Copy: a76sklemin@gmail.com (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
soren@debian.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----

iQIzBAABCgAdFiEEJKVN2yNUZnlcqOI+wufLJ66wtgMFAmgwvNwACgkQwufLJ66w tgNCMA/+PfpLEixFeVF2saQZfevvrEJUkYYPzZIMP4svLbGQuGR3lW4rcEVTmTZF XWXNqZ4kbDAoVJNEXaGkHZTvzMbsbf3PnuIzcYXKlZHjmSTt9icwH+5bQDtbJiqA MDKt/+CH7J86DLSHNN9nsmbYLjc2GVk3bL+oHV78B8v1RJvw8uv03Cwsgs9xoXbY 0zK/IA/C0N+p/LX1TFB8qWDeKOrnPDkgWREKqiyFx5DXOnuVZzWykHiIX+t/BR4F gi1GesZBS0l/Q98p9FB1wtQAaoH/vfq103k4JSeWYcQCAsMzlIQ1MqqvO8qxq5tA d+OIJCtvXbbxoRJ0m5RjN8mfcgTb5G+lh0RyP4J08YKlvNOmXMAerMIMIaknonHx lNGOzSTh4JO9pI5Ka8LXgszcduOPjk8MbCobHhYC/aR4yYhtoAvMDAFnPLZk0yXR oQGEEgOChfjUeuHi+KRB/IyG1symP9qJkh0XUTy355loNXBJqvDCXe6PAwI7m4/C tMILYmsg3TRoc1KAwr7hCVUrB5mknQKmH3BRGcnUlHbgzUB0nEbGHn7FIFoM+uNV 2pI9CFadYUT973tPfYpRoE3GAcHKVXkhZ199cGwoXop2ytden9XcKFlUhoktQah3 ezpaGKFkQA7tzVA1oxh3xVLYqO7o4uiHz2i6qPcs3vK5eRjuV+c=
=hOAy
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--- 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

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----

iQJhBAABCgBLFiEEolIP6gqGcKZh3YxVM2L3AxpJkuEFAmgwxEktFIAAAAAAFQAP cGthLWFkZHJlc3NAZ251cGcub3Jnd3JhckBkZWJpYW4ub3JnAAoJEDNi9wMaSZLh DD8QAKQP+5lrscyQuRI/InkJ5HljDiovWio3HNOu1VZeaI+Vidrh/Qusuq4PI/gL qxAIe3beVitMrckOxeI9+4DnOhrsDCSZE/gC+E6aSkj7o4YsTpiBe+7mqcRWxQvZ gKznNw5i7rIBqZAlL5wWwofSMqMk87Cmau460LYeOVz8W45vaEgC1qR2sNwhKLPM eRAd1wcW25FVkloRngxDm6rC+FpVyyZmjYcxAz18EFUQ3jT1wDsdVqnfiwqjSTFE GjceEyEn3rU1YPAD2GgdmfmRFZInkOkjpzuoKclxsM3PnYaqZ3AMsFIXvL1pqewl aIYCOjxbZQMm0kXae7iNhOExoA4PCE1np8fYppMznOfHHEvIoFPMGHiaLMb2Rd/Z CmwSRs7XMDQmDTu1Exy21bVAFSXl9bpbhpu6yzMnJQ886us7IOz9dWLtt6bwuLGr H5aEGzjhcg90N+c8LwGE5wl69AGirrA+iGwfN1MlEdpS5UU3iFKiplkyKWJ70PSG RefJUxp/eHhG0ZmSPTt9cem+Ys/I1UCpgEAGvuyLHlUO6GltX1klaBw8UV9c6bxt RNqH2JOipa15OI2sfmthBvuYDXC3mDDG/vuhVWgzpCH7urfYCZa17aJwo2BvIb2i OE5gf9J10K1810Yy8isKCwmCjL35oiS3j4jnph5IsoVyVxRf
=0G7f
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--- 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 <skitt@debian.org>
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)