Re: Question on using a Joystick as a mouse in Fedora please?
Fernando Cassia wrote: On Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 11:45 AM, Rick Sewill rsew...@gmail.com wrote: I have a question on using a Joystick as a mouse in Fedora. I wish to avoid getting carpal tunnel syndrome. I noticed, when I use regular mice, I have poor hand position. So far, my wrist is okay...but it gets red if I'm not careful. What you need is a TRACKBALL. A good, old-fashioned Trackball. I use one... the Kensington Expert Mouse 5.0 (don´t let words fool you, it´s a TRACKBALL). It uses a PS2 connection so no special drivers are needed. Find one on eBay... Your wrist moves very little -if at all- and you can move the ball with the tip of your fingers... http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Trackball-Kensington-ExpertMouse5.jpg FC I know that I am late in this conversation but I have used this for years. I second the idea of a real track ball. http://us.kensington.com/html/2200.html I have one at work and one at home. It uses the fingers or palm of your hand. I have mine set to use three buttons but it can be programmed to use other features. The ring around the ball is the scroll wheel which is great. I have enough control to edit photo's or do drafting drawings. It comes with a wrist pad. The only issue is, if I get lazy, I will put my wrist in an odd angle. I have had to change the micro switches on the one at home. It gets used quite a lot by the whole family. I know someone that had issues with CTS and went for the thumb ball and ended up in worse shape. -- Robin Laing -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@redhat.com To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
Re: Question on using a Joystick as a mouse in Fedora please?
On Mon, 2009-09-21 at 14:57 -0600, Robin Laing wrote: It comes with a wrist pad. The only issue is, if I get lazy, I will put my wrist in an odd angle. These wrist pads can be the cause of some of the problems people are trying to avoid - resting the weight of your arms on a part of the hand and/or wrist, and immobilising most of your arm for prolonged periods while doing intricate movements with another part. -- [...@localhost ~]$ uname -r 2.6.27.25-78.2.56.fc9.i686 Don't send private replies to my address, the mailbox is ignored. I read messages from the public lists. -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@redhat.com To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
Re: Question on using a Joystick as a mouse in Fedora please?
2009/9/14 Smith, Herb herb.sm...@boeing.com: I wish to avoid getting carpal tunnel syndrome. I adopted a track ball mouse that allows you to move the cursor with your thumb and thus eliminate the necessity to have a lot of wrist movement. It works great for me. +1 for that. I have a Logitech Cordless Optical TrackMan which works great and definitely gives me less cramp than a mouse. In my case, the ball is moved with the fingers and my only complaint is that the scroll wheel is just out of Index Finger reach so you have to switch hand position to use it (which I don't do very often.) Also, the full complement of Gel wrist-rests for keyboard and mouse helps a lot with proper hand position. -- Sam -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@redhat.com To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
RE: Question on using a Joystick as a mouse in Fedora please?
-Original Message- From: Tim [mailto:ignored_mail...@yahoo.com.au] Sent: Monday, September 14, 2009 10:46 AM To: Community assistance, encouragement,and advice for using Fedora. Subject: Re: Question on using a Joystick as a mouse in Fedora please? On Mon, 2009-09-14 at 09:45 -0500, Rick Sewill wrote: I have a question on using a Joystick as a mouse in Fedora. Somehow I suspect a joystick would bring about its own set of problems (it certainly did for game players). I wish to avoid getting carpal tunnel syndrome. I adopted a track ball mouse that allows you to move the cursor with your thumb and thus eliminate the necessity to have a lot of wrist movement. It works great for me. Herb Smith -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@redhat.com To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@redhat.com To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
Re: Question on using a Joystick as a mouse in Fedora please?
