Offline install of xinput package & dependencies

[Mike tn]

Hello, I'm a new linux user for a few months now. Am playing with distros and have Ubuntu and W7 dual booting from the hard drive. Am trying the F13 Design Spin and the distro runs beautifully graphically on my system and has all the pre-installed software I like. The mouse is slightly too fast even after putting the GUI on the slowest settings.
The problem:
My Dell laptop has the broadcom b43 driver which is not Linux friendly. If I install Fedora someday there is likely a wireless driver workaround or the driver may go open source soon, but in the mean time I'd like to try F13. I'd like to do one update to the offline running live CD to use as a mouse speed fix. However I can't use yum with an offline live disk. I need "yum whatprovides xinput". Is there a way to get the "xinput" package with all it's dependencies downloaded using another disto? I can get online with my hard drive installs mentioned or live with PCLinuxOS & Knoppix. Maybe an alternate solution is how to get live online wireless with Fedora, without rebooting too. Probably too hard to do that, thought getting a package would be more possible.

[PabloTwo]

Have you done: which xinput

The xinput program is provided by the package xorg-x11-apps. It's hard to imagine any Fedora release/spin not including that package by default, but perhaps your "Designer Spin" did not.

You could select a package of xorg-x11-apps to download from here. Pick the version that most closely matches your currently installed (on the Live CD) xorg-x11-utils package., though, with no connection to the internet, rpm may not have created an initial database from which to determine what that version is (?).

As for what dependencies the xorg-xll-apps package requires, here is what rpm tells me on my F12 install (it doesn't list package names, but names files and other resources).

BASH:~/-> rpm -qR xorg-x11-apps
/bin/sh  
libSM.so.6  
libX11.so.6  
libXaw.so.7  
libXcursor.so.1  
libXext.so.6  
libXft.so.2  
libXi.so.6  
libXmu.so.6  
libXmuu.so.1  
libXrender.so.1  
libXt.so.6  
libXxf86vm.so.1  
libc.so.6  
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.0)  
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.1)  
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.2)  
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.3)  
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.3.4)  
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.4)  
libc.so.6(GLIBC_2.7)  
libfontconfig.so.1  
libfontenc.so.1  
libfreetype.so.6  
libm.so.6  
libm.so.6(GLIBC_2.0)  
libm.so.6(GLIBC_2.1)  
libpng12.so.0  
libpng12.so.0(PNG12_0)  
libutil.so.1  
libutil.so.1(GLIBC_2.0)  
libxkbfile.so.1  
libz.so.1  
rpmlib(CompressedFileNames) <= 3.0.4-1
rpmlib(FileDigests) <= 4.6.0-1
rpmlib(PayloadFilesHavePrefix) <= 4.0-1
rtld(GNU_HASH)  
rpmlib(PayloadIsXz) <= 5.2-1

You can safely ignore the rpmlib entries. There are probably at least 2 or 3 posts a week on this forum concerning the broadcom b43 wireless chipset. Surely, if you use the search function you should find some relevant help on getting that issue sorted.

[Mike tn]

PabloTwo, I appreciate your thought out reply. My first reaction after seeing those lists for xorg-x11-apps and the dependencies is to try the other route. I am beginning to realize my search for all-in-one isolated software bundles to save/use has a Windows mentality and goes against the natural Linux processes of an online distro repository & software install assistance. Thanks for being patient with us converts. I'm not up to the cutting tar balls & compiling level just yet.

So, I will need to work out the wireless access problem. Was hoping not to, it can be a mess. I appreciate the suggestion to look on the forum for that.

I am not sure what you meant by "Have you done: which xinput"

***

A more detailed explanation of my problem for those interested:

Earlier, I found a guy on this forum who said he used older Fedora builds with no problems and only recently had the "too fast mouse" problem while using a FC12 Gnome live CD offline (no wireless access). I never tried old Fedora but on an older PC did run Live the RPM package based 2008 openSUSE, and it was perfect with my mouse through the GUI but 2010 versions of SUSE had the too speedy problem, poor GUI adjust range, no xinput in LiveCD. Without exception my mouse is too fast and not adjustable enough except via xinput terminal commands in all new distros (BlueTrack laser, very common, non-pricey). I also found the GUI speed sliders in Xfce desktops have no effect at all, one single speed, but xinput can be used. Several DEB package distro varieties have xinput pre-installed on Live disks.

The guy mentioned above used this with Fedora (same thing I do in Debian land):

* Reboot and restart X server
* Install xinput ("yum whatprovides xinput")
* xinput --list (find the device ID for your mouse, use that in next step)
* xinput --list-props yourDeviceIDhere
* xinput --set-props yourDeviceIDhere "Device Accel Constant Deceleration" 4.0

So it must be the same for all Linux. But xinput --list gives me no output with a Fedora Live CD. Looking to correct that problem though.

[PabloTwo]

Originally Posted by Mile tn

I am not sure what you meant by "Have you done: which xinput"

I meant to issue the command in a terminal which xinput
"which" is the command and "xinput" is the argument to the command. "which" searches your $PATH directories for the argument. If found, it prints the path. If not, it prints the $PATH directories searched.

BASH:~/-> which foo
/usr/bin/which: no foo in (/usr/lib/qt-3.3/bin:/usr/kerberos/sbin:/usr/kerberos/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/sbin:/sbin)
BASH:~/-> which xinput
/usr/bin/xinput

That was just to check if the Live CD had the xinput command installed or not.

Originally Posted by Mike tn

But xinput --list gives me no output with a Fedora Live CD.

Really? If xinput was not installed on the Live CD, then bash would have reported "bash: xinput: command not found".

Originally Posted by Mike tn

I also found the GUI speed sliders in Xfce desktops have no effect at all, one single speed,...

