On Sun, 23 Jan 2005, Martin Husemann wrote:

> On Sun, Jan 23, 2005 at 10:50:13PM +0200, Peter L. Peres wrote:
>> I understand that this error is normal if a PS/2 mouse is
>> not connected at boot time, yes ?
>
> No, nothing should happen.
>
>> Will the mouse reset properly if
>> connected later, before the X11 server starts ?
>
> I'm not sure about this, my guess would be "no".
>
>> ... plug in the mouse and ctrl-alt-bs on the xdm/kdm screen will reset
>> the server and the mouse will start working).
>
> You don't even need to restart the X server - all mice are represented as
> "wsmouse" devices, the kernel driver handles everything else and X does
> not see any change.

Not sure about this. On linux (2.4) it's like this:
- mouse is initialised on boot (I have an optical one - it lights up)
- if I unplug and plug back the mouse it is no longer on, and unusable. 
Restarting gpm etc will restore it to life
- under X11 if I unplug and replug the mouse it stays off. If I restart 
the X11 server (ctrl-alt-bs), the mouse starts working again

It may be specific to certain kinds of PS2 mouse (in my case MS optical 
with wheel).

Peter