On Mon, 2009-09-14 at 09:45 -0500, Rick Sewill wrote: I have a question on using a Joystick as a mouse in Fedora. Somehow I suspect a joystick would bring about its own set of problems (it certainly did for game players). I wish to avoid getting carpal tunnel syndrome. As I recall, it's not just mousing that brings about this risk, but also using the keyboard. Using peripherals in non-ergonomic ways would seem to be the fastest way of bringing on such a problem (e.g. operating keyboard and mouse while standing up, necessitating bending the wrist and fingers abnormally high), and dragging wrists along table tops when you operate the devices while sitting down. There are some medical guides about minimising the risk, it's probably worth looking into them if you're concerned about this. -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@redhat.com To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
Question on using a Joystick as a mouse in Fedora please?
I have a question on using a Joystick as a mouse in Fedora. I wish to avoid getting carpal tunnel syndrome. I noticed, when I use regular mice, I have poor hand position. So far, my wrist is okay...but it gets red if I'm not careful. I was thinking, it might be better for me, if I could use a joystick as a mouse. I have an old joystick, made by InterAct, laying around. Fedora recognizes my joystick. rsew...@rsewill:~ 2:2 $ lsusb ... Bus 001 Device 007: ID 05fd:3300 InterAct, Inc. ... rsew...@rsewill:~ 2:3 $ I can find the devices, for my joystick, in /dev/input/by-id: rsew...@rsewill:~ 2:10 $ ls -l /dev/input/by-id/ total 0 lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 9 2009-09-13 23:46 usb-S.T.D._Interact_Gaming_Device-event-joystick - ../event5 lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 6 2009-09-13 23:46 usb-S.T.D._Interact_Gaming_Device-joystick - ../js0 rsew...@rsewill:~ 2:11 $ I installed joystick-1.2.15-23.fc11.x86_64 to test my joystick. Within this package is the program, jstest. jstest seems to work with the link pointing to ../js0 rsew...@rsewill:~ 2:15 $ jstest /dev/input/by-id/usb-S.T.D._Interact_Gaming_Device-joystick Joystick (S.T.D. Interact Gaming Device) has 6 axes and 7 buttons. Driver version is 2.1.0. ... The x-axis, y-axis, z-axis, and all buttons are detected. I believe jstest reports the correct states for the axes and buttons. jstest with the symbolic link pointing to ../event5 fails with an error. rsew...@rsewill:~ 2:16 $ jstest /dev/input/by-id/usb-S.T.D._Interact_Gaming_Device-event-joystick Joystick (Unknown) has 2 axes and 2 buttons. Driver version is 0.8.0. Testing ... (interrupt to exit) jstest: error reading: Invalid argument rsew...@rsewill:~ 2:17 $ I tried adding the following lines to my /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, [r...@rsewill X11]# diff -Naur xorg.conf.old xorg.conf --- xorg.conf.old 2009-09-09 20:22:16.0 -0500 +++ xorg.conf 2009-09-14 09:12:29.0 -0500 @@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ Identifier single head configuration Screen 0 Screen0 0 0 InputDeviceMouse0 CorePointer + InputDeviceJoystick0 SendCoreEvents InputDeviceKeyboard0 CoreKeyboard EndSection @@ -23,6 +24,13 @@ Option Emulate3Buttons yes EndSection +Section InputDevice + Identifier Joystick0 + Driver evdev + Option Device /dev/input/by-id/usb-S.T.D._Interact_Gaming_Device-joystick + Option ButtonMapping 4 2 3 +EndSection + Section Monitor Identifier Monitor0 HorizSync28.0 - 110.0 [r...