[gpm]Using only the driver part of GPM

[Anders Torger]

I have written a software running on an embedded system, using a 40x4 
text LCD as screen. The user interface is operated by a remote control 
which should provide the directions left/right/up/down. For this, a 
(cordless) two-button mouse with a scroll-wheel suits perfectly, left 
right mouse button maps to left/right and scroll-wheel to up/down. 
Left/right is used for yes/no type of input and the scroll-wheel for 
scrolling menus and increasing/decreasing values.

(the software: http://www.ludd.luth.se/~torger/almusvcu.html)

I currently use gpm for this, patched for mouse wheel support. The 
problem is however that gpm is bound to a console, which is not used by 
my software (it uses an LCD), so in order to get the embedded machine 
to work, it must auto-login on startup and start the software directly 
in the console. And, if I then change the console to work with 
something else on the machine, the mouse input to my software of course 
stops to work, since it is then assigned to the currently active 
console.

I would like it to be that the software simply opens some local device 
just to get mouse events from the mouse attached to the computer the 
software runs on, and not need to bother with any console features. Is 
this possible with gpm? If not, is there any other mouse driver system 
I could use?

I have though about using /dev/gpmdata, like XFree86 can do, but I don't 
know if that will work the way I want. I have also failed to find any 
documentation on how to use /dev/gpmdata, and how to interpret the data 
that comes there.

Any ideas?

/Anders