select large text with mouse

[imputerate]

ubuntu [hardy]
 emacs: 22.1-0ubuntu10
   gnus: 5.11+v0.5.dfsg
slackware [12.0]
 emacs: 22.2-i486-1

i can't get my logitech wheelmouse to select any more text from an
emacs
buffer [in xterm/konsole] than appears on the screen at one time;

when the mouse button is pressed, neither down-arrow, page-down, nor
scroll down will give the mouse access to text below the screen;

i know that i can
 1/ select the entire buffer with 'mark-whole-buffer' and then
 2/ 'append-to-file', and then
 3/ 'insert-file'

when i'm moving among files on one machine;

        [now that i think of it, didn't i used to be able to mark text
in one emacs session and paste it into another session, say in another
xterm? i can't now;]

AND, i can set up an ssh/screen/emacs buffer for copying and pasting
which shows up on two machines at once;

BUT, because i'm limited to selecting only one screen at a time, this
often entails scp'ing an "inserted" file from one machine to another
[too much trouble];

so, is there a way to let the mouse select more than a screen at a
time
from an emacs buffer?

thanks, imputerate