GNOME 2.0 Desktop for the Solaris Operating Environment Accessibility Guide

To Enable the Keyboard to Emulate the Mouse

The mouse keys feature enables you to use the numeric keypad on the keyboard to emulate mouse actions. This feature benefits users who have difficulty using a mouse or other pointing device. To enable and configure the mouse keys feature, perform the following steps:

  1. Select the Enable Mouse Keys option.

  2. Configure the following options to determine the behavior of the mouse pointer when you control the pointer from the numeric keypad:

    Maximum pointer speed

    Use this spin box to specify the maximum speed, in pixels per second, at which the pointer moves around the screen.

    Time to accelerate to max speed

    Use this spin box to specify the duration, in milliseconds, before the pointer accelerates to the maximum pointer speed.

    Start moving this long after keypress

    Use this spin box to specify the interval, in milliseconds, between a keypress and the time when the pointer starts to move.

When you enable mouse keys, the keys on the numeric keypad have the following functions:

Table 2–1 Numeric Keypad to Mouse Functions Mapping

Numeric Keypad Keys 

Function 

1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9 

Move the mouse pointer around the screen 

Mouse button click 

Mouse button double-click 

Mouse button press 

Mouse button 1 

Mouse button 2 

Mouse button 3 

Some systems also use the function keys to emulate the mouse buttons. The common function key to mouse button mappings are described in the following table.

Table 2–2 Function Keys to Mouse Functions Mapping

Function Key 

Function 

F2 

Mouse button 1 

F3 

Mouse button 2 

F4 

Mouse button 3