I'm tired of having to copy and paste text using the the wheel of my mouse; the amount of dexterity needed is legendary. Anybody know of any kind of frankenmouse which has four buttons (one that simulates the third button right below the wheel would be nice)? Or have any other solution?
Edit: A nice solution could be some integration of the two cut and paste schemes (Ctrl+c, Ctrl+x, Ctrl+v) and the mouse highlight and paste with wheel, so I could actually use the Ctrl keys while in a terminal.
I'm with you on the wheel-mice/coordination issue. I'm not so sure about a hybrid cut-n-paste scheme. I have this in my .Xresources file:
XTerm*VT100.scrollBar: true
XTerm*VT100.saveLines: 1000
XTerm*VT100.cutNewLine: false
XTerm*VT100.cutToBeginningOfLine: false
XTerm*VT100.charClass: 33:48,35:48,37:48,42:48,45-47:48,64:48,95:48,126:48
! F2 key on PC 104-key keyboards
XTerm*VT100*translations: #override \n\
<Key>F2: insert-selection(PRIMARY,CUT_BUFFER0)
scrollstyle: plain
It makes the F2 key into a keyboard-paste in xterm windows. I find this helpful as I'm a vim user, and it may give you some taste of what a hybrid cut-n-paste scheme might feel like.
Additionally, it makes "words" in xterm text include '/', '.' and '*' so that you can copy a filename with a single double-click.
I use a Logitech medium-of-the-line model. It's not too big but has lots off features. I also found click-with-mousewheel to be difficult, but I found a solution I'm happy with. Most current Logitech models define pushing the wheel to tilt slightly the left or right as a mouse click (button 7 and 8, in fact). This actually makes clicking straight down even more annoying, since it tends to be a bit wobbly.
So, my solution: I use an .Xmodmap line to remap the wheel-to-the-right button as the middle button:
pointer = 1 7 3 4 5 6 2 8
which works very well because it's really easy and natural to shift one's index finger from the left button slightly over to press to middle-click. This is much, much nicer than trying to click the wheel down without moving it. I actually now prefer this to a real third button. And if I had a use for a fourth button, the opposite motion of tilt-to-the-left is available too.
My cheap Logitech MX has 7 buttons plus scrollwheel, wheel push, wheel left and wheel right. It is very easy to use, and the 3 thumb buttons are ideal for copy and pasting and similar functions.
I have a Lenovo scrollpoint mouse. It has the silly rubber stick thing in place of a scrollwheel, but more importantly it has an actual physical button rather than clicking the wheel.
I believe you are looking for this: http://www.keyboardco.com/keyboard_details.asp?PRODUCT=572
this is lefty version, but righty is also available (I prefer lefty, because I am righty).
