Is there a free program for Microsoft Windows XP which reconfigures the mouse so that it performs copying and pasting as in the X Window System? That is, I want all text selected with the mouse to be automatically copied to the clipboard (or to a separate buffer), and middle-click in an editable text area should paste said text.
I’d also be interested in software which implements some of the mouse shortcuts commonly found in X11 window managers; namely that right-clicking on the maximize button maximizes the window’s width only, middle-clicking on the maximize button maximizes the window’s height only, and right/middle-clicking on the restore button reverses the respective effect.
Move mouse to beginning or end of the selected text
Press left button and hold it down
Move to the other end and let go
Move mouse back over the selected text
Right-click (to bring up the context menu) and left-click on “copy”
Go to the destination
Right-click (to bring up the context menu) and left-click on “paste”
Or maybe I misunderstood the question. (I never used or even saw X Windows.) If so, I apologize.
Yep, you’re missing the point slightly. Once you’ve had a chance to try it out (most likely on Linux), you’ll see how what sounds like only a slight shortcut is actually very convenient - the process removes several of the steps in your list.
In addition, there is no such thing as “X Windows”. There is a windowing system called X, derived from a windowing system called W which nobody uses anymore, that is in near-universal use on all Unix and Unix-like systems in the world that have a bitmapped (as opposed to a character-cell) display. X11 is the current major version of X. X11R6 is the most common minor version of X11 at this point.
I should add that X has little to do with windows per se. It simply provides a thin layer over the graphics hardware and a network protocol that allows computers to draw graphics on remote machines over any working network (including the Internet). This means you can use fully graphical programs on any other computer in the world as long as your machine and the remote machine both run X.
That’s getting a bit pedantic. The official name of the software is the X Window System; however, the shorthand term “X Windows” is in widespread use—possibly more so than the official term. By your logic, you could say that there’s no such product as DOS (only Microsoft DOS and its compatibles), no such floppy disk size as 3.5" (only 90 × 94 mm), or, getting away from computers entirely, no such British entity as the Conservative Party (only the Conservative and Unionist Party). In each case you’d be technically correct, but ignoring (and apparently deriding) decades of popular usage.
I haven’t had an opportunity to use a Windows XP machine yet, but I’ve noted TXmouse for future reference. According to the description on the website, it seems to do what I want (well, except that I don’t want focus to follow the mouse).
The name you’re defending sounds like it should be attached to an OS, as opposed to a graphical subsystem. Plus, of course, X is simply easier to type.
You’re showing your (lack of) age. DOS being used to mean “Disk-based Operating System” was in widespread use many years before Microsoft ripped off CP/M (Control Program/Monitor, because we all know “Monitor” means “command line”).
I do have to say this is a good one.
“Never go up against an alt.folklore.computers poster when computer trivia is on the line.”
OK, so today I am finally forced to work in Windows XP; I need to use InDesign (last time I used it Scribus was too buggy or was missing features). I have downloaded and installed this TXmouse program, and lo and behold, I can now copy and paste with the mouse!
Unfortunately, window focus always follows the mouse, and auto-raising is disabled, which I absolutely can’t stand. And TXmouse has no configuration settings to disable them. In fact, it has no configuration settings at all. Whatever happened to the Unix maxim of “do one thing, and do it well”? If I wanted focus-following and manually raising, I’d’ve downloaded separate utilities for those. :mad: Isn’t there some drop-in replacement window manager for Windows XP whose behaviour I can tweak to my heart’s content?