Mouse Antics

by Eddie Rayner

Mouse Antics is a handy utility that allows mouse settings to be altered, including advanced mouse features provided by the new Mouse Antics module. It is also the first ever RISC OS utility to include enhancements especially for Acorn's Phoebe.

Loading the Mouse Antics module makes the following features available:

Fine-tuned mouse speed
When Mouse Antics is loaded, the mouse speed can be set to any speed, rather than only the whole-number settings RISC OS supports. (The mouse speed slider becomes less chunky in order to reflect this.)

Slow mouse mode
When you need to achieve high-precision mouse movement, press the Num Lock key and the mouse speed will be set to a mininum, so you can position the pointer exactly. Press Num Lock again to return the mouse to its normal speed.

Keypad mouse emulation
Press Num Lock to use the numeric keypad as a mouse. The '1' to '9' keys move the pointer around, whilst '0' acts as the left mouse button, '.' acts as the middle button and 'Enter' the right button. Press Num Lock again to type numbers with the keypad.

(If you actually want to turn the Num Lock mode off instead of enabling the above features, press Shift-Num Lock instead.)

Mouse acceleration
If this feature is enabled, the mouse will move proportionally further when it is moved quickly than when it is moved slowly. Some people prefer this non-linear style of mouse movement.

Button swapping
Left-handed users may find the mouse easier to use with the effects of the left and right buttons swapped.

Configuration
This utility also allows configuration of the Wimp's mouse responsiveness settings in a more convenient way than the standard configuration utility. It should be possible to use this application as a replacement plug-in for the standard mouse configuration plug-in on the new version of RISC OS supplied with Phoebe machines.

For the configuration of the advanced features provided by Mouse Antics to be saved and used automatically on the next boot-up, you must have a Risc PC-style boot sequence. If you have, the Mouse Antics module will be installed and de-installed automatically as required; there's no need to mess around with the boot sequence. To deinstall Mouse Antics completely, just run !Mouse, set the Load Mouse Antics option to off and click on Save.

If you don't have a Risc PC-type boot sequence, you'll have to set up your boot sequence to run the !Mouse.SetChoices file manually. This will then load the module and configure it as necessary.

Note: you can create a localised version of this tool by creating a directory inside !Mouse with the same name as the territory the localised version is for. This directory may contain replacement Messages, Templates and/or sprite files.

Copyright  RISC User magazine 1998