DeviceInit called SynapticsCtrl called. (II) Mouse1: ps2EnableDataReporting: succeeded Synaptics DeviceOn called (--) SynapticsMouse1 ALPS touchpad found SetClientVersion: 0 8 The practical results: (a) the touchpad is twice as unresponsive as it was originally; and (B) KSynaptics is now alive! (albeit that it doesn't seem to have much effect...) This leaves an interesting dilemma. I can have the pad correctly detected with this kernel, but apparently the driver isn't doing too good a job of controlling it. I wonder if this is a known issue? Cue some more Googling... BTW, I may have made some more changes to xorg.conf, I forget, so here's the current one (mostly lifted from the synaptics driver's README.alps file): Section "InputDevice" Identifier "SynapticsMouse1" Driver "synaptics" Option "Protocol" "auto-dev" Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice" Option "MaxSpeed" "0.12" Option "MinSpeed" "0.06" Option "BottomEdge" "4200" Option "SHMConfig" "on" Option "LeftEdge" "1700" Option "FingerLow" "25" Option "MaxTapTime" "180" Option "MaxTapMove" "220" Option "FingerHigh" "30" Option "VertScrollDelta" "100" Option "TopEdge" "1700" Option "RightEdge" "5300" Option "AccelFactor" "0.0010" EndSection Perhaps I should add a ZAxisMapping option? I remember in a previous config it was there, defined as "4 5" I think - maybe i should try it as "6 7" the same as the other mouse? So many mysteries... be nice if the synaptics driver maintainer documented these options a bit better

Heh... yep, I should have explained. It goes like this: Dreamweaver requires MDAC (Microsoft Data Acces Components) MDAC requires IE ...plus admittedly it does save me rebooting to check my pages in IE (the only malware in my pages is IE-compliant code hacks, and I've almost eliminated those too). Unfortunately, having installed CXoffice (that price-tag's looking ever more reasonable after my adventures so far), installed IE6 and it crashes when I try typing in the address bar. Not so good, but hey at least all the MX apps installed okay! Only real 'bug' I've seen is the rendering of Flash content (like in some of the tool panels) is invisible until rolled over with the mouse.

Hey, while Googling, I found this page: http://prinsig.se/weekee/index.php/Touchpad_(hw) I'm not sure I read it right, i.e. whether this should still apply for kernel 2.6.11, but it seems to say that you need to load the psmouse module at boot. According to lsmod, this is not loaded. I assume modprobing it after boot won't help, so how can I pre-load it? ...assuming of course that this is the correct thing to do. Man I am LOST! I always feel like Linux 'documentation' is written for someone with a couple more PhD's than me.

Xorg.0.log is a bit huge, so I'll attach it rather than dumping the whole lot. Here's a couple of highlights though: (**) Option "AllowMouseOpenFail" ... (II) LoadModule: "synaptics" (II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/input/synaptics_drv.o (II) Module synaptics: vendor="The XFree86 Project" compiled for 4.2.0, module version = 1.0.0 Module class: XFree86 XInput Driver ABI class: XFree86 XInput driver, version 0.3 ... (II) LoadModule: "mouse" (II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/input/mouse_drv.o (II) Module mouse: vendor="X.Org Foundation" compiled for 6.8.2, module version = 1.0.0 Module class: X.Org XInput Driver ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 0.4 (II) LoadModule: "synaptics" (II) Reloading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/input/synaptics_drv.o ... (==) I810(0): Silken mouse enabled (II) I810(0): Initializing HW Cursor ... and right at the bottom ... (**) Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2" (**) Mouse1: Device: "/dev/mouse" (**) Mouse1: Protocol: "ExplorerPS/2" (**) Option "CorePointer" (**) Mouse1: Core Pointer (**) Option "Device" "/dev/mouse" (==) Mouse1: Emulate3Buttons, Emulate3Timeout: 50 (**) Option "ZAxisMapping" "6 7" (**) Mouse1: ZAxisMapping: buttons 6 and 7 (**) Mouse1: Buttons: 7 (II) Synaptics touchpad driver version 0.13.5 Mouse2 no synaptics event device found (checked 4 nodes) (**) Option "Device" "/dev/input/event1" (**) Option "LeftEdge" "120" (**) Option "RightEdge" "830" (**) Option "TopEdge" "120" (**) Option "BottomEdge" "650" (**) Option "FingerLow" "14" (**) Option "FingerHigh" "15" (**) Option "MaxTapTime" "180" (**) Option "MaxTapMove" "110" (**) Option "EmulateMidButtonTime" "75" (**) Option "VertScrollDelta" "20" (**) Option "HorizScrollDelta" "20" (**) Option "EdgeMotionMinSpeed" "200" (**) Option "EdgeMotionMaxSpeed" "200" (**) Option "UpDownScrolling" "1" (**) Option "CircularScrolling" "1" (**) Option "CircScrollTrigger" "2" Query no Synaptics: 000000 (EE) Mouse2 no synaptics touchpad detected and no repeater device (EE) Mouse2 Unable to query/initialize Synaptics hardware. (EE) PreInit failed for input device "Mouse2" (II) UnloadModule: "synaptics" (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Mouse1" (type: MOUSE) (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Keyboard1" (type: KEYBOARD) (II) Mouse1: ps2EnableDataReporting: succeeded SetClientVersion: 0 8 Attaching the whole thing below (text file). Xorg.0.txt

