[wplug] tricking the kernel

[Henry Umansky]

Here's a weird one.  On my laptop I have the built in touchpad that is set 
as my "CorePointer" (/dev/psaux) in /etc/X11/XF86Config, and I also have my 
USB mouse set as the "AlwaysCore" (/dev/input/mice).  I'm using devfs so 
all the devices are created at bootup.  The problem with this is, if I 
don't have my USB mouse plugged in, then X gives me an error 
"/dev/input/mice does not exist" and then when I plug the USB mouse in, I 
have to restart X in order to use it.  So then I thought that if I do a 
mknod for my USB device so that /dev/input/mice will always be there, X 
still doesn't recognize the device when its not plugged in.  However I did 
notice something odd, before I start X if I do a "cat /dev/input/mice" I 
get an error of no device found, but when I plug the USB mouse in then 
unplug it right away then do another "cat /dev/input/mice" I don't get any 
error, it just hangs there till I press CTRL-C.  When I'm at that point I 
can start X and after X is loaded, I can plug in the USB mouse and it will 
work fine.  I apologize if any of this doesn't make sense, but essentially 
I want to know if there is a way to trick the kernel (or X) to think the 
USB mouse is there even if it is not plugged in.

Thank you,
Henry

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