Overly sensitive trackball

Lord Zoltar · 07-11-2005, 04:52 PM

Hello,
I just installed a new Logitech trackball. Everything works fine but the trackball motion is far too sensitive. I even added a min and max speed to my xorg.conf, but it doesn't seem to make any difference...

Code:

# **********************************************************************
# Core Pointer's InputDevice section
# **********************************************************************

Section "InputDevice"

# Identifier and driver

    Identifier	"Mouse1"
    Driver	"mouse"


     Option     "Protocol"      "Auto"

    Option "Device"      "/dev/mouse"

    Option "Emulate3Buttons"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

	Option	"MinSpeed"	"0.01"
	Option	"MaxSpeed"	"0.01"

EndSection

I'm using slackware, with a custom compiled kernel, 2.6.10.

Lord Zoltar · 07-13-2005, 04:42 PM

I tried playing with the "Resolution" option as well as the "SampleRate" and "BaudRate" (those last two are supposedly almost always not needed, but I can't find a good explanation of them). I just can't get this trackball working nicely. It's a new Logitech TrackmanWheel (if that helps).

EDIT:
I guess I should have described the problems better:
It is too sensitive in Linux. A small push on the trackball causes the mouse to move too much. I can't seem to find a way to change this nicely. It also moves a bit too jerkily.
It works fine in windows, but is very frustrating to use in Linux.

I tried `xset m...` too but I couldn't get it working well. Does anyone else use this trackball under linux? maybe you could tell me your configuration?

Ateo · 07-13-2005, 06:43 PM

Those xorg config settings are fine. The question is... what desktop/window manager do you use? KDE has a mouse control center to fine tune these details. I'm sure other environments would be similar....

Lord Zoltar · 07-14-2005, 02:06 PM

I use KDE. It does have a mouse adjustment centre, but it's not very useful. It was the first thin I tried playing with, but it didn't help much. I can set the acceleration to between 1.0x and 20.0x, and the threshold also has the same range of values. I can't enter numbers out of this range. Right now I have acceleration set to 1 (it moves smoother, the lower it is, and I have the threshold set to 11 (but the value for this seems to make no difference at all... I wonder if it's even actually working?).

Are there other methods to adjust the mouse speed? xset seems to work best so far, but I'm not sure where I should put the xset line so that KDE won't override it with it's own values.

And I'm still curious to the "BaudRate" and "SampleRate" in the xorg.conf file. In windows, I can set the sample rate for the mouse up to 200. Would it work in Linux too?

Lord Zoltar · 07-16-2005, 10:38 PM

Does NO ONE have experience with this (or similar) device or problem?
I've heard that there are some drivers available for certain Logitech mice/trackballs, but I don't know if this is one of them?

Does anyone out there know?

kak · 07-17-2005, 12:25 AM

I have a Logitech Trackman Wheel (trackball). My xorg.conf reads as :

Quote:

# Identifier and driver

Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

And in KDE pointer acceleration is set to 2x.

I don't use any other tweaks for it. And the only difference I can see is the Protocol.
Might be worth a shot.

Lord Zoltar · 07-17-2005, 03:14 PM

I tried the IMPS/2 protocol, didn't seem to do much...
But I looked at the comments, and there was also a Logitech protocol. So I tried that, and yeah, the trackball motion was a lot smoother and better. The only problem is that the scroll wheel no longer works. And yes, I have the "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" line.

Lord Zoltar · 07-20-2005, 10:56 AM

I don't know how you can stand the tracking with the IMPS/2 protocol... i find the motion to be jerky and overly sensitive... I use the Logitech protocol and I get very smooth and fine control over the pointer, but I STILL can't get the scroll wheel to work. I even added `Option "Buttons" "5"` right before the ZAxisMapping line, and it didn't seem to do anything. Does the Logitech protocol even support 5 buttons? also, is there a way to adjust the SPEED of the mouse? I don't mean threshold) or acceleration, Windows allows all three (speed, accel, threshold) to be adjusted. If I could adjust the speed, then I could just reset the protocol to Auto or IMPS/2.

kak · 07-20-2005, 06:06 PM

Which version of KDE & X are you using? I am on KDE3.4.1 & Xorg 6.8.2. And admittedly I tend to like a lively mouse pointer, I find setting the acceleration to 1x in the KDE control panel to slow it down considerably (too slow for my taste).

Lord Zoltar · 07-20-2005, 09:01 PM

I am using xorg version 6.8.2, and kde version 3.4.1

My mouse behaviour seems the same regardless of what WM/DE I use. with Logitech protocol, it's very smooth, with others, it's always a bit jumpy and twitchy (but the scrollwheel works...)

kak · 07-20-2005, 11:16 PM

Okay, I played around with my setup.
First I tried:
Added :

Quote:

# Identifier and driver

Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

# Mouse-speed setting for PS/2 mouse.

Option "Resolution" "25"

then turned the acceleration down in KDE to 1x

Which slowed it down quite a bit. Not sure if it would be enough? or too much?

Next I tried this:

Quote:

# Identifier and driver

Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "Logitech"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

And the scroll wheel still works, at least for me. And it is smoother but not quite as slow as my first attempt.
I have mine set up through the PS/2 port, not sure if that would matter but worth a mention.

Lord Zoltar · 07-21-2005, 09:38 PM

Ok, I think I have everything working now, sort of...

Code:

Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
Option "Buttons" "5"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

...is my Mouse section in xorg.conf.

BUT...... to get it all working, I first ran mouseconfig (as root) and set the mouse to be an IMPS/2 mouse (I put the trackball back onto the PS/2 port). THEN, I edited the xorg.conf file to have the IMPS/2 protocol. Then I restarted X and things got weird... the keyboard would sometimes stop responding and I'd have to restart X again. Also,the tracking got very slow. It ended up once that I had to reboot the machine. And then, everything seemed to work very nicely

...mostly. I still think the tracking was smoother with the logitech protocol (and I'll try it again when I have time to spare), but I don't want to try it right now because it's still PRETTY smooth and the scrollwheel works.

I still feel that I don't have as fine control as I did with the mouse. Do other trackball users feel this too? I just tried tracing some pattersn in Gimp. These are easy with the mouse, but very difficult with the trackball.

EDIT:
One last thing: I tried the Resolution line like you had, and my X server wouldn't even start

. wtf?

Lord Zoltar · 07-23-2005, 01:31 PM

Ok, I had to go back to the Logitech Protocol. It was just too jumpy on IMPS/2....
Does anyone know a way to adjust Mouse SPEED? Windows has a setting for the mouse called speed. NOT Acceleration or Threshold... it has those TOO. If I can adjust the speed then I'll go back to using IMPS/2 protocol...
OR......... is there an ALTERNATE way to set the scrollwheel? So that I can get it working with Logitech? I'm really getting very very frustrated with this... I'd go back to a mouse, but it is just getting too uncomfortable and painful. the Trackball would be great if I could get smooth tracking AND a working scrollwheel at the same time.

...anyone?