Yep, you were right. Both mice still exactly the same with only one config. So, um, what does this mean? Here's the output you asked for: I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0001 Product=0001 Version=ab41 N: Name="AT Translated Set 2 keyboard" P: Phys=isa0060/serio0/input0 H: Handlers=kbd event0 B: EV=120013 B: KEY=4 2000000 2b803878 f840d001 f2ffffdf ffefffff ffffffff fffffffe B: MSC=10 B: LED=7 I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0001 Version=0000 N: Name="PS/2 Generic Mouse" P: Phys=isa0060/serio4/input0 H: Handlers=mouse0 event1 ts0 B: EV=7 B: KEY=70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 B: REL=3 I: Bus=0003 Vendor=05fe Product=0011 Version=0101 N: Name="Wireless Mouse Wireless Mouse" P: Phys=usb-0000:00:1d.1-1/input0 H: Handlers=mouse1 event2 ts1 B: EV=17 B: KEY=1f0000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 B: REL=103 B: MSC=10

Heh, okay you asked for it! # ********************************************************************** # Refer to the XF86Config man page for details about the format of # this file. # ********************************************************************** Section "Files" # Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together) # By default, Mandrake 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of # the X server to render fonts. FontPath "unix/:-1" EndSection Section "ServerFlags" #DontZap # disable <Crtl><Alt><BS> (server abort) AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse doesn't work #DontZoom # disable <Crtl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> (resolution switching) EndSection Section "Module" Load "dbe" # Double-Buffering Extension Load "v4l" # Video for Linux Load "extmod" Load "type1" Load "freetype" Load "glx" # 3D layer Load "dri" # direct rendering Load "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules/extensions/libglx.a" Load "synaptics" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Keyboard1" Driver "keyboard" Option "XkbModel" "pc105" Option "XkbLayout" "gb" Option "XkbOptions" "" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Mouse1" Driver "mouse" Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2" Option "Device" "/dev/mouse" Option "ZAxisMapping" "6 7" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Driver "synaptics" Identifier "Mouse2" Option "Device" "/dev/psaux" Option "Protocol" "auto-dev" Option "LeftEdge" "120" Option "RightEdge" "830" Option "TopEdge" "120" Option "BottomEdge" "650" Option "FingerLow" "14" Option "FingerHigh" "15" Option "MaxTapTime" "180" Option "MaxTapMove" "110" Option "EmulateMidButtonTime" "75" Option "VertScrollDelta" "20" Option "HorizScrollDelta" "20" Option "MinSpeed" "0.3" Option "MaxSpeed" "0.75" Option "AccelFactor" "0.015" Option "EdgeMotionMinSpeed" "200" Option "EdgeMotionMaxSpeed" "200" Option "UpDownScrolling" "1" Option "CircularScrolling" "1" Option "CircScrollDelta" "0.1" Option "CircScrollTrigger" "2" EndSection Section "Monitor" Identifier "monitor1" VendorName "Plug'n Play" HorizSync 31.5-48.5 VertRefresh 40-70 # Sony Vaio C1(X,XS,VE,VN)? # 1024x480 @ 85.6 Hz, 48 kHz hsync ModeLine "1024x480" 65.00 1024 1032 1176 1344 480 488 494 563 -hsync -vsync # Dell D800 and few Inspiron (16/10) 1280x800 ModeLine "1280x800" 147.89 1280 1376 1512 1744 800 801 804 848 # Dell D800 and few Inspiron (16/10) 1680x1050 ModeLine "1680x1050" 214.51 1680 1800 1984 2288 1050 1051 1054 1103 # Dell D800 and few Inspiron (16/10) 1920x1200 ModeLine "1920x1200" 230 1920 1936 2096 2528 1200 1201 1204 1250 +HSync +VSync # TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output. # 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync ModeLine "768x576" 50.00 768 832 846 1000 576 590 595 630 # 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync ModeLine "768x576" 63.07 768 800 960 1024 576 578 