Ubuntu
xorg package

Sony Viao keyboard/mouse/touchpad conflict

Asked by sc0jack

Hi all,

Sitrep -
    Platform: Sony Viao S4M (Geforce Go 6200/128meg, 1600Mhz Centrino, 1.2 Gb main memory, Synaptics touchpad)
    OS: Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy/Dev)
    Window manager: Gnome 2.22.1

Problem:
    I use a USB mouse when playing games on this laptop, as opposed to using the touchpad which is not fit for the task. The touchpad never works, even if I boot up without the USB mouse connected. When the USB mouse is connected, it seems to work fine on the face of it.

When I try to play a game, eg OpenArena (Linux native), Darwinia (Linux native) or Counterstrike Source (Steam under Wine), or any game that requires simultaneous mouse and keyboard use, there seems to be some kind of conflict between the mouse and keyboard. For example, in counterstrike, I can run forward and strafe sideways (keys "w", and "a" or "d" held down), or move the mouse around, but not both at the same time. When moving with the keyboard, the mouse just freezes and when I let go of the keyboard, there's a short delay and then the mouse crosshairs jump to where they *should* have been had everything been working. It's almost as if the mouse input is in a queue somewhere.

In Darwinia, again all appears fine until you try to hold TAB to bring up the build menu. You have to hold TAB and use the mouse to navigate the menu that pops up, but of course, I can't use both keyboard and mouse at the same time, so the game is impossible to play.

Config info:
scott@scott-laptop:~/bin$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d3)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) SATA Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV43 [GeForce Go 6200/6400] (rev a1)
06:05.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI7420 CardBus Controller
06:05.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCI7x20 1394a-2000 OHCI Two-Port PHY/Link-Layer Controller
06:05.3 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments PCI7420/7620 Combo CardBus, 1394a-2000 OHCI and SD/MS-Pro Controller
06:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82562ET/EZ/GT/GZ - PRO/100 VE (LOM) Ethernet Controller Mobile (rev 03)
06:0b.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection (rev 05)

scott@scott-laptop:~/bin$ lsusb
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0f62:1001 Acrox Technologies Co., Ltd (** Scott - this is the USB mouse device)
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 0000:0000
scott@scott-laptop:~/bin$

Dump of /etc/X11/xorg.conf (commented header removed):

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
        Driver "kbd"
        Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
        Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
        Option "XkbLayout" "uk"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier "Configured Mouse"
        Driver "vmmouse"
        Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
        Driver "synaptics"
        Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
        Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
        Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
        Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "0"
        Option "SHMConfig" "on"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier "Configured Video Device"
        Driver "nvidia"
        Option "NoLogo" "True"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Default Screen"
        Monitor "Configured Monitor"
        Device "Configured Video Device"
        Defaultdepth 24
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier "Default Layout"
  screen "Default Screen"
        Inputdevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection
Section "Module"
        Load "glx"
EndSection

I would have appended the Xorg.0.log file as well, but it's quite large and I'm not even sure right now that I'm in the right forum. Can anyone advise me if there's anything I can do to get rid of this annoying conflict? Happy to provide logs/command outputs etc if that will help.

Cheers,

Scott.

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sc0jack
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Revision history for this message
sc0jack (sc0jack) said : 		#1

It's also worth excluding the games software itself as a possible cause, as this problem can be reproduced from a blank Gnome desktop - hold down "a" and wave the mouse around. The mouse freezes until the key is released, then it waits a second, then the pointer jumps to where I believe it would have ended up had all been well.

Scott.

Revision history for this message
sc0jack (sc0jack) said : 		#2

More info:

scott@scott-laptop:~$ dmesg|grep input
[ 22.055993] input: Macintosh mouse button emulation as /devices/virtual/input/input0
[ 22.104229] input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input1
[ 25.621700] input: Acrox USB & PS/2 Mouse as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.1/usb2/2-1/2-1:1.0/input/input2
[ 25.632804] input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.10 Mouse [Acrox USB & PS/2 Mouse] on usb-0000:00:1d.1-1
[ 29.991161] input: PC Speaker as /devices/platform/pcspkr/input/input3
[ 30.707632] input: Lid Switch as /devices/virtual/input/input4
[ 30.708113] input: Power Button (CM) as /devices/virtual/input/input5
[ 31.489148] input: PS/2 Mouse as /devices/virtual/input/input6
[ 33.935408] input: AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint as /devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input7
[ 34.452256] input: Video Bus as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:01/LNXVIDEO:00/input/input8
[ 34.634971] input: Video Bus as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/LNXVIDEO:01/input/input9
[ 34.670988] input: Sony Vaio Keys as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:18/SNY6001:00/input/input10
[ 34.698191] input: Sony Vaio Jogdial as /devices/virtual/input/input11
[ 41.952896] input: Mouseemu virtual keyboard as /devices/virtual/input/input12
[ 41.976582] input: Mouseemu virtual mouse as /devices/virtual/input/input13
[ 31.532468] input: Acrox USB & PS/2 Mouse as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.1/usb2/2-1/2-1:1.0/input/input14
[ 31.711215] input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.10 Mouse [Acrox USB & PS/2 Mouse] on usb-0000:00:1d.1-1
[ 32.097633] input: PS/2 Mouse as /devices/virtual/input/input15
[ 32.150689] input: AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint as /devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input16
scott@scott-laptop:~$

Questions that spring to my poor befuddled mind:

Macintosh mouse emulation?? what the...
Glidepoint (touchpad) appears to have two entries - that look wrong to anyone else?
Jogdial... Hmm. Nope - no jogdial on this laptop.
Mouseemu - do i really need this? Could this be conflicting with the real mouse/keyboard?
Acrox mouse (the USB mouse) appears to be recognised in several different places. Could it be getting configured both by the HID and a specific device driver?
PS/2 mouse - good grief. how many mouse drivers does ubuntu need?

Any ideas about any of this would be greatly appreciated.

Scott.

Revision history for this message
sc0jack (sc0jack) said : 		#3

Ok, solved it myself.

From Ubuntu Hardy package details for mouseemu:
------[quote]
http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/utils/mouseemu

Mouseemu is a daemon to emulate mouse buttons on trackpads with only one button. It lets you:

 - emulate middle and right click
 - emulate mouse wheel
 - block trackpad while typing

It was initially developed for Apple PowerBooks and iBooks, but it may be useful on other architectures as well.

This program only works when booting a 2.6 kernel because it uses the new uinput interface to emulate the mouse.
------[/quote]

It would appear that the mouseemu package was installed when i upgraded my ubuntu in the past, either from Feisty to Gutsy, or Gutsy to Hardy. I'm fairly sure that the problem I was having was occuring in Gutsy too. It would appear that having mouseemu installed is "A Bad Thing" on a Sony Viao. The trackpad refused to work at all and the "block trackpad while typing" feature would also appear to conflict with any other mice you happen to have attached to the laptop as opposed to (or perhaps as well as) the touchpad.

Anyhow, uninstalling the mouseemu package has fixed the problem outright. I'll do some testing over the next few days to see if there are any other effects. Here's how dmesg looks with the offending package removed:

scott@scott-laptop:~$ dmesg|grep input
[ 14.665152] input: Macintosh mouse button emulation as /devices/virtual/input/input0
[ 14.701072] input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input1
[ 18.230546] input: Acrox USB & PS/2 Mouse as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.1/usb2/2-1/2-1:1.0/input/input2
[ 18.241657] input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.10 Mouse [Acrox USB & PS/2 Mouse] on usb-0000:00:1d.1-1
[ 22.886306] input: PC Speaker as /devices/platform/pcspkr/input/input3
[ 23.469763] input: Lid Switch as /devices/virtual/input/input4
[ 23.470226] input: Power Button (CM) as /devices/virtual/input/input5
[ 24.394433] input: PS/2 Mouse as /devices/virtual/input/input6
[ 24.436609] input: AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint as /devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input7
[ 25.300147] input: Video Bus as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:01/LNXVIDEO:00/input/input8
[ 25.324267] input: Video Bus as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/LNXVIDEO:01/input/input9
[ 25.949964] input: Sony Vaio Keys as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/device:00/PNP0A08:00/device:18/SNY6001:00/input/input10
[ 25.979253] input: Sony Vaio Jogdial as /devices/virtual/input/input11
scott@scott-laptop:~$

I don't know what happens now with this. Can anyone else verify this issue on another Viao, or any other vendor hardware? Can this be classified as a "bug" with mouseemu? Should mouseemu really be included in the standard distribution of Ubuntu if it's going to cause these issues?

Woohoo! All my games work again! =D

Scott.