Protocol Types
serial PnP BusMouse PS/2 Extended PS/2
OS platforms protocols serial protocol protocol protocols
"Auto" "BusMouse" "PS/2" "xxxPS/2" USB
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BSD/OS Ok ? ? ? ? ?
FreeBSD Ok Ok Ok Ok SP*1 SP*1
FreeBSD(98) Ok ? Ok NA NA ?
Interactive Unix Ok NA ?*1 ?*1 NA ?
Linux Ok Ok Ok Ok Ok ?
Linux/98 Ok ? Ok NA NA ?
LynxOS Ok NA Ok Ok NA ?
NetBSD Ok Ok Ok SP*1 SP*1 SP*1
NetBSD/pc98 Ok ? Ok NA NA NA
OpenBSD Ok Ok Ok Ok*1 OK*1 OK*1
OS/2 SP*2 SP*2 SP*2 SP*2 SP*2 ?
SCO Ok ? SP*1 SP*1 NA ?
Solaris 2.x Ok NA*1 ?*1 Ok NA ?
SVR4 Ok NA*1 SP*1 SP*1 NA ?
PANIX Ok ? SP*1 SP*1 NA ?
Ok: support is available, NA: not available, ?: untested or unknown.
SP: support is available in a different form
*1 Refer to the following sections for details.
*2 XFree86/OS2 will support any type of mouse that the OS supports,
whether it is serial, bus mouse, or PnP type.
No testing has been done with BSD/OS.
FreeBSD supports the "SysMouse" protocol which must be
specified when the moused daemon is running in versions 2.2.1
or later.
When running the mouseddaemon, you must always specify the
/dev/sysmouse device and the "SysMouse" protocol
to the X server, regardless of the actual type of your mouse.
FreeBSD versions 2.2.5 or earlier do not support extended PS/2
mouse protocols ("xxxPS/2").
Always specify the "PS/2" protocol for any PS/2 mouse
in these versions regardless of the brand of the mouse.
FreeBSD versions 2.2.6 or later include the kernel-level
support for these PS/2 mice.
Specify the "PS/2" or "Auto" protocol and
the X server will automatically make use of the kernel-level support.
In fact, you may always specify "Auto" to any mouse in these
versions unless the mouse is an old serial model which doesn't support PnP.
FreeBSD versions 3.1 or later have support for USB mice.
Specify the "Auto" protocol for the /dev/ums0 device.
(If the moused daemon is running for the USB mouse,
you must use /dev/sysmouse instead of /dev/ums0
as explained above.) See the ums(4) manual page for details.
The PS/2 mouse is not supported.
The PnP serial mouse support (the "Auto" protocol) is not
supported for the moment.
The bus mouse and PS/2 mouse should be supported by using the
appropriate device drivers.
Use /dev/mouse for the "BusMouse" protocol
and /dev/kdmouse for the "PS/2" protocol.
These protocols are untested but may work.
Please send success/failure reports to
<michael.rohleder@stadt-frankfurt.de>.
All protocol types should work.
The PS/2 mouse is not supported.
The PnP serial mouse support (the "Auto" protocol) is disabled in
LynxOS, because of limited TTY device driver functionality.
NetBSD 1.3.x and former does not support extended PS/2 mouse protocols
("xxxPS/2").
The PS/2 mouse device driver /dev/pms emulates the bus mouse.
Therefore, you should always specify the "BusMouse" protocol for
any PS/2 mouse regardless of the brand of the mouse.
XFree86 3.3.6 supports the "wsmouse" protocol introduced in NetBSD
1.4 along with the wscons console driver. You need to run binaries
compiled on NetBSD 1.4 to have support
for it though. Use "/dev/wsmouse0" for the device. Refer to the
wsmouse(4) manual page for kernel configuration informations.
This driver also provides support for USB mices. See the ums(4) manual page for details.
The PS/2 mouse is not supported.
The raw PS/2 mouse device driver /dev/psm0 uses the raw PS/2
mouse protocol.
OpenBSD 2.2 and earlier does not support extended PS/2 mouse protocols
("xxxPS/2") . Therefore, you should specify the
"PS/2" protocol for any PS/2 mouse regardless of the brand of
the mouse.
OpenBSD 2.3 and later support all extended PS/2 mouse protocols.
You can select the "Auto" protocol for PnP PS/2
mice or any specific extended ("xxxPS/2") protocol
for non PnP mice.
There is also a cooked PS/2 mouse device driver /dev/pms0
which emulates the bus mouse. Specify the "BusMouse"
protocol for any PS/2 mouse regardless of the brand of the mouse when
using this device.
XFree86 3.3.6 support USB mices on OpenBSD 2.6 and later though the
generic Human Interface Device (hid) /dev/uhid*. Select the
"usb" protocol and the /dev/uhid* instance
corresponding to your mouse as the device name.
XFree86/OS2 always uses the native mouse driver of the operating system and will support any type of pointer that the OS supports, whether it is serial, bus mouse, or PnP type. If the mouse works under Presentation Manager, it will also work under XFree86/OS2.
Always specify "OSMouse" as the protocol type.
The bus and PS/2 mouse are supported with the "OSMouse"
protocol type.
The "OSMouse" may also be used with the serial mouse.
Testing has been done with Solaris 2.5.1 and 2.6. Logitech and
Microsoft bus mice
have not been tested, but might work with the /dev/logi and
/dev/msm devices.
Standard 2 and 3 button PS/2 mice work with the "PS/2" protocol
type and the /dev/kdmouse device.
The PnP serial mouse support (the "Auto" protocol) has been tested
and does not work.
The bus and PS/2 mouse may be supported with the "Xqueue"
protocol type.
The "Xqueue" may also be used with the serial mouse.
The PnP serial mouse support (the "Auto" protocol) is not
tested.
The PC/AT version of PANIX supports the bus and PS/2 mouse with the
"Xqueue" protocol type.
The PC-98 version of PANIX supports the bus mouse with the
"Xqueue" protocol type.