moused/msconvd/msconvd.8

.\"-
.\" SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-4-Clause
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 1996
.\"	Mike Pritchard <mpp@FreeBSD.org>.  All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
.\"    must display the following acknowledgement:
.\"	This product includes software developed by Mike Pritchard.
.\" 4. Neither the name of the author nor the names of its contributors
.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
.\"    without specific prior written permission.
.\"
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
.Dd May 18, 2025
.Dt MSCONVD 8
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm msconvd
.Nd mouse protocol conversion daemon
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm
.Op Fl DPRcdfs
.Op Fl I Ar file
.Op Fl F Ar rate
.Op Fl r Ar resolution
.Op Fl S Ar baudrate
.Op Fl t Ar mousetype
.Op Fl l Ar level
.Fl p Ar port
.Pp
.Nm
.Op Fl Pd
.Fl p Ar port
.Fl i Ar info
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
utility and the
.Xr moused 8
driver work together to support legacy devices like COM,
.Xr ams 4
mices and X10 remotes as well.
.Xr psm 4 ,
.Xr ums 4
and some other devices are supported too but not recomended to use with
.Nm
unless kernel is compiled without
.Dq option EVDEV_SUPPORT .
The
.Nm
listens to the specified port for mouse data, decodes and then passes
it via input event device a.k.a evdev to consumer aplications like
.Xr moused 8
or
.Xr libinput 1 .
It does not display the mouse pointer on the screen or provide cut and
paste functions.
The msconv daemon converts translation movement, button press/release
events and movement of the roller or the wheel if available.
.Pp
.Pp
If the
.Nm
receives the signal
.Dv SIGHUP ,
it will reopen the mouse port and reinitialize itself.
Useful if
the mouse is attached/detached while the system is suspended.
.Pp
If the
.Nm
receives the signal
.Dv SIGUSR1 ,
it will stop passing mouse events.
Sending the signal
.Dv SIGUSR1
again will resume passing mouse events.
Useful if your typing on a laptop is
interrupted by accidentally touching the mouse pad.
.Pp
The following options are available:
.Bl -tag -width indent
.It Fl D
Lower DTR on the serial port.
This option is valid only if
.Ar mousesystems
is selected as the protocol type.
The DTR line may need to be dropped for a 3-button mouse
to operate in the
.Ar mousesystems
mode.
.It Fl F Ar rate
Set the report rate (reports/sec) of the device if supported.
.It Fl I Ar file
Write the process id of the
.Nm
utility in the specified file.
Without this option, the process id will be stored in
.Pa /var/run/moused.pid .
.It Fl P
Do not start the Plug and Play COM device enumeration procedure
when identifying the serial mouse.
If this option is given together with the
.Fl i
option, the
.Nm
utility will not be able to print useful information for the serial mouse.
.It Fl R
Lower RTS on the serial port.
This option is valid only if
.Ar mousesystems
is selected as the protocol type by the
.Fl t
option below.
It is often used with the
.Fl D
option above.
Both RTS and DTR lines may need to be dropped for
a 3-button mouse to operate in the
.Ar mousesystems
mode.
.It Fl S Ar baudrate
Select the baudrate for the serial port (1200 to 9600).
Not all serial mice support this option.
.It Fl c
Some mice report middle button down events
as if the left and right buttons are being pressed.
This option handles this.
.It Fl d
Enable debugging messages.
.It Fl f
Do not become a daemon and instead run as a foreground process.
Useful for testing and debugging.
.It Fl i Ar info
Print specified information and quit.
Available pieces of
information are:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -compact -width modelxxx
.It Ar port
Port (device file) name, i.e.\&
.Pa /dev/cuau0 ,
and
.Pa /dev/psm0 .
.It Ar if
Interface type: serial, bus, inport or ps/2.
.It Ar type
Protocol type.
It is one of the types listed under the
.Fl t
option below or
.Ar sysmouse
if the driver supports the
.Ar sysmouse
data format standard.
