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[UBUNTU 6.06] How to configure extra buttons on a Logitech Cordless Optical mouse

On my desktop system, I have the Logitech Ultra X Cordless Desktop keyboard and mouse bundle. After installing Ubuntu, the mouse's scrollwheel worked OK, but the thumb-buttons that are configured on Windows as back and forward buttons (in a browser) didn't work. The method for making these buttons work in Ubuntu 6.06 is simpler than the steps outlined in the guide for Ubuntu 5.10. The steps below will allow you to configure these two thumb buttons to provide back & forward actions in Firefox.

Modifying xorg.conf

  • The first thing you need to do is make some modifications to the X.org configuration file that the Ubuntu installer will have automatically generated. Open up the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file in a text editor as root:

    sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

  • Within this file, find the InputDevice section for your mouse. In my original xorg.conf file, my configuration looked like this: 
    Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Configured Mouse"
        Driver          "mouse"
        Option          "CorePointer"
        Option          "Device"                "/dev/input/mice"
        Option          "Protocol"              "ImPS/2"
        Option          "Emulate3Buttons"       "true"
        Option          "ZAxisMapping"          "4 5"
EndSection
    This configuration will not allow the thumb buttons to work (I couldn't get it to anyway).
  • These settings need to be tweaked a little by adding a line and changing some of the existing ones so that you end up with the following InputDevice settings: 
    Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "Configured Mouse"
        Driver          "mouse"
        Option          "CorePointer"
        Option          "Device"                "/dev/input/mice"
        Option          "Protocol"              "ExplorerPS/2"
        Option          "Emulate3Buttons"       "false"
        Option          "Buttons"               "9"
        Option          "ZAxisMapping"          "4 5"
        Option          "ButtonMapping"         "1 2 3 6 7"
EndSection
  • Save your changes to this file, then restart the X server by pressing CTRL+ALT+Backspace. Once you log back in, you should find that you can now move backwards and forwards through pages in Firefox.

This how-to assumes that you are using standard Gnome-based Ubuntu (i.e.: what you get after doing a standard installation). It should work with other Ubuntu derivatives such as Kubuntu or Xubuntu, as all changes are to X server settings and not Gnome-specific.

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