Yet another mouse lag problem

gzachariah · 10-11-2004, 12:04 PM

I've looked through the many threads of mouse problems, but I haven't found a solution. So I'll just ask outright.

I just installed Fedora Core 2 on a PII-333MHz using gdm as my display manager and an ATI 3D Rage Pro graphics card. Everything works, but the mouse lag is frustrating. The location of the pointer seems to get updated only a few times a second it seems, and I have to wait for the pointer to catch up to me so I can make sure I'm clicking on the right spot. It really slows me down and gives the interface a really icky squishy feeling.

The mouse is a PS/2 Logitech MouseMan with a scroll wheel.

In xorg.conf:

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"
  Identifier "single head configuration:
  Screen  0  "Screen0" 0 0
  Input Device  "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
  Input Device  "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

...

Section "InputDevice"
  Identifier  "Mouse0"
  Driver  "mouse"
  Option  "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
  Option  "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
  Option  "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
  Option  "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
EndSection

I have tried different resolution option settings, but it doesn't change the lag. The lag is not dependent on process load; it's the same with a mostly idle system using 3-4% of the CPU resourses.

vectordrake · 10-11-2004, 09:48 PM

So you have already added to the mouse stanza

Code:

Option "Resolution"  "400"

That integer value is usually the one I start with (had a Labtec mouse that sucked wind till I found that). I arrived at that value, as Microsoft sets 300dpi as its default.

gzachariah · 10-12-2004, 01:34 AM

Yes, I have experimented with Resolution values between 100 and 1600. It seems to make some difference in the distance my pointer moves with respect to how far I move my mouse, but it's hard to tell. It doesn't affect at all the problem I described. The pointer display appears to be updated only a few times per second. I have seen other things (e.g., game pieces in four-in-a-row) with smooth, high-frame-rate animation, but my mouse pointer is not like that.

Thank you for the suggestion. Any others?

vectordrake · 10-12-2004, 06:58 PM

Did you try "mouseman" instead of "auto" or "Ps/2"?

gzachariah · 10-12-2004, 08:49 PM

Okay, that was fun! The MouseMan protocol made my mouse jump all over the place, eventually ending up in the upper left corner of the screen. I made my best educated guesses about how to re-edit the xorg.conf file and reboot the machine using only keystrokes--an adventure for the partially initiated!

I think I'll stick with IMPS/2. The mouse and everything on it works, but the refresh rate of the pointer is just annoyingly slow. Is my system just too old to be able to handle Fedora Core 2?

vectordrake · 10-12-2004, 10:36 PM

It is possible. I don't see too many paople happy with a Red Hat product abover RH8 on less than a P-III. I usually recommend Debian or Slackware for machines like yours. You can usually have a full desktop (gnome or kde will run if you want 'em) and still survive.

Do you have any other window managers installed? You might want to install Windowmaker or Fluxbox to see if there's relief from the problem. If there is, your Desktop environment is too much for the machine. You could compromise with something like IceWM or XFCE, which is qiote configurable.