Macintosh mouse button emulation

Question

I just run the xinput list command and get the following output:

myuser@my-laptop:~$ xinput list
⎡ Virtual core pointer                      id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad                id=10   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Macintosh mouse button emulation          id=12   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint                     id=13   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                     id=3    [master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard               id=5    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=6    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                                 id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                              id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard              id=9    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ ThinkPad Extra Buttons                    id=11   [slave  keyboard (3)]

I'm wondering what is the Macintosh mouse button emulation? A quick google search didn't help too much... To note that I don't have any mouse plugged in.

Answer 1

I think (through google) that mac mouse have got different button mapping and so it is may be a layer for abstracting user from having problems using mac mouse. I also find it interesting that almost all problem I have googled mentioning it have something to do with synaptic pads. Since I have never used mac and not for sure hardware/driver maverick, this remain unconfirmed. I will confirm it once I have something solid or somebody else does!