Per the suggestion of Jérémy Bobbio when he closed Bug # 481514 against installation-reports, I am posting this item to the debian-devel mailing list.
The Debian installer needs some improvement when it comes to mouse configuration. Currently, if the user requests a "standard system" and a "desktop environment" in the Debian installer, the X Window System will be installed in such a way that it drives the mouse directly, rather than going through gpm; and gpm is not installed. I recommend that gpm be installed whenever a mouse is detected on the system; and if the X server is also installed, it should always be configured to get mouse events from the gpm daemon rather than drive the mouse directly. This will allow the use of the mouse both in a virtual console and in X. Not only that, but "hot swapping" the mouse will be far less disruptive for X users. When the X server drives a standard PS/2 mouse directly, if the user unplugs the mouse and plugs in another one while the system is running, he must stop and restart the X server, losing all of his X applications in the process, in order to regain the use of the mouse. But when using gpm, all he must do is stop and re-start the gpm daemon to make the mouse work again. The X server is unaffected and the X applications are unaffected. With this recommendation, you should also move gpm to CD-ROM number 1. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]