Copy: [email protected] (Alex Sklemin)

Alex,

On Friday, May 23, 2025 10:57:05 AM Mountain Standard Time Alex Sklemin wrote:

Dear Colleagues,

Several years ago, I encountered an issue with the lack of drivers for a
COM mouse. While this may not be a common problem today, it was a critical need in my case. Additionally, during my time as a system administrator in Russian hospitals, I worked with limited IT infrastructure, where computers from 2007–2013 were still in regular use. A driver like this could be useful for others in similar situations.

I have developed a driver, which is available here: https://github.com/alexeysklemin/mouse_driver/tree/main

I would like to inquire about the possibility of contributing this driver
to the community. I have carefully reviewed the Social Contract and believe my code aligns with its principles. If it does not meet the requirements
for official inclusion, I would appreciate guidance on how to distribute
this driver effectively to Debian users.

Given the context of your email, I assume there isn’t a suitable COM mouse driver as part of the Linux kernel. I find that surprising, but I admit I don’t have any personal experience with using a COM mouse on Linux.

If that is indeed the case, have you considered submitting your COM mouse driver directly to the Linux kernel project? I would assume that would be a more appropriate place for it, and it would then benefit every Linux distribution.

https://www.kernel.org/

--
Soren Stoutner
[email protected]
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--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Fri, May 23, 2025 at 09:57:05PM +0400, Alex Sklemin wrote:

Several years ago, I encountered an issue with the lack of drivers for a
COM mouse. While this may not be a common problem today, it was a critical >need in my case. Additionally, during my time as a system administrator in >Russian hospitals, I worked with limited IT infrastructure, where computers >from 2007–2013 were still in regular use. A driver like this could be >useful for others in similar situations.

I have developed a driver, which is available here: >https://github.com/alexeysklemin/mouse_driver/tree/main

I wouldn't call this a driver, this seems to be a userspace executable
that reads the data that a mouse (of some specific hardware variety, apparently?) sends, parses them and prints them to stdout.

I would like to inquire about the possibility of contributing this driver
to the community. I have carefully reviewed the Social Contract and believe >my code aligns with its principles. If it does not meet the requirements
for official inclusion, I would appreciate guidance on how to distribute
this driver effectively to Debian users.

Assuming this can be actually useful to some Debian users, and you want to make and maintain a package in Debian yourself, you can follow https://mentors.debian.net/intro-maintainers/ , but this software won't
find a sponsor in the current state, e.g. because no prospective user will know what to do with it.

--
WBR, wRAR

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--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

Hi Alex,

On 23/05/2025 18:57, Alex Sklemin wrote:

Dear Colleagues,

Several years ago, I encountered an issue with the lack of drivers for a
COM mouse. While this may not be a common problem today, it was a
critical need in my case. Additionally, during my time as a system administrator in Russian hospitals, I worked with limited IT
infrastructure, where computers from 2007–2013 were still in regular
use. A driver like this could be useful for others in similar situations.

I have developed a driver, which is available here: https://github.com/alexeysklemin/mouse_driver/tree/main <https:// github.com/alexeysklemin/mouse_driver/tree/main>

I would like to inquire about the possibility of contributing this
driver to the community. I have carefully reviewed the Social Contract
and believe my code aligns with its principles. If it does not meet the requirements for official inclusion, I would appreciate guidance on how
to distribute this driver effectively to Debian users.

Great work getting this to work from userspace where it's hard to have a reliable driver.

Looking at your code, it looks like a standard serial mouse protocol.
The good news is that it's supported by the kernel through the sermouse
driver [1]. Compare your input loop with sermouse_process_ms() and they
should be compatible (3 bytes, Left/Right button, X/Y relative).

Perhaps try to configure the kernel to attach a mouse to /dev/ttyS0
instead? This might help [2]


1. https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/input/mouse/sermouse.c
2. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Serial_input_device_to_kernel_input