@rsewill X11]# I get the following error in /var/log/Xorg.0.log: (**) Option SendCoreEvents (**) Joystick0: always reports core events (**) Joystick0: Device: /dev/input/by-id/usb-S.T.D._Interact_Gaming_Device-joystick (**) Joystick0: ButtonMapping '4 2 3' (EE) ioctl EVIOCGNAME failed: Invalid argument (II) UnloadModule: evdev (EE) PreInit returned NULL for Joystick0 Alternatively, I tried using the event5 device, [r...@rsewill X11]# diff -Naur xorg.conf.old xorg.conf --- xorg.conf.old 2009-09-09 20:22:16.0 -0500 +++ xorg.conf 2009-09-14 09:18:49.0 -0500 @@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ Identifier single head configuration Screen 0 Screen0 0 0 InputDeviceMouse0 CorePointer + InputDeviceJoystick0 SendCoreEvents InputDeviceKeyboard0 CoreKeyboard EndSection @@ -23,6 +24,13 @@ Option Emulate3Buttons yes EndSection +Section InputDevice + Identifier Joystick0 + Driver evdev + Option Device /dev/input/by-id/usb-S.T.D._Interact_Gaming_Device-event-joystick + Option ButtonMapping 4 2 3 +EndSection + Section Monitor Identifier Monitor0 HorizSync28.0 - 110.0 [r...@rsewill X11]# When I restart X, I get the following error: (**) Option SendCoreEvents (**) Joystick0: always reports core events (**) Joystick0: Device: /dev/input/by-id/usb-S.T.D._Interact_Gaming_Device-event-joystick (**) Joystick0: ButtonMapping '4 2 3' (II) Joystick0: Found x and y absolute axes (WW) Joystick0: Don't know how to use device (II) UnloadModule: evdev (EE) PreInit returned NULL for Joystick0 Searching the Internet, I believe I should use the evdev driver. Any idea which device I should use in /dev/input/by-id ? I suspect, but am not certain, I should use /dev/input/by-id/usb-S.T.D._Interact_Gaming_Device-event-joystick Any idea how to get around the Don't know how to use device error? I suspect, if I knew how to map x and y absolute axes to relative axes, I might make progress on getting this to work. On a side note, I have a dual-boot system. I tried booting Windows and installed a third party app to use my joystick as a mouse. I was partially successful. I could move the mouse using my joystick, but I didn't like the result. The mouse movement wasn't crisp. The mouse movement started slow. It was hard to stop the mouse where I wanted the mouse to stop. I didn't both trying to adjust the
Re: Question on using a Joystick as a mouse in Fedora please?
On 09-09-14 10:45:28, Rick Sewill wrote: I have a question on using a Joystick as a mouse in Fedora. I wish to avoid getting carpal tunnel syndrome. I noticed, when I use regular mice, I have poor hand position. So far, my wrist is okay...but it gets red if I'm not careful. I was thinking, it might be better for me, if I could use a joystick as a mouse. You might first try setting the mouse Sensitivity and Pointer Speed as low as they go, so that moving the mouse across the screen will require moving your hand rather than flexing your wrist. Note that the injury one gets from repeatedly flexing your wrist is not to the carpal tunnels. Injury to the carpal tunnels can result from extended periods of typing with the wrists bent up to type on a low keyboard. Raising the keyboard to upper-chest level will prevent such bad wrist positioning, as will most standing stations. A wrist rest also straightens the wrists, but applies pressure to the carpal tunnels, adding to their irritation. -- TonyN.:' mailto:tonynel...@georgeanelson.com ' http://www.georgeanelson.com/ -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@redhat.com To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
Re: Question on using a Joystick as a mouse in Fedora please?
