(Answer) (Category) Linux on PowerPC FAQ-O-Matic : (Category) Hardware Compatibility :
How to use USB input with Lombard/Bronze/1999 PowerBooks
The standard LinuxPPC kernel does not support USB input devices. Paul Mackerras, however, made a 2.2.10 kernel with USB drivers that work with the new breed of PowerBooks. This kernel and its sources can be grabbed from ftp://sunsite.anu.edu.au/pub/linux/linux-pmac/kernel-binary/v2.2.10. After you down-load the kernel and install it (using quik in one form or another), you still need to do the following.
1) Make a new device special file for the USB mouse; say something like, 
    mknod /dev/usbmouse c 10 32
    rm /dev/mouse
    ln -s /dev/usbmouse /dev/mouse
2) edit the file /etc/X11/XF86Config to point to this mouse. To get a good "starting point" version of this file, grab http://xenu.phys.uit.no/~alvin/linux/XF86Config. Then change the lines that read,
Section "Pointer" 
    Protocol    "BusMouse"
    Device      "/dev/mouse"
to read,
Section "Pointer" 
    Protocol    "IMPS/2"
    Device      "/dev/usbmouse"
Now reboot the new kernel (say "uname -a" to make sure it's running) and test the USB mouse. I use a Contour Designs UniMouse and love it under both MacOS and LunixPPC.
Notes:
1) I don't think the 2.2.10 kernel has the ethernet patch applied.
2) The Xpmac X server does not support USB; you'll have to use the old/slow XF86_FBDev server, which does not support the Lombard's graphics acceleration.
If there's a better kernel on the web somewhere (with both the USB and EtherNet patches applied) or a new version of Xpmac, I'd love to hear about it!
stp

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stp@create.ucsb.edu
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