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changing mouse to left-handed [solved]


pbpersson
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Okay.....I have been away from Mandrake for months. I fired up the Mandrake 10.1 Powerpack machine today and wanted to switch the mouse buttons to left-handed.

 

I cannot figure this out. Once again, Linux has me stuck. In Windows, I go to the control panel, go to the mouse, and I'm done - presto chango!

 

In Linux.....well, I just don't know. I did figure out how to get into a terminal session as root and then run KControl - I was able to bring up the mouse control panel but the place where you can change the mouse to left-handed is grayed out.

 

So....if root can't do it then I'm totally stuck

HELP!!!

 

 

Phil

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So....if root can't do it then I'm totally stuck

  HELP!!!

 

Phil

 

 

Well....they say that with Linux you don't need support because you can get on the Internet, ask a question, and get an immediate response. I have been waiting 5 hours with a useless machine and have not gotten any response. Fortunately, all I wanted to do was play some games. Thank goodness I'm not trying to run my business using Linux!

 

Anyway, this is what I did based on my research, I located the following file:

/home/user/root/.kde/share/config/kcminputrc and I changed that to lefthanded then I copied that file to /home/user/phil/.kde/share/config/kcminputrc then I re-installed my mouse driver and rebooted - no luck. I can't believe this.

 

For all the hype about Linux being the OS of the 21st century, I still think it has a long, long way to go. I have spent the last several months learning all about the .NET framework in Windows and was hoping to start a software development firm and produce software that will run on Windows and Linux. However, I have this nagging suspicion that my helpdesk people will spend most of their time fielding stupid Linux questions - "Can you tell me how I change my mouse buttons? I can't figure it out!"

 

Anyway, I have turned off my Linux machine, I can't spend any more time on it this weekend. This just seems SO sad! :cry:

 

 

Phil

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Well....they say that with Linux you don't need support because you can get on the Internet, ask a question, and get an immediate response.  I have been waiting 5 hours with a useless machine and have not gotten any response.  Fortunately, all I wanted to do was play some games.  Thank goodness I'm not trying to run my business using Linux!

I'm so sorry that we couldn't meet your time quota. I mean, we're just a bunch of linux users tying to help each other out, getting paid nothing, and doing this in our spare time for free. I don't know what we were thinking, not answering your question in 5 hours or less. It certainly would be unreasonable for you to use the support features offered by the company that distributes the product if you need an immediate answer. Please excuse the slowness of our free support.

Anyway, this is what I did based on my research, I located the following file:

/home/user/root/.kde/share/config/kcminputrc and I changed that to lefthanded then I copied that file to /home/user/phil/.kde/share/config/kcminputrc then I re-installed my mouse driver and rebooted - no luck.

1) You have a /home/user/root directory? I've never, in my life, seen suich a directory. Roots home dir should be /root, and your home dir should be /home/phil

2) There seems to be a problem with 10.1 and left-handed mice, specifically in the KDE desktop. I would highly suggest upgrading to MDV 2005LE or MDV 2006 - I would suggest this anyways as 10.1 is not near as refined, IMHO, as the newest versions

 

For future reference, the best way to get an answer is to not have a negative attitude towards what you're asking for help with. Around here people don't take kindly to those who attack them or their choice of OS. We're here because we want to be here and because we want to help you, we only ask that you show some respect.

Edited by tyme
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The left handed mode selection of the mouse is as easy openng KDE Control Centre then selecting Peripherals then selecting Mouse and you can then select left hand mouse and double or single click and a host of other preferences.

 

As thyme says, everyone here is a volunteer and it just so happens that not as many members log in over a weekend as they do weekdays.

 

You seem like someone who actually lost their way to Microsoft and somehow ended up in Linuxland so you presume that corporations and big business run Linux the same way as Windows world is run. The Linux world is a cooperative world..

Very important word, cooperative.