Rick Sewill wrote: I wish to avoid getting carpal tunnel syndrome. I noticed, when I use regular mice, I have poor hand position. So far, my wrist is okay...but it gets red if I'm not careful. I was thinking, it might be better for me, if I could use a joystick as a mouse. cts: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpal_tunnel_syndrome my experience of fighting cts when i first started with micro computers, s100 days, i made a wrist rest with a three layer of rolled bubble wrap with a hand towel wrapped around it, because of rough edge of plywood bench keyboard was on. later, i made up a small one to rest my wrist on for mouse. years later, when doctors discover problems of nerve compression, i was glad that i that i started with a c/d grade board for bench. when gel pads came out, i got a long one that allows me to use it for both keyboard and a logitech thumb marble. i bought thumb marble when it first came out and does not have a scroll wheel. holding down button and moving marble works great for dragging a scroll bar. when viewing web pages with firefox and email with thunderbird, a center key click on page brings up a 'scroll target' that allows up/down, left/right scrolling. so, even tho you have a joystick, get a thumb marble, which works better than a finger marble [i have tried both] an enjoy using computer with a minimum of hand movement when 'mousing'. i payed $50 for mine, but they can be found on ebay, $5 used to $20 nib. i have recommended them to my friends and one who has both a mid tower and laptop has one for each. another thing to consider, take a break every couple hours at keyboard and twist your wrist up/down, side to side and move them in circles along with wiggling and bending your fingers. doing same with arms, elbows and shoulders and neck also helps. getting up and moving around and bending is good also. just my 2 cents worth, but it has provided me with near to 35 years of enjoyable computing time and no cts. -- peace out. tc,hago. g . in a free world without fences, who needs gates. ** help microsoft stamp out piracy - give linux to a friend today. ** to mess up a linux box, you need to work at it. to mess up an ms windows box, you just need to *look* at it. ** learn linux: 'Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition' http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html 'The Linux Documentation Project' http://www.tldp.org/ 'LDP HOWTO-index' http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/index.html 'HowtoForge' http://howtoforge.com/ signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@redhat.com To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
Re: Question on using a Joystick as a mouse in Fedora please?
Tony Nelson wrote: A wrist rest also straightens the wrists, but applies pressure to the carpal tunnels, adding to their irritation. this true, but it is back of palm that should set on 'wrist rest'. -- peace out. tc,hago. g . in a free world without fences, who needs gates. ** help microsoft stamp out piracy - give linux to a friend today. ** to mess up a linux box, you need to work at it. to mess up an ms windows box, you just need to *look* at it. ** learn linux: 'Rute User's Tutorial and Exposition' http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html 'The Linux Documentation Project' http://www.tldp.org/ 'LDP HOWTO-index' http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/HOWTO-INDEX/index.html 'HowtoForge' http://howtoforge.com/ signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@redhat.com To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
Re: Question on using a Joystick as a mouse in Fedora please?
On Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 09:45:28 -0500, Rick Sewill rsew...@gmail.com wrote: Is there a Linux GUI program, perhaps a game, I can use, to test my joystick to build confidence the hardware and software work? Urquan Masters (uqm + data from an external website) can use a joystick. The last time I played it, I found that just using the joystick didn't stop the screen saver from kicking in. It is bad to have the screen saver activate when in the middle of a melee or when gathering resources on a nasty planet. -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@redhat.com To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
Re: RE: Question on using a Joystick as a mouse in Fedora please?
On 01/-10/-28163 08:59 PM, Smith, Herb wrote: I adopted a track ball mouse that allows you to move the cursor with your thumb and thus eliminate the necessity to have a lot of wrist movement. It works great for me. Herb Smith Hi, I also use a Logitech TB (Trackman Marble FX) where the ball is finger (rather than thumb) operated which put all the strain on my thumb as it ends up operating the Left button. So I have to reverse the mouse in System Setup (left-handed mouse) this works fine. Cheers Dave -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@redhat.com To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
Re: Question on using a Joystick as a mouse in Fedora please?
On Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 11:45 AM, Rick Sewill rsew...@gmail.com wrote: I have a question on using a Joystick as a mouse in Fedora. I wish to avoid getting carpal tunnel syndrome. I noticed, when I use regular mice, I have poor hand position. So far, my wrist is okay...but it gets red if I'm not careful. What you need is a TRACKBALL. A good, old-fashioned Trackball. I use one... the Kensington Expert Mouse 5.0 (don´t let words fool you, it´s a TRACKBALL). It uses a PS2 connection so no special drivers are needed. Find one on eBay... Your wrist moves very little -if at all- and you can move the ball with the tip of your fingers... http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Trackball-Kensington-ExpertMouse5.jpg FC -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@redhat.com To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
