MOUSE.COM Earlier than 8.2a Cannot Swap Buttons for Mouse

• Microsoft Mouse Driver for MS-DOS, versions 7.x, 8.x, and 9.0

SUMMARY

The buttons for the Microsoft Mouse cannot be swapped using MOUSE.COM versions earlier than 8.20 in either the MOUSE.INI settings or the command line switches for Button Selection. The capability to reassign the mouse buttons is supported by the BallPoint Mouse in all versions of the BallPoint Mouse software. Driver versions 8.20a and later allow both the Microsoft Mouse and the BallPoint Mouse to swap the mouse buttons.

This information applies to Microsoft Mouse driver version 8.20a and later, and to all versions of the Microsoft BallPoint Mouse for MS-DOS systems.

This does not apply to Windows. All version of the Windows mouse driver have the capability to swap the mouse buttons via the Control Panel. This only affects Windows applications, not MS-DOS applications.

MORE INFORMATION

The "Microsoft Mouse User's Guide" (Appendix A) refers to command line switches and MOUSE.INI settings for Button Selection. This section of the manual is incorrect, because the "Primary" and "Secondary" lines may be partially printed in black. The whole section describing Button Selection should be printed in blue, indicating that this feature only applies to the BallPoint Mouse. Also, the sections titled "Rotation Angle" and "Button Selection" in Appendix A of the "Microsoft Mouse User's Guide" only apply to the BallPoint Mouse.

The command line switch /KP3S1 for MOUSE.COM does not change the button functionality of the Microsoft Mouse, but does change the button functionality of the Microsoft BallPoint.

Similarly, the PrimaryButton=3 and SecondaryButton=1 settings in the MOUSE.INI do not switch the Microsoft Mouse buttons, but do switch the Microsoft BallPoint buttons.

Reference(s):

"Microsoft Mouse User's Guide," pages 41, 44