Slow down and enjoy the view. Take a little time to smell the flowers. The LINUX world is a huge open panoramic view where Windows and Gates do not impede your path or view to where ever you choose to go.

 

Cheers and welcome to MUB.

 

John.

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The left handed mode selection of the mouse is as easy openng KDE Control Centre then selecting Peripherals then selecting Mouse and you can then select left hand mouse and double or single click and a host of other preferences.

In his post he says he can select that, and from my research there seems to be some issue w/it in 10.1. Not sure why

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The left handed mode selection of the mouse is as easy openng KDE Control Centre then selecting Peripherals then selecting Mouse and you can then select left hand mouse and double or single click and a host of other preferences.

In his post he says he can select that, and from my research there seems to be some issue w/it in 10.1. Not sure why

 

Sorry about the /home/user/....whatever thing, but I had already turned the Linux machine off at that point since I could not use it.

 

My point is that I have been fooling with Linux off and on for years now and the SIMPLEST thing seems to be so darned difficult in Linux. Things that we take for granted in Windows are broken in Linux and have been for years. So.....it seems more than a little strange. I think I give Linux a whirl every few years to see if it has gotten friendly enough to really use on an everyday basis and so far it seems we are not yet there - by my own yardstick.

 

I guess when I fire up a computer I expect to get some work done and be productive. It seems that when I fire up Linux and expect to get some work done I spend hours on something silly like changing the mouse buttons instead of something more productive.....like playing some games. Okay, my example might not be a good one, but my reference to trying to run a business using this OS is a valid point.

 

How often I have heard these stories about Mr. Geek who runs the whole corporation on Linux and everything is free and support is free and things always work in Linux and the user community will get you answers in minutes. I don't know if I believe all that. I remember I had to spend days just getting the Ethernet card working when I installed MDK 10.1. So.....I'm just venting because of my experiences.

 

Many people have told me that I do not automatically suceed in Linux because I am not in "tune" with the environment or don't automatically know the places to look for answers as I do in the Windows world. However my view whether right or wrong, deserved or not, is that Linux still has some distance to travel before it can work as well as Windows.

 

Sorry if I sounded frustrated.....but I was!

 

 

Phil :D

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How often I have heard these stories about Mr. Geek who runs the whole corporation on Linux and everything is free and support is free and things always work in Linux and the user community will get you answers in minutes.  I don't know if I believe all that. 

I think you're confusing several different stories. If Mr Geek has a problem, he is able to fix it himself, as he has access to the source code. Corporations without a Mr Geek buy support from Mandriva. It's mainly home users and small businesses who rely on voluntary boards like this. Fixing their problems is not usually time-critical; and by getting their hands dirty, users often learn to solve their own problems. :)

 

Is your mouse now working as you want? :unsure:

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Is your mouse now working as you want?  :unsure:

 

No, I was lead to believe by one of the previous posters that Mandrake 10.1 PowerPack cannot be used by left-handed people and although the OS has been out for a year now, there is no fix for this problem.

 

The only reason why this is critical for me - both my wrists have started bothering me so at work I do all right-handed mouse stuff and at home I do all left-handed mouse stuff.

 

People tell me I spend too much time on computers and I should live a more balanced life and that was the answer I arrived at to address their concerns. :D

 

 

Phil

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You seem like someone who actually lost their way to Microsoft and somehow ended up in Linuxland so you presume that corporations and big business run Linux the same way as Windows world is run.   

 

Slow down and enjoy the view. Take a little time to smell the flowers.

 

 

I have been here before......I have about 60 posts I have done over time.

 

Yes, I am a displaced Windows person. I like Windows because it always works the way I want it to work. When I install it on a machine, it finds all the hardware, installs the appropriate hardware, and it just works. If I go to a web site, I am prompted to download any software that is needed and it just works.