I use XFCE in F12. The "acceleration" slider controls speed of my mouse just fine. I would think that would work from the Live CD as well.

[Mike tn]

Originally Posted by PabloTwo

I meant to issue the command in a terminal which xinput
"which" is the command and "xinput" is the argument to the command. "which" searches your $PATH directories for the argument. If found, it prints the path. If not, it prints the $PATH directories searched...

Really? If xinput was not installed on the Live CD, then bash would have reported "bash: xinput: command not found".

Sorry, my careless word use, I meant the output showed a non-functioning command.
I ran the two in Live Fedora13, "which xinput" and "xinput", and pasted the output below:

[liveuser@localhost ~]$ which xinput
/usr/bin/which: no xinput in (/usr/kerberos/sbin:/usr/kerberos/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/sbin:/sbin:/home/liveuser/bin)

[liveuser@localhost ~]$ xinput
bash: xinput: command not found

So I suppose I do not have it. Plain and simple. Do I need to run it as a root user? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. If my b43XX wireless worked on everything it wouldn't be an issue....probably. However, I got online in LiveCD with PCLinuxOS and went to Synaptic, hit "reload", did a search for xinput as suggested by a forum member, found 5 new packages, installed 4 of them. The 5th was titled something for Lxde keyboards. Then I tried to run my mouse fixes which work on Live CD/DVD in Ubuntu and variations of it, Mint, Ultimate Edition, also works in live-Knoppix:

xinput --set-prop (device id# here) "Device Accel Constant Deceleration" 3
xinput --set-prop (device id# here) "Device Accel Adaptive Deceleration" 5

But it still didn't work in PCLinuxOS. So I listed the xinput commands now available after my 4-pack install with xinput --help and compared it to Ubuntu's list and found at the very end, one command line that was not found in PCLinuxOS. This:

xinput set-prop <device> [--type=atom|float|int] [--format=8|16|32] <property> <val> [<val> ...]

Being sure it all runs in Live CD before an install can be good advice. I never tested anything with my first install LOL. Came out OK though. And there are probably fixes for that one missing command in PCLOS I didn't yet explore.

Originally Posted by PabloTwo

I use XFCE in F12. The "acceleration" slider controls speed of my mouse just fine. I would think that would work from the Live CD as well.

To be honest, I am not sure if I tried Fedora's Xfce, I don't think I did. I tried the Design Spin & Games Spin in Gnome. But I tried Xfce in a few other distros like PCLinuxOS, Xubuntu, DreamLinux, and probably more. Same result for each. You move the sliders back and forth, not only is the speed slightly fast for me but the mouse won't travel any faster or slower when you move the speed slider to a new position. The Xfce mouse controls in the GUI are different than Gnome's on each also. Makes me think...

What could it be? Since each Linux is modular with Core, Xorg, Desktop, Browser plus applications, the problem is a function of how Xorg interfaces with each desktop style and your mouse choice, with Xorg being the same in all? Not sure why my mouse is singled out. All 3 of my mice are at least 1000dpi: Logitech optical LX3, Microsoft Wireless 5000 and a Wired 4500 both BlueTrack technology. So could it be the dpi is moderately high? Gamers with higher dpi than mine have the problem too. (I give Microsoft credit for great mice and keyboards, better peripherals than Logitech, but I'm planning on not making it my primary OS, working on that now.)

What is your PC type and mouse type?

Boot Up Screen Text
I ran the Live CD and hit ESC at the splash to get the text, it says mostly this,
I didn't get it all exactly, I'd have to photograph it:

Welcome to Fedora
Interactive hit "I"
starting udev:udev-work 618...
usr/bin/vmouse-detect' unexpected exit with status 0x000b
udevd-work [633]': usr/bin/vmouse-detect' unexpected exit with status 0x000b

#!

[PabloTwo]

Originally Posted by Mike tn

What is your PC type and mouse type?

My pc is a desktop w/amd64 3700+ cpu on an Asus A8N5X mb. My mouse is a wired MS Laser Mouse 6000 which has 1000dpi. The boot-up messages you post above don't look good to me, and may very well have something to do with your mouse problem, but I'm not really sure of that.

You could try creating an /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, putting only the Section "InputDevice" for your mouse and play with various values for resolution using Option "Resolution" "1000". Maybe set it to 600 or 800 and see if that does any good.

[Mike tn]

Originally Posted by PabloTwo

You could try creating an /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, putting only the Section "InputDevice" for your mouse and play with various values for resolution using Option "Resolution" "1000". Maybe set it to 600 or 800 and see if that does any good.

Hi PabloTwo
Took me a few extra days to check back. I know I'm slow, sorry. Took your idea and poked around and found a good source in Fedora Project. Pasted it below with link to the source article. I'm going to try some of these ideas, yours, theres, whatever works best. Will bring together lots of new learning, saves and edits will need to be in root user, just learned various ways to invoke that. And been using Persistent USB installs ever since...er yesterday ha ha, so I should be able to really give it a full test with no hard drive risk. Will be a first attempt at playing directly with the X File~
thanks
Mike

An example section for user-specific configuration is:

Section "InputClass"
Identifier "lasermouse slowdown"
MatchIsPointer "on"
MatchProduct "Lasermouse"
MatchVendor "LaserMouse Inc."
Option "ConstantDeceleration" "20"
EndSection

This section would match a pointer device containing "Lasermouse" from "Lasermouse Inc." and apply a constant deceleration of 20 on this device - slowing it down by factor 20. The information required for MatchIsPointer and other match keywords comes from /lib/udev/input-id. [1] It checks the capabilities of the device and assigns a number of variables, the server will then check those variables to determine a match. Check the output of "udevadm info --export-db | grep ID_INPUT" for the variables assigned to your input devices.

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Input_..._configuration