Maus

Wundert euch nicht über das Bild. ich habe die Maus einfach in den normalen Scanner gelegt und dann etwas verkleinert. In Grautönen, sah sie regelrecht wie eine Geistermaus aus und das wollte ich dann doch nicht so lassen. Die Farbe ist in Natura einfach normal beige, wie alle Mäuse.

Wie unschwer zu erkennen ist, handelt es sich hier um eine Logitech 3-Tasten Maus. Genaugenommen eine 4-Tasten-Maus, denn das Rad ist zwar keine Taste, hat aber eine eigenständige Funktion. Und damit diese PC-Maus am Amiga betrieben werden kann, ist ein Adapter vonnöten. Ob es verschiedene Modelle gibt weiß ich nicht, ich habe jedenfalls die Hardware Topolino III. Die zugehörige Software nennt sich FreeWheel und die Guide ist ganz in englisch geschrieben. Aus diesem Grunde habe ich meine neue Errungenschaft nur erst einmal standardmäßig installiert. Und das Rädchen funktioniert hervorragend zum Scrollen, wenn ein Scrollbalken vorhanden ist. ob nun beim Editor oder einer HTML-Seite.

Problems "Known bugs and problems..."

Problems yet to be resolved:

While FreeWheel has no difficulty scrolling standard gadtools SCROLLER_KIND gadgets, it will only work with SLIDER_KIND gadgets if the scrolling speed is set above half. This is because SLIDER_KIND gadgets quantize their current position. Try it out with the WB3.0 Input preferences program mouse speed gadget, and you'll see the problem; the gadget jumps a little way, and springs back!

FreeWheel is unable to nudge scrollgadgets created by the following programs:

KingCon:

Its scroll gadget is non-standard, and it doesn't listen for RawKey events.

MUI:

All MUI gadgets are non-standard, and as such don't respond to IDCMP messages. Programs which use cursor up/down for scrolling will work however. Alessandro Zummo has already written a patch for MUI (MUIWheel) allowing the most common classes to use the wheel, and FreeWheel will no longer attempt to scroll MUI windows if MUIWheel is running.

BGUI:

ClassAct:

Again, WheelMouse can't recognise the scrollbars generated by these GUI toolkits. As with MUI, programs which respond to cursor-key movements will work. If you want to see support for wheelmouse events in these packages, pester the authors; adding wheelmouse support should be very very easy for someone with access to the sourcecode, and very very hard without!

Not all programs recognise the shift-clicks generated by FreeWheel in place of clicks of the third and fourth button. Workbench works fine, Imagine completely ignores the shift-clicks, and DrawStudio recognises them but doesn't draw handles for shift-selected objects! (This only applies to Shift+Click mode; using the buttons to simulate just the shift key works fine.)

Requirements "What you need to run FreeWheel..."

FreeWheel's system requirements are pretty light - you need:

• An Amiga (surprise surprise...)
• Kickstart 3.0 or higher
• A mouse (preferably a PC wheelmouse), though FreeWheel version 2 is also useful for three-button mouse and trackball owners.
• A driver for your wheelmouse. (Tested with Alessandro Zummo's NewMouse from Aminet, Mroocheck from Elbox, and two home-brew mouse-port-adapter-type-things.

Legal "The obligatory legal mumbo-jumbo..."

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. ALL USE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK, AND THE AUTHOR CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, ARISING FROM THE USE OR MISUSE OF THE PROGRAM OR ANY OF ITS ACCOMPANYING FILES.

While this program is copyrighted, this is done merely to prevent others from claiming it as their own work. The name FreeWheel is intended to imply its free status - you may pass the complete package on to whoever you wish, on a non-profit basis.

Full source code is provided, in the hope that it will be of help and interest to others. You are encouraged to incorporate any of the source files into your own projects, as long as they are freeware/shareware, and you credit me.

FreeWheel may be placed on the Cover CDs of Amiga magazines, and any other Amiga CDs which contain predominantly Shareware, Freeware or PD software.

For any other commercial distribution or use of the source, mail me at:blackfive@fakenhamweb.co.uk to discuss terms.

Configuring "How to configure FreeWheel...."

FreeWheel is configured through a simple GadTools GUI: To show the GUI, you can use the Commodites Exchange, run the program a second time, or use a hotkey (default ctrl alt f).

The gadgets in the main window are as follows:

Mouse speed X/Y:

These allow you to adjust the mouse's speed with very fine control, just like my previous Commodity, FreeMouse. Setting the horizontal and vertical mouse speeds separately can be useful if you're working in a screen mode that doesn't have square pixels.