590 616 EndSection Section "Monitor" Identifier "monitor2" VendorName "Plug'n Play" HorizSync 31.5-48.5 VertRefresh 40-70 # Sony Vaio C1(X,XS,VE,VN)? # 1024x480 @ 85.6 Hz, 48 kHz hsync ModeLine "1024x480" 65.00 1024 1032 1176 1344 480 488 494 563 -hsync -vsync # Dell D800 and few Inspiron (16/10) 1280x800 ModeLine "1280x800" 147.89 1280 1376 1512 1744 800 801 804 848 # Dell D800 and few Inspiron (16/10) 1680x1050 ModeLine "1680x1050" 214.51 1680 1800 1984 2288 1050 1051 1054 1103 # Dell D800 and few Inspiron (16/10) 1920x1200 ModeLine "1920x1200" 230 1920 1936 2096 2528 1200 1201 1204 1250 +HSync +VSync # TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output. # 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync ModeLine "768x576" 50.00 768 832 846 1000 576 590 595 630 # 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync ModeLine "768x576" 63.07 768 800 960 1024 576 578 590 616 EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "device1" VendorName "Intel Corp." BoardName "Intel 85x" Driver "i810" Screen 0 BusID "PCI:0:2:0" Option "DPMS" EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "device2" VendorName "Intel Corp." BoardName "Intel 85x" Driver "i810" Screen 0 BusID "PCI:0:2:1" Option "DPMS" EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "screen1" Device "device1" Monitor "monitor1" DefaultColorDepth 24 Subsection "Display" Depth 8 Virtual 1024 768 EndSubsection Subsection "Display" Depth 15 Virtual 1024 768 EndSubsection Subsection "Display" Depth 16 Virtual 1024 768 EndSubsection Subsection "Display" Depth 24 Virtual 1024 768 EndSubsection EndSection Section "Screen" Identifier "screen2" Device "device2" Monitor "monitor2" DefaultColorDepth 24 Subsection "Display" Depth 8 Virtual 1024 768 EndSubsection Subsection "Display" Depth 15 Virtual 1024 768 EndSubsection Subsection "Display" Depth 16 Virtual 1024 768 EndSubsection Subsection "Display" Depth 24 Virtual 1024 768 EndSubsection EndSection Section "ServerLayout" Identifier "layout1" InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard" InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer" InputDevice "Mouse2" "AlwaysCore" Screen "screen1" Screen "screen2" RightOf "screen1" #Option "Xinerama" EndSection other output to follow - I don't have the USB mouse with me right now, so there are only two entries. Yes, udev is loaded. So is 'ts', which I believe is touchscreen related but can't find more info on it.

Hi, thanks for looking in. I never would have realised that TV resolution was so small! I'll have a look at my xorg.conf and see if anything jumps out at me. Maybe I should just post it all here, but it is quite lengthy... About the format: the actual TV-out format is S-VHS (I guess that's what is meant by 'pc') and my telly doesn't support this, so yes I did have to buy an inline convertor to 'Composite' format (standard analogue TV signal I think). Audio output is separate, from my earphone jack to the hi-fi. It was slightly cheaper than the above, which has a few more functions.

Sadly, no change. Thought I was scrolling for a moment, but was just highlighting. :( FWIW, I went into Harddrake and swapped driver again - the result was the same (both devices haywire) but this time I had launched it from a shell so was able to see the following: Warning: skip "location" field => "isa0060/serio4/input0" modinfo: could not find module mouse0 Warning: skip "location" field => "isa0060/serio4/input0" Again, hope someone could translate what this might mean. Is it correct/normal for both devices to be going to the same device-file? (/dev/mouse is a symlink to /dev/input/mice) What would happen if they were directed to different ones?

Right. Ready to rock now... let's see how it goes. BTW, big props for introducing nano. My days of popping a root KWrite for one stinking line of config-editing are over!