Two-button mouse mode

Possibly this was asked before: Can RISC OS Pi be configured to support a two-button mouse – like RPCEmu two-button mouse mode?

You can redefine the actions of any key on keyboard or mouse by using James Peacock’s module KeyMapper. For example, you could switch the operation of the Menu button to the Adjust button so as to have Menu available on a two button mouse.

But if you use only a two button mouse you lose the functionality of one button which, in the above example, means you lose the facility of Adjust, and Adjust is a principal piece of the ergonomics of the RISC OS desktop.

When using a real mouse, however, there is usually nowadays a central scroll wheel which can be pressed to give a middle mouse click, and that one could he assigned to Adjust when Menu is assigned to the right button.

See also advice here

in the case of a laptop, there will be no scroll wheel to use as the third button, so a key has to be defined. The menu key is usually the default for the middle button.

in the case of a laptop, there will be no scroll wheel to use as the third button, so a key has to be defined.

Probably depends on the laptop.
I’m sitting here looking at the glidepoint and substitute mouse buttons – three buttons above and only two below.
Mind you it’s a Windows 7 era DELL, but the more modern work E5470 also has the same button pattern.

I hate those things though, so there’s normally a Logitech wireless mouse plugged in that presents me with 3 buttons.

A little while back I bought a “Pen Mouse” to see how useful it would be with my Pi-based portable screen. It does only have two buttons and the scroll wheel is just that. As a result I explored how I might implement both Menu and Adjust and came up with a novel solution: AtoM. Writing it also served as an interesting way to get to grips with vectors.

When you click Select the use of the second button toggles from Menu to Adjust and back. This is indicated by a change of colour of the pointer. I am not sure how easy to use anyone else might find it, but I did get to a quite natural facility after a bit.

Mind you it’s a Windows 7 era DELL, but the more modern work E5470 also has the same button pattern.

I have a different Dell – inspiron 15 7000. This one has a large touchpad part of which is ALSO the two buttons. As a result moving your finger slightly when pressing the button moves the cursor. Worse, hovering a thumb over the button while trying to position the cursor usually results in wild leaps of position. There seems to be no way to tell the system not to use the button area as part of the pad.

(The logic seems to be to use it as if it were a smartphone – tapping anywhere on the touchpad instead of using buttons.}

As a result I also need an external mouse, which gets challenging when there’s little in the way of surface to use it on, e.g. while sitting in a car.

Which reminds me that I have a spare trackball. This one crashes the RPC if I use it with the KVM, so I managed to buy an older model that works with all the computers.

There seems to be no way to tell the system not to use the button area as part of the pad.

Here there’s a DELL pointing devices utility – check the hidden icons in the right hand whatever they call it area of the iconbar. One of the settings allows the buttons to be turned off and also allows settings to disable/enable that little nipple joystick in the keys (GHB) and (finally) the ability to disable the touchpad and “pointstick” when a mouse is plugged in, that last may work with the fully touch version you have.

Which reminds me that I have a spare trackball.

I used to have one but sent it to Jochen Lueg (IIRC) to help cope with his RSI.

Now thinking one would have been useful for my proposed multiple-timer app and recipe screen I’m thinking about for the new kitchen. I wonder if an adapter could get your spare to work with a Pi?

The timer idea is to have multiple on-screen programmable timers that also have labels to remind you what they are/were timing! And if we’re having a screen anyway, recipes in PDF format displayed sur place  seems a reasonable addition!

Bit of a project for the shorter days and longer nights to come!

I used to have one but sent it to Jochen Lueg (IIRC)

Confirmed October 2004 from e-mail correspondence!
Must add it to my timeline!

Edit: Gosh that was a trip down memory lane! Those Pluto Boxes were a jolly good idea! 20 years of e-mails!