• Registered: 2008-11-25
  • Posts: 37

Topic: How to increase mouse speed or motion (for lack of a better word)...

I have a logitech trackball and a 20 inch 1600x1200 screen. It takes too much rolling of the trackball to cover the real estate. How can I make the mouse move further with each rotation of the ball?

  • From: Crystal Lake, Illinois
  • Registered: 2009-02-24
  • Posts: 24

Re: How to increase mouse speed or motion (for lack of a better word)...

Hi brjoon1021    even though I do not have a track ball  take a look at 'man xset' under mouse.

man page quote:

mouse   The  m option controls the mouse parameters; it may be abbrevi‐
               ated to ’m’.  The parameters for the mouse  are  ‘acceleration’
               and ‘threshold’.  The acceleration can be specified as an inte‐
               ger, or as a simple fraction.  The mouse, or  whatever  pointer
               the  machine  is  connected to, will go ‘acceleration’ times as
               fast when it travels more than ‘threshold’ pixels  in  a  short
               time.   This  way,  the mouse can be used for precise alignment
               when it is moved slowly, yet it can be set to travel across the
               screen  in  a  flick  of  the  wrist when desired.  One or both
               parameters for the m option can be omitted, but if only one  is
               given,  it  will  be  interpreted  as  the acceleration.  If no
               parameters or the flag ’default’ is used, the  system  defaults
               will be set.

 If  the ‘threshold’ parameter is provided and 0, the ‘accelera‐
               tion’ parameter will be used in the exponent of a more  natural
               and  continous  formula, giving precise control for slow motion
               but big reach for fast motion, and a progresive transition  for
               motions  in  between.  Recommended ‘acceleration’ value in this
               case is 3/2 to 2, but not limited to that range.

Example::  xset m 5/3 0 

hope this helps.

  • From: California, USA
  • Registered: 2008-11-29
  • Posts: 8,647

Re: How to increase mouse speed or motion (for lack of a better word)...

Heres some more examples if you like:

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

Note: ** Please read before posting **

BTW if you wish to contact me, send me an e-mail instead of a PM.
  • GuruX
  • #! Die-hard
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2009-01-18
  • Posts: 522

Re: How to increase mouse speed or motