63 lines
2.1 KiB
Text
63 lines
2.1 KiB
Text
This is to announce gpm-1.0, available by ftp from
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iride.unipv.it:/pub/gpm/gpm-1.0.tar.gz (my site) and
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sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/Incoming/gpm-1.0.tar.gz its final destination
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on sunsite and mirrors will be /pub/Linux/system/Daemons
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What's gpm?
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Gpm ("general purpose mouse") is a user-level daemon in charge of mouse
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management. It can deliver mouse events to clients on a per-console basis.
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Its client library eases writing mouse-sensitive application which will run
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under both the Linux console and xterm.
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Gpm is part of slackware since November 1994 (gpm-0.90).
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From 0.98.x onward it supported two mice running concurrently (like you
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do with "MultiMouse") and it can repeat events to an external fifo
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(like you do with "mconv").
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What's new?
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What made me switch to 1.0 is the availability of the high-level library,
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a useful tool for mouse programmers, together with a sample application
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using that library ("hltest").
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"mouse-test" is available as well -- it is a tiny utility meant to
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help you in detecting what protocol does your mouse speak. Not too
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smart (it has to run attended), but useful when you change mouse.
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It works well with serial mice, and is otherwise untested.
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gpm-root is now capable to draw recursive menus. Console locking is still
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missing, lazy me.
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The daemon is able to manage two mice running concurrently,
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this should be useful for those owning a laptop.
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t-mouse.el is enhanced, in mode-line and vertical-line management (not by
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me, actually).
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The alpha architecture is supported.
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What about the future, after 1.0?
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Most likely I'll release bug-fix updates in the near future (I only
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own one mouse :-).
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After that I'll consider making gpm a kernel module, implementing a
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mouse-type independent mouse driver. The device driver will be
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completely compatible with applications linked with libgpm version 1.0
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or later. In this sense 1.0 is incompatible with previous versions:
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applications linked with older libraries won't run with the kernel module.
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I never use text consoles.
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Then, gpm is not important for you (unless you write mouse-sensitive
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curses-based application).
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