I think it could use some clarification that one has suggested installing gpm and someone else has stated that "gpm can cause problems". I hope I can make things clearer without just adding to the noise...
(Start by reading Joost's message regarding mouse hardware.) When you say your mouse isn't working, I assume you mean it's not working under X. Have you tried it on the console? If you have gpm installed and configured correctly, you should see a mouse cursor when you move the mouse on the console, and should be able to use your mouse to copy and paste text there. I'll try to describe what I've found to be the best mouse setup, one that works fine on the console and in X. First, I find it's altogether the least amount of headache if you ensure that there is no /dev/mouse symlink on your system. Figure out what port your mouse is plugged into by reading Joost's message and use that explicitly in your gpm config. You can set this up by using the gpmconfig program. Along the way, it will ask for a protocol to use for the repeater. What this does is it creates a "virtual mouse" by echoing data in the mouse protocol of your choice into /dev/gpmdata. You should then configure X to use /dev/gpmdata as its device, and tell it to use the protocol you chose as the gpm repeat protocol. I believe gpm defaults to repeat in the "ms3" protocol, which can be understood by X if you use Option "Protocol" "Microsoft" in your /etc/X11/XF86Config. Alternatively, you can specify any protocol you like in your gpm repeater config, as long as you tell X to use the same protocol. As someone else suggested, you can tell gpm to repeat as type 'raw' in which case you should configure X to use the actual protocol that your mouse is speaking. From the sound of things, it speaks at least 2 different protocols. It's easiest to figure it out with gpm, and then mirror that in XF86Config. I realize this isn't an in-depth walkthrough, but I hope it will help you understand how the two systems can share the mouse and how to configure them. If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask. Vineet
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