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Eraserhead on Debian?

post #1 of 2
9/24/04 at 4:21am
Thread Starter 
Can anyone tell me if or how I can get an eraserhead (i think that's what it's called) working on a notebook running Debian? I'm pretty much a linux noobie way in over his head (not really, I've been using Debian for a while but I'm nowhere near pro) . I have an old Compaq Armada 3500 with no optical or floppy drive. I was able to install Debian on it and I do just fine in the terminal. Once i start the x server though the system won't recognize a usb mouse or the eraserhead. Maybe i forgot to install the right packages?

Any help would be greatly appreciated
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post #2 of 2
9/24/04 at 3:27pm
You have a couple of scenarios to try:

(1) Can you use the mouse while working on the command-line?

(1.a) If so, check out your Xorg.conf/XF86.conf. See if the mouse is configured as using the gpm driver, not a regular mouse device (/dev/gpm instead of /dev/mouse or something like that).

(1.b) If it doesn't work under X using gpm, then shut off X, go to the CLI, and turn off GPM. This can usually done by going '/etc/init.d/gpm stop'. Once it's off, you need to go into Xorg/XF86.conf and change the mouse device to the port that it is actually connected on. The configuration file for GPM (usually found in /etc) may provide some clues. The normal device is /dev/mouse. Make sure you set the different mouse options (can't remember them all now) to sane settings within the X config file. Then, try X and see if it works.

(2) In case the mouse doesn't work on the CLI to begin with, follow the steps in section (1.b).

(3) MY FAVORITE: Burn a Knoppix CD (latest version, hopefully) and boot with it. The automatic detection works wonders. Once you've booted into Knoppix's X, check out their configuration files to see how the mouse is configured. Since Knoppix is based on Debian, it makes things a lot easier. Once you have the correct settings for the mouse, simply reboot into Debian and test those out on your own installation. This will also tip you off as to what modules you need to get your USB mouse working.

It might take some work, but getting eraserheads to work on Debian shouldn't be that hard.

Regards,

zakaluka2.
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