Tim: >> Obvious questions: >> >> Does the same problem occur if you use a different mouse? >> Do you mind using a different mouse? Nigel Henry: > I havn't tried a different mouse, that is apart from having replaced it > recently with a new one of the same make and model, and still get these > infrequent mouse pointer lockups. I forgot to mention that I do have one or two A4tech mice, and I have had other (*) problems with them on some boxes, that I didn't have when I tried some other USB mice. In my case it was mice, rather than trackballs, but the electronics technology is the same, just the mechanical side of things is upside down. * Not lock-ups, but mouse pointers that suddenly started racing all over the screen, and clicking everywhere. At least one of them was worse on a PS/2 extension cord than without. That points the finger at, at least, three potential reasons: Knackered PS/2 ports. Data signal strength/interference issues. And poor power to the mouse causing its encoder chip to act unreliably. There's another thing to point the finger at: How Linux handles keyboards and mice. When I've had dual-boot boxes, I've been able to compare Linux with peculiar keyboard and mice behaviour against Windows with zero such problems, all on the same hardware. > I can't really try the standard mouse, as there isn't any room for a mouse mat > in front of my keyboard, but I'll buy a different make of scrollball mouse, > and see if the problem goes away. A bit of an expensive test... You can't borrow something else for a trial, even if you use it outside of your usual work space? I do wish keyboard navigation worked better in Linux. There's any number of times I would have liked to just click on the keyboard to move around some GUI, but I'm damned if I could find a hotkey sequence to get to where I needed to be. And I'm amazed that there never was a huge demand for touch screen technology to become widespread (Windows, Linux, whatever). The mouse is an ergonomic nightmare, never mind the technical issues. -- (This computer runs FC7, my others run FC4, FC5 & FC6, in case that's important to the thread.) Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. I read messages from the public lists.