.It Ar model
Mouse model.
The
.Nm
utility may not always be able to identify the model.
.It Ar all
All of the above items.
Print port, interface, type and model in this order
in one line.
.El
.Pp
If the
.Nm
utility cannot determine the requested information, it prints
.Dq Li unknown
or
.Dq Li generic .
.It Fl l Ar level
Specifies at which level
.Nm
should operate the mouse driver.
Refer to
.Sx Operation Levels
in
.Xr psm 4
for more information on this.
.It Fl p Ar port
Use
.Ar port
to communicate with the mouse.
.It Fl r Ar resolution
Set the resolution of the device; in Dots Per Inch, or
.Ar low ,
.Ar medium-low ,
.Ar medium-high
or
.Ar high .
This option may not be supported by all the device.
.It Fl s
Select a baudrate of 9600 for the serial line.
Not all serial mice support this option.
.It Fl t Ar type
Specify the protocol type of the mouse attached to the port.
You may explicitly specify a type listed below, or use
.Ar auto
to let the
.Nm
utility automatically select an appropriate protocol for the given
mouse.
If you entirely omit this option in the command line,
.Fl t Ar auto
is assumed.
Under normal circumstances,
you need to use this option only if the
.Nm
utility is not able to detect the protocol automatically
(see
.Sx "Configuring Mouse Protocol Conversion Daemon" ) .
.Pp
Note that if a protocol type is specified with this option, the
.Fl P
option above is implied and Plug and Play COM device enumeration
procedure will be disabled.
.Pp
Also note that if your mouse is attached to the PS/2 mouse port, you should
always choose
.Ar auto
or
.Ar ps/2 ,
regardless of the brand and model of the mouse.
Likewise, if your
mouse is attached to the bus mouse port, choose
.Ar auto
or
.Ar busmouse .
Serial mouse protocols will not work with these mice.
.Pp
For the USB mouse, the protocol must be
.Ar auto .
No other protocol will work with the USB mouse.
.Pp
Valid types for this option are
listed below.
.Pp
For the serial mouse:
.Bl -tag -compact -width mousesystemsxxx
.It Ar microsoft
Microsoft serial mouse protocol.
Most 2-button serial mice use this protocol.
.It Ar intellimouse
Microsoft IntelliMouse protocol.
Genius NetMouse,
.Tn ASCII
Mie Mouse,
Logitech MouseMan+ and FirstMouse+ use this protocol too.
Other mice with a roller/wheel may be compatible with this protocol.
.It Ar mousesystems
MouseSystems 5-byte protocol.
3-button mice may use this protocol.
.It Ar mmseries
MM Series mouse protocol.
.It Ar logitech
Logitech mouse protocol.
Note that this is for old Logitech models.
.Ar mouseman
or
.Ar intellimouse
should be specified for newer models.
.It Ar mouseman
Logitech MouseMan and TrackMan protocol.
Some 3-button mice may be compatible
with this protocol.
Note that MouseMan+ and FirstMouse+ use
.Ar intellimouse
protocol rather than this one.
.It Ar glidepoint
ALPS GlidePoint protocol.
.It Ar thinkingmouse
Kensington ThinkingMouse protocol.
.It Ar mmhitab
Hitachi tablet protocol.
.It Ar x10mouseremote
X10 MouseRemote.
.It Ar kidspad
Genius Kidspad and Easypad protocol.
.It Ar versapad
Interlink VersaPad protocol.
.It Ar gtco_digipad
GTCO Digipad protocol.
.El
.Pp
For the bus and InPort mouse:
.Bl -tag -compact -width mousesystemsxxx
.It Ar busmouse
This is the only protocol type available for
the bus and InPort mouse and should be specified for any bus mice
and InPort mice, regardless of the brand.
.El
.Pp
For the PS/2 mouse:
.Bl -tag -compact -width mousesystemsxxx
.It Ar ps/2
This is the only protocol type available for the PS/2 mouse
and should be specified for any PS/2 mice, regardless of the brand.
