I have a tangen mouse 2 wheels, one of which gives me a click, 2 top, and 2 side buttons. Since the scroll wheels count as buttons this means I have a 9 button mouse. I'm not sure if x86 supports a protocol yet for this. I've heard that the highest is by using ExplorerPS/2 which get's you 7 buttons.

When I go to xev and view my buttons I get buttons 1,2,3 (normal) 4,5 (both scroll wheels) 8,9 side buttons.

I have my xconf at:
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Buttons" "9"
Option "ButtonMapping" "1 2 3 8 9 4 5"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

I was hoping by switching the 8 9 4 5 out It would recognize 8 and 9 as back and forward but no such luck.

My question is where is ExplorerPS/2 defined? How do I find a list of other protocols? If xev can register all my buttons why can't xwindows?