 

Since the world (hardware, web sites) is made for Windows, Linux has a tough road ahead of it. You LinuxHeads think that Linux has arrived and is the greatest thing since sliced bread. You need people like me to get on here and scream every once in a while to jolt you back to reality. At least that is my opinion. :P

 

See.....I am the type who picks up a camera, pushes the button, and expects it to take a picture. I don't want to fool around with light settings or focus or digging around in the manual for information because by that time, life has moved on and the moment I wanted to capture is gone. Likewise, when I get in the car I expect to press down on the gas pedal and go. I'm not going to fool around with a clutch, or gear shift, or choke - that's old technology. I just want to drive.

 

By the same token, if Linux is the OS of the future as some people believe, it should work out of the box, it should detect my hardware, install the needed software, and I should be able to surf the web - no fuss, no muss, just like Windows (I know some people will take exception to that point of view but that's okay). Back when I spent months trying to get my Mandrake machine to work there were still some web sites that would not work because I couldn't get the correct movie players in Linux. Then people say I should use a Windows emulator with IE. NO, NO, NO! I think that defeats the entire purpose of the exercise! Are we going to leave Windows behind in our dust, or what? Let's make Linux do everything and forget about Windows (words from a prospective future Linux developer).

 

Oh...and by the way.....I usually don't stop and smell the flowers, I usually run over them because they're in my way. :D

 

 

Phil

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That's funny! I too have a little ache with my wrists, so I use the mouse with the right hand at home, and with the left hand at work :) I feel much better that way. I don't switch the buttons at work though: right is still right, and left is still left.

 

Now for the inversion. This should be doable simply with xmodmap. See my article if that helps:

http://yves.gablin.club.fr/pc/linux.php?article=config/mouse

 

Yves.

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That's funny! I too have a little ache with my wrists, so I use the mouse with the right hand at home, and with the left hand at work :) I feel much better that way. I don't switch the buttons at work though: right is still right, and left is still left.

 

Now for the inversion. This should be doable simply with xmodmap. See my article if that helps:

http://yves.gablin.club.fr/pc/linux.php?article=config/mouse

 

Yves.

 

Thank you for the article. I will need to return to this when I have the time. I was hoping for something not quite as involved. If I posted my file on here and you saw it, would you be able to tell me what to change? I just reconfigured the mouse so all the bottons and even the wheel work fine, I just want the buttons reversed. :D

 

 

Phil

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Now for the inversion. This should be doable simply with xmodmap. See my article if that helps:

http://yves.gablin.club.fr/pc/linux.php?article=config/mouse

 

Yves.

 

I read your article. When I go out to a terminal session in Mandrake 10.1 and type XEV it says there is no such command. When I do a "man XEV" it says there is no man page for it, when I type "help xev" it says there is no help for it. From the root folder of the machine I did a search for all files called *xev*.* and there is no such file on my machine.

 

So.....I am still stuck. I am turning the Linux machine off for the evening as I still can't play my games.

 

 

Phil

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It may not be installed.  Go into the Mandrake Control Center, under Software, Install Sofware, and search for xev - if it comes up, select and install it.  Also be sure to setup some extra repos with easy-urpmi.

 

Thanks.....I did turn the Linux machine off but then I found an article that said to download and install something called X11R6-contrib to get XEV but then I was getting curl errors (???) because my URPMI FTP sites were so old.

 

It's been months since I have dealt with all this, I had forgotten how it all worked....

 

We will see what happens. :D

 

 

Phil

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well if all you want is to play some games, install and use Gnome. According to this

http://www.mozillaquest.com/Linux_News04/M...se_Story01.html

the left handed mouse config in the Gnome Control Center works

So far, the biggest problem we have found with 32-bit Mandrake 10.1 Official is that you cannot switch from a right-handed mouse to a left-handed mouse using the KDE Control Center > Peripherals > Mouse panel. If you are a lefty and use the KDE desktop, you might want to stay away from Mandrake 10.1..........

.........

The switch to a left-handed mouse works in the Mandrake 10.1 GNOME desktop. However, we have experienced other problems using the mouse when in the GNOME desktop on Mandrake 10.1.

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