.El
.Pp
For the USB mouse,
.Ar auto
is the only protocol type available for the USB mouse
and should be specified for any USB mice, regardless of the brand.
.El
.El
.Ss Configuring Mouse Protocol Conversion Daemon
The first thing you need to know is the interface type
of the mouse you are going to use.
It can be determined by looking at the connector of the mouse.
The serial mouse has a D-Sub female 9- or 25-pin connector.
The bus and InPort mice have either a D-Sub male 9-pin connector
or a round DIN 9-pin connector.
The PS/2 mouse is equipped with a small, round DIN 6-pin connector.
Some mice come with adapters with which the connector can
be converted to another.
If you are to use such an adapter,
remember the connector at the very end of the mouse/adapter pair is
what matters.
The USB mouse has a flat rectangular connector.
.Pp
The next thing to decide is a port to use for the given interface.
The PS/2 mouse is always at
.Pa /dev/psm0 .
There may be more than one serial port to which the serial
mouse can be attached.
Many people often assign the first, built-in
serial port
.Pa /dev/cuau0
to the mouse.
You can attach multiple USB mice to your system or to your USB hub.
They are accessible as
.Pa /dev/ums0 , /dev/ums1 ,
and so on.
.Pp
You may want to create a symbolic link
.Pa /dev/mouse
pointing to the real port to which the mouse is connected, so that you
can easily distinguish which is your
.Dq mouse
port later.
.Pp
The next step is to guess the appropriate protocol type for the mouse.
The
.Nm
utility may be able to automatically determine the protocol type.
Run the
.Nm
utility with the
.Fl i
option and see what it says.
If the command can identify
the protocol type, no further investigation is necessary on your part.
You may start the daemon without explicitly specifying a protocol type
(see
.Sx EXAMPLES ) .
.Pp
The command may print
.Ar sysmouse
if the mouse driver supports this protocol type.
.Pp
Note that the
.Dv type
and
.Dv model
printed by the
.Fl i
option do not necessarily match the product name of the pointing device
in question, but they may give the name of the device with which it is
compatible.
.Pp
If the
.Fl i
option yields nothing, you need to specify a protocol type to the
.Nm
utility by the
.Fl t
option.
You have to make a guess and try.
There is rule of thumb:
.Pp
.Bl -enum -compact -width 1.X
.It
The bus and InPort mice always use
.Ar busmouse
protocol regardless of the brand of the mouse.
.It
The
.Ar ps/2
protocol should always be specified for the PS/2 mouse
regardless of the brand of the mouse.
.It
You must specify the
.Ar auto
protocol for the USB mouse.
.It
Most 2-button serial mice support the
.Ar microsoft
protocol.
.It
3-button serial mice may work with the
.Ar mousesystems
protocol.
If it does not, it may work with the
.Ar microsoft
protocol although
the third (middle) button will not function.
3-button serial mice may also work with the
.Ar mouseman
protocol under which the third button may function as expected.
.It
3-button serial mice may have a small switch to choose between
.Dq MS
and
.Dq PC ,
or
.Dq 2
and
.Dq 3 .
.Dq MS
or
.Dq 2
usually mean the
.Ar microsoft
protocol.
.Dq PC
or
.Dq 3
will choose the
.Ar mousesystems
protocol.
.It
If the mouse has a roller or a wheel, it may be compatible with the
.Ar intellimouse
protocol.
.El
.Pp
To test if the selected protocol type is correct for the given mouse,
ensure the
.Xr moused 8
is running in auto port mode,
.Pp
.Dl "moused -p auto"
.Pp
start the
.Nm
in the foreground mode,
.Pp
.Dl "msconvd -f -p <selected_port> -t <selected_protocol>"
.Pp
and see if the mouse pointer travels correctly
according to the mouse movement.
Then try cut & paste features by
clicking the left, right and middle buttons.
