How can I compare ALL mouse settings across distros A signal handling matter

This is a little mystery I'd like to get to the bottom of.

I have been using a cheap and probably flaky KVM switch for a long time. ALL distros I tried (both live and installable) produce systems with KEYBOARDS that work flawlessly via the KVM switch, but it appears that they can be solidly divided into two camps when it comes to MICE.

No matter what IntelliMouse for PS2 mouse I use, and no matter which out of my 4 PCs or KVM port I use, some distros will repeatably end up with the mouse working properly via the KVM switch, some not at all. All indistinctly work if the mouse is plugged directly into the PS2 port.

MOUSE WORKING PERFECTLY VIA KVM SWITCH Libranet, all versions Debian Woody, Lordsutch net-installer NetBSD 2.0 Live Knoppix, all versions from 3.1 Damn Small Linux, all versions from .6 or so

MOUSE WORKING ONLY IF PLUGGED IN DIRECTLY Debian Sarge, installed by D-I, RC2 and RC3 Ubuntu-Kubuntu SUSE 9.1 9.2 BeatrIX Vector Linux, allversions from 4.2

It has to be a matter of how different setups are tolerant of the same deviations in either timing or signal levels or waveforms or whatever can be wrong with mouse signals.

I want to compare all the settings involved. I guess it must be a combination of drivers corrisponding to kernel version, XFree settings, and maybe something more, but what exactly?

QUESTION: Where can I look up ALL the various settings that concur to making a mouse work?

SPECIAL NOTE FOR KIND & HELPFUL YET SOMEWHAT CONFUSED PEOPLE :-0 I am not asking for suggestions like "get a better KVM", or like "your KVM must be defective", or "your mouse could be at fault". I already got those elsewhere, and they were already not useful. Also, I do not NEED to use the distros that fail. I just want to figure out the issue and see if in principle it can be fixed. (But thank you anyway!:-)