--
Regards,
Ahmad

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

bjorn@miraculix:~$ apt show inputattach
Package: inputattach
Version: 1:1.8.1-1
Priority: optional
Section: utils
Source: joystick
Maintainer: Stephen Kitt <[email protected]>
Installed-Size: 73.7 kB
Depends: libc6 (>= 2.15), libsystemd0
Homepage: https://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxconsole/
Tag: hardware::input, hardware::input:joystick, hardware::input:keyboard,
hardware::input:mouse, implemented-in::c, interface::commandline,
interface::daemon, role::program
Download-Size: 29.1 kB
APT-Sources: http://deb.debian.org/debian bookworm/main amd64 Packages Description: utility to connect serial-attached peripherals to the input subsystem
inputattach connects legacy serial-attached input peripherals to the input
subsystem: keyboards, mice, joysticks, touch-screens...
.
Amongst other things this allows legacy mice to be accessed via the
/dev/input/mice multiplexer.
.
Supported devices include:
* Serial-attached keyboards including the Apple Newton keyboard, DEC LK201
/ LK401 keyboards, the Stowaway keyboard, Sun type 4 and 5 keyboards,
standard PS/2 keyboards with a serial adapter
* Serial mice using Genius, Logitech, Microsoft or Mouse Systems protocols
* Serial-attached touchscreens including those manufactured by 3M, ELO,
Fujitsu, Penmount, Touchright, Touchwindow
* Serial-attached joysticks including I-Force, SpaceBall, SpaceOrb, Gravis
Stinger, WingMan Warrior
* The Handykey Twiddler used as a joystick or a chording keyboard

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

From: [email protected]

Dear Colleagues,

Several years ago, I encountered an issue with the lack of drivers for a
COM mouse. While this may not be a common problem today, it was a critical
need in my case. Additionally, during my time as a system administrator in Russian hospitals, I worked with limited IT infrastructure, where computers from 2007–2013 were still in regular use. A driver like this could be
useful for others in similar situations.

I have developed a driver, which is available here: https://github.com/alexeysklemin/mouse_driver/tree/main

I would like to inquire about the possibility of contributing this driver
to the community. I have carefully reviewed the Social Contract and believe
my code aligns with its principles. If it does not meet the requirements
for official inclusion, I would appreciate guidance on how to distribute
this driver effectively to Debian users.

Best regards,
*Alexey Sklemin*
C++ Tester

<div dir="ltr"><p class="gmail-ds-markdown-paragraph" style="margin:13.716px 0px;font-size:16.002px;line-height:28.575px;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:DeepSeek-CJK-patch,Inter,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,&quot;Segoe UI&quot;,Roboto,&quot;
Noto Sans&quot;,Ubuntu,Cantarell,&quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Oxygen,&quot;Open Sans&quot;,sans-serif">Dear Colleagues,</p><p class="gmail-ds-markdown-paragraph" style="margin:13.716px 0px;font-size:16.002px;line-height:28.575px;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-
family:DeepSeek-CJK-patch,Inter,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,&quot;Segoe UI&quot;,Roboto,&quot;Noto Sans&quot;,Ubuntu,Cantarell,&quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Oxygen,&quot;Open Sans&quot;,sans-serif">Several years ago, I encountered an issue
with the lack of drivers for a COM mouse. While this may not be a common problem today, it was a critical need in my case. Additionally, during my time as a system administrator in Russian hospitals, I worked with limited IT infrastructure, where
computers from 2007–2013 were still in regular use. A driver like this could be useful for others in similar situations.</p><p class="gmail-ds-markdown-paragraph" style="margin:13.716px 0px;font-size:16.002px;line-height:28.575px;color:rgb(64,64,64);
font-family:DeepSeek-CJK-patch,Inter,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,&quot;Segoe UI&quot;,Roboto,&quot;Noto Sans&quot;,Ubuntu,Cantarell,&quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Oxygen,&quot;Open Sans&quot;,sans-serif">I have developed a driver, which is
available here:<br><a href="https://github.com/alexeysklemin/mouse_driver/tree/main" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer" style="color:rgb(59,130,246);border-radius:6.858px;border-width:1.92px 2.56px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgba(255,255,255,0);text-
decoration-line:none">https://github.com/alexeysklemin/mouse_driver/tree/main</a></p><p class="gmail-ds-markdown-paragraph" style="margin:13.716px 0px;font-size:16.002px;line-height:28.575px;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:DeepSeek-CJK-patch,Inter,system-
ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,&quot;Segoe UI&quot;,Roboto,&quot;Noto Sans&quot;,Ubuntu,Cantarell,&quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Oxygen,&quot;Open Sans&quot;,sans-serif">I would like to inquire about the possibility of contributing this driver to the
community. I have carefully reviewed the Social Contract and believe my code aligns with its principles. If it does not meet the requirements for official inclusion, I would appreciate guidance on how to distribute this driver effectively to Debian users.
</p><p class="gmail-ds-markdown-paragraph" style="margin:13.716px 0px;font-size:16.002px;line-height:28.575px;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:DeepSeek-CJK-patch,Inter,system-ui,-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,&quot;Segoe UI&quot;,Roboto,&quot;Noto Sans&
quot;,Ubuntu,Cantarell,&quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;,Oxygen,&quot;Open Sans&quot;,sans-serif">Best regards,<br><strong>Alexey Sklemin</strong><br>C++ Tester</p></div>

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)