Click to front:

When this is checked, a double-click in a window's border will bring that window to the front.

Click to back:

When this is checked, a double-click in the border of the frontmost window will send it to the back. Remember that a window is not necessarily the frontmost window just because it isn't obscured by other windows.

Hot key:

This string gadget contains a description of the commodities hotkey which is used to bring up the GUI.

Set Buttons:

This will open another window, which will allow to you assign functions to the third and fourth mouse buttons, as follows:

• Click:
The following functions can be assigned to a click of either button:
• Shift - will simulate the left shift key being held down.
• Shift + Left Button - Simulates a click with the shift-key held down. N.B. Not all program will recognise these shift-clicks.
• Toggle Left Button - Useful for trackball owners; one click will simulate a press of the left button, another will release it.
• Movement -> scroll - Also for trackball and three-button mouse owners: While the button is held down, movement events will be converted to scroll events.
• Move/Scroll Toggle - As Movement -> Scroll, except one click will enable the conversion, another will disable it.
• Cycle Screens - The topmost screen will be sent to the back.


• Click + Roll:
• Depth Arrange Windows - My favourite feature: If you roll the wheel away from you, the window under the pointer will be sent to the back, and vice-versa.
• Horiztonal Scroll - In this mode, while the button is held down, vertical scroll events will be converted into horizontal scroll events.


• Double Click:
• Cycle Screens - The topmost screen will be sent to the back.
• Swap Axis - Horizontal and Vertical scrolling events will be exchanged. This allows you to scroll horizontally with a mouse that only has one wheel.

Set Scrolling:

This will open a configuration window for scrolling-related features:

Scroll window:

This item determines whether scroll events affect the currently selected window, or the window under the pointer.

Move->Scroll speed:

This is the rate at which scroll events will be generated by the Movement to Scroll modes.

Ignore MUI:

If Alessandro Zummo's MUIWheelPatch version 1.4 or higher is running and this is checked, FreeWheel will not send events to MUI windows. This avoids previous problems with MUI windows receiving both cursor-key presses and scrolling events.

Mirror H/V Scroll:

Checking these gadgets will reverse the direction of scrolling.

Prop Gadgets:

When this is checked, FreeWheel will attempt to nudge any proportional gadgets (scrollbars or sliders) it encounters.

HSpeed/VSpeed:

These are the amounts by which the gadgets will be nudged. For scrollers, the settings here should be thought of as fractions of a page. Scrolling sliders will only work if these are set above half.

KeyPresses:

When this is checked, windows which don't contain recognisable proportional gadgets, and which listen for keypresses, will receive cursor-key presses.

Shift paging:

When scroll events build up quicker than a program can clear the keypresses, if this gadget is checked, FreeWheel will clear the backlog and send a shift-cursor key event, which many programs use for page-up/down.

Page after n lines:

The number of events which will trigger the Shift page feature.

Features "Features...."

• New for V2.1 - The direction of scrolling events can be reversed.
• New for V2.1 - FreeWheel can now be made to ignore MUI windows if MUIWheel 1.4 is running.
• New for V2.0 - It can generate scrolling events for devices which don't have a wheel. Useful for trackball or three-button mouse owners.
• New for V1.1 - The Horizontal and Vertical mouse speeds can now be set individually. Useful if you're working a screen mode which doesn't have square pixels.
• New for V1.1 - Screens can now be cycled with a double-click of the middle/wheel button.
• New for V1.1 - Horizontal scrollers and sliders can now be moved with the wheel. To do this, you need to have the pointer over the gadget.
• It allows programs not specifically written for wheelmice to be scrolled by the wheel. If the window has a normal proportional gadget, it will be nudged, otherwise cursor-key presses will be sent to the window.
• It allows several useful functions to be assigned to the wheel-button and to a fourth button if present.
• It provides fractional scaling of mouse movements. The mouse speed can be adjusted continuously from 33% to 300%, just like my previous Commodity, FreeMouse.
• It provides my personally favoured Click-To-Front behaviour. Double-click anywhere within the border of a window and it will jump to the front.

• It does NOT provide a serial mouse driver. You will still need a driver for your wheelmouse. FreeWheel has been tested with Alessandro Zummo's NewMouse, and FreeWheel watches for newmouse standard events. It also works with Elbox's Mroocheck/Punchinello-II