Type ^C to stop
the command.
.Ss Multiple Mice
As many instances of the
.Nm
as the number of mice attached to the system may be run simultaneously;
one instance for each mouse.
This is useful if the user wants to use the built-in PS/2 pointing device
of a laptop computer while on the road, but wants to use a serial
mouse when s/he attaches the system to the docking station in the office.
Run two
.Nm
and then the application program e.g.
.Xr moused 8
will always see mouse data from either mouse.
When the serial mouse is not attached, the corresponding
.Nm
will not detect any movement or button state change and the application
program will only see mouse data coming from the daemon for the
PS/2 mouse.
In contrast when both mice are attached and both of them
are moved at the same time in this configuration,
the mouse pointer will travel across the screen just as if movement of
the mice is combined all together.
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width /dev/input/event%d -compact
.It Pa /dev/input/event%d
input event device
.It Pa /dev/psm%d
PS/2 mouse driver
.It Pa /dev/cuau%d
serial port
.It Pa /dev/ttyv%d
virtual consoles
.It Pa /dev/ums%d
USB mouse driver
.It Pa /var/run/msconvd.pid
process id of the currently running
.Nm
utility
.It Pa /var/run/MouseRemote
UNIX-domain stream socket for X10 MouseRemote events
.El
.Sh EXAMPLES
.Dl "msconvd -p /dev/cuau0 -i type"
.Pp
Let the
.Nm
utility determine the protocol type of the mouse at the serial port
.Pa /dev/cuau0 .
If successful, the command will print the type, otherwise it will say
.Dq Li unknown .
.Bd -literal -offset indent
msconvd -p /dev/cuau0
.Ed
.Pp
If the
.Nm
utility is able to identify the protocol type of the mouse at the specified
port automatically, you can start the daemon without the
.Fl t
option.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
msconvd -p /dev/mouse -t microsoft
.Ed
.Pp
Start the mouse daemon on the serial port
.Pa /dev/mouse .
The protocol type
.Ar microsoft
is explicitly specified by the
.Fl t
option.
.Pp
If you add
.Pp
.Dl "ALL ALL = NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/killall -USR1 msconvd"
.Pp
to your
.Pa /usr/local/etc/sudoers
file, and bind
.Pp
.Dl "killall -USR1 msconvd"
.Pp
to a key in your window manager, you can suspend mouse events on your laptop if
you keep brushing over the mouse pad while typing.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr moused 8 ,
.Xr kill 1 ,
.Xr xset 1 ,
.Xr psm 4 ,
.Xr screen 4 ,
.Xr sysmouse 4 ,
.Xr uart 4
.Sh STANDARDS
The
.Nm
utility partially supports
.Dq Plug and Play External COM Device Specification
in order to support PnP serial mice.
However, due to various degrees of conformance to the specification by
existing serial mice, it does not strictly follow the version 1.0 of the
standard.
Even with this less strict approach,
it may not always determine an appropriate protocol type
for the given serial mouse.
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
utility first appeared in
.Fx 15.0 .
It is a cropped-down version of
.Fx 14.0
.Xr moused 8
utility originated back in
.Fx 2.2 .
.Sh AUTHORS
.An -nosplit
The
.Nm
utility is based on
.Xr moused 8
written by
.An Michael Smith Aq Mt msmith@FreeBSD.org .
This manual page is extracted from
.Xr moused 8
page written by
.An Mike Pritchard Aq Mt mpp@FreeBSD.org .
The command and manual page have since been updated by
.An Kazutaka Yokota Aq Mt yokota@FreeBSD.org .
.Sh CAVEATS
Many pad devices behave as if the first (left) button were pressed if
the user
.Dq taps
the surface of the pad.
In contrast, some ALPS GlidePoint and Interlink VersaPad models
treat the tapping action
as fourth button events.
Use the option
.Dq Fl m Li 1=4
of
.Xr moused 8
for these models
to obtain the same effect as the other pad devices.