Using the Microsoft Mouse as a Pen Input Device

• Microsoft Windows operating system versions 3.1, 3.11
• Microsoft Windows for Pen Computing version 1.0

SUMMARY

It is possible to use the Microsoft Mouse as a primary input device in Microsoft Windows for Pen Computing, but it is not recommended. This configuration should be used only for development and limited testing of Windows for Pen applications and drivers.

Currently, pen tablets/computers, drivers, and the retail version of Windows for Pens are available only through OEMs (original equipment manufacturers); therefore, the components necessary to use the Microsoft Mouse as an inking device are only available with the Windows 3.1 SDK.

MORE INFORMATION

To get inking capabilities from the mouse, the mouse driver must be removed (or replaced) and a tablet driver must be loaded. Microsoft has written two drivers for this functionality: the YESMOUSE driver and the MSMOUSE driver. The YESMOUSE driver is a replacement for the mouse driver that instructs Windows to display a mouse cursor without loading any mouse driver. (Note that tablet drivers do not display mouse cursors by default. The only way to get a mouse cursor is if a mouse driver or YESMOUSE driver is loaded.) The MSMOUSE driver is actually a tablet driver that is loaded as an installable device driver.

To ink with the Microsoft Mouse, insert the following lines into the appropriate sections of the SYSTEM.INI. Make sure that the files referenced in those lines are present in the WINDOWS\SYSTEM subdirectory or that the full path to their location is specified:

   [boot]
   mouse.drv=YESMOUSE.DRV

   [drivers]
   pen=MSMOUSE.DRV