NewDeal Technical Support Document 217

MOUSE HELP


Tips about installing and using your mouse

This document is primarily about how to choose and install the correct mouse driver. We will assume that your mouse is in good working order and not does not need mechanical repair. Sometimes a mouse will malfunction because it's dirty. Dust and dirt which has accumulated on the ball or rollers can usually be cleaned off. Check the documentation for your mouse for the correct cleaning procedures. Some symptoms of a dirty mouse include erratic (jumpy) movement of the mouse pointer or the mouse pointer only moving in one direction, either only horizontally or only vertically.

Mice can be a matter of trial and error

We have been able to get any mouse to work properly on any machine we've tried by finding the right combination of mouse drivers. Sometimes it involves a "trial and error" procedure.

The most common "fix" is to install the driver that came with your mouse (usually something like MOUSE.COM in your autoexec.bat file or MOUSE.SYS in your config.sys file) and then choose the driver in your NewDeal software that is named "MOUSE.COM or MOUSE.SYS". Many mice come with a floppy disk that will install the mouse driver automatically. Some of them come with TSR or menu programs that might conflict with NewDeal's mouse driver. If you're having trouble, choose to not install those TSR's, if possible, or remove or disable them.

Some things to try

If you are loading the file MOUSE.COM in your AUTOEXEC.BAT, try using the MOUSE.SYS file in your CONFIG.SYS instead, or vice­versa.

If you have extended memory and you are loading the mouse driver high (with a devicehigh, hiload, or loadhigh command), try loading it normally in conventional memory.

Try to get the newest version of the mouse driver for your mouse. A new driver is usually available from the manufacturer of the mouse.

Some menu programs interfere with the operation of mice on some machines. If you use a menu program, try running without it. If that solves the problem, consider eliminating the menu program or try a different one.

If you are loading a mouse.com or mouse.sys driver, try the "MOUSE.COM or MOUSE.SYS" driver in NewDeal's Preferences. But don't stop there. If that doesn't work, try "nothing else works" or try "no idea" or try the driver that is named the same as the brand of mouse that you have or try the one that says it is compatible with the brand you have.

If you are running NewDeal from Windows, use the driver in NewDeal named "No Idea" or the one named "Windows 95 mouse support already installed."

If you are loading a mouse related file called "Cloaking," try removing it. Apparently mouse "cloaking" attempts to load the mouse driver into upper or extended memory in a way that conflicts with NewDeal software on some systems.

Hidecom

Some machines require the use of Hidecom. HIDECOM1.COM and HIDECOM2.COM are installed into the directory where you installed your NewDeal software. Hidecom is a tiny program that, when run once from your AUTOEXEC.BAT (after loading your MOUSE.COM or MOUSE.SYS driver) should prevent your mouse from freezing when you launch Preferences, NewDex, or NewComm. HIDECOM1.COM will only help if your mouse is on COM1. HIDECOM2.COM will only help if your mouse is on COM2. They will effectively hide the COM port, but could confuse other software. Programs that talk directly to the COM ports will likely not have any trouble with this.

To test whether HIDECOM will work, run it from the DOS prompt before launching your NewDeal software. If it solves your problem, then consider adding it to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.

With a little patience and experimentation, you can probably find a combination that works.

Summa-Graphics Digitizing Pad

The Summa Graphics Digitizing Pad is a pointing device that includes software SMOUSE.COM and SMOUSE.SYS which are supposed to make it emulate a Microsoft Serial mouse. The Summa Graphics tablet will work in absolute mode with the Generic Tablet driver. You must load the DOS driver that comes with the tablet.

KLH 386SX champion uses Other 2-button serial

The KLH 386SX Champion comes with a 2-button serial mouse marked "Mouse Systems." If the Mouse Systems driver does not work, try the "Other 2-button serial" driver.

Mouse Systems White Mouse, bus version

The White Mouse bus mouse is like their PC Mouse bus mouse, namely a serial mouse with a card that has a serial port at a non-standard address. Use the PCSMOUSE.COM or PCSMOUSE.SYS that comes with the mouse and the "Nothing Else Works" driver in your NewDeal software.

Packard Bell LMOUSE.COM LightMouse driver

The Packard Bell LightMouse optical mouse driver (LMOUSE.COM) apparently hides its port from DOS, which effectively hides the port from our software, too. When LMOUSE.COM is not loaded, then our software sees the ports normally and the "Mouse Systems Compatible Serial" driver works.

Icontroller Joystick by Sun Comm

A user reports that the Icontroller will work using the Microsoft Serial Mouse driver.

J-mouse pointing device

Home Row, Inc., makers of the J-mouse pointing device, tell us the device does not work with our software.

MSCMOUSE.EXE or MSCMOUSE.COM

There have been reports that NewDeal software may be incompatible with the mouse drivers named MSCMOUSE.EXE or MSCMOUSE.COM. Symptoms included KR-07 errors when renaming files, adding to the user dictionary, or trying to save files in NewCalc. Using a different DOS mouse driver solved the problem in all reported cases.

Tip for left-handed users

Are you left-handed? Do you want to switch the mouse buttons so that right clicks are left clicks and left clicks are right clicks? It's easy to do in NewDeal software. Run Preferences, Mouse and choose Left-Handed under Button Configuration.

If your software does not have an option for Button Configuration, consider upgrading to a newer version of NewDeal. While waiting for your upgrade to arrive, you can switch the buttons by editing the GEOS.INI file:

  1. Exit your NewDeal software.
  2. Use your DOS editor, Windows Notepad, or any text editor to modify your GEOS.INI file as follows:
  3. Find the section named [input].
  4. If there is no [input] section, create one.
  5. Change the line
    left handed = false
    to
    left handed = true
  6. If there is no "left handed" line, then add this line to the [input] section:
    left handed = true
  7. Save your changes to the GEOS.INI file.
If you have a three button mouse, the middle button will be unaffected.

Ever want to know which driver a mouse is actually using?

absgen.geo

genmouse.geo

kbmouse.geo

logibus.geo

logiser.geo

msbus.geo

msser.geo

msys.geo

ps2.geo

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Last Modified 17 Feb 1999