mouse speed

[NoahsMyBro]

I've just put together a Mandrake 9.0/Gnome system, and the mouse movement is slower than I'd like.

I found the Gnome configuration panel with the mouse settings, and set the speed and acceleration sliders to maximum. I have to say that I didn't really notice any difference after making the change, and whether or not there was any difference, I'd still rather my mouse cursor moved more quickly across the screen.

I'm using a Microsoft Wheel Mouse (Intellimouse 1.2A PS/2 Compatible), and my desktop resolution is pretty high - either 1152x864 or 1024x768 (I'm in Windows now and don't recall offhand which it is).

Are there any other places I could speed the mouse up?

Thanks,
Steve

[mi6]

is it an optical mouse? I believe the Intellimouse is...add this to your XF86Config file:

Option "Resolution" "250"

Make sure you put it in the correct "Input Device" section of your config file, and always make a backup in case of an error.

I use this on all of my optical mice and it makes them perfect on my 1024 x768 res. I don't run off of my mouse pad getting from one corner to the other.

[NoahsMyBro]

Nope - not an optical mouse. It's the standard issue MS wheel mouse that most large OEMs (Dell, gateway, etc...) included for years with their systems. As a matter of fact, this mouse came from a Dell I bought in August 2000.

I can't imagine it makes a difference, but if it affects anything I should mention I'm running the mouse through a Linksys 2-port KVM.

-- Steve

[mi6]

did you try it? It is possible it will work on a "ball mouse" as well.

You can do this as well:

#xset m [initial speed] [accelerated speed] &

"Very Fast" xset m 7 10 &
"Normal(Fast)" xset m 3 10 &
"System Default" xset m default &
"Glacial" xset m 0 10 &

[NoahsMyBro]

Well, I tried both suggestions above. To be honest, I'm not sure if it made a difference or not.

I'm beginning to think the problem isn't the speed of the mouse, necesssarily. There's just something about the 'feel' of the mouse movement that doesn't seem right, or as smooth as what I'm used to with Windows. I can't really put my finger on what's different, though. I think it feels sort-of like what the mouse movement used to feel like in DOS.

I assume I can get used to this though.

Thanks for the help guys,
Steve

[mi6]

yeah, I hear ya! I hated the mouse feel in Linux too. It just wasn't as precise for me.

The "Resolution" really helped mine. Before it was hard to find small objects or be completely precise. If I moved the mouse really slow on the pad it wouldn't move the mouse at all on the screen.

There is a solution...I seem to have found a couple that work for me, sadly I don't know what your's is :(

Did you mention that yours is a USB mouse? It is possible that your XF86Config file has more than one "Device" section. It may have one for the USB mouse and one for a PS/2 mouse. Ensure that you are editing the right device that applies to your mouse.

[NoahsMyBro]

Nope, just a plain vanilla PS/2 Microsoft wheel mouse. Not cordless, USB, nor optical.

Aside from that, though, I'm beginning to really get into this Linux machine. This will be the third time I've built a machine to try and start using Linux as my main machine, and I'm definitely beginning to like it.

Although I love Trillian, rather than try to use WINE and Trillian on this box I've tried out GAIM, and it does everything I need it to. While I'd prefer Trillian, GAIM will be adequate.

Evolution (Desktop) seems very good too. On my windows box I've been using Opera, and tonight I'll probably install it to the Linux machine. Galeon is OK, but I miss my mouse gestures and the keyboard shortcuts I've already learned.

I'm having the most fun and least frustration so far with this attempt, and I think I might be moving fulltime onto this machine realsoonnow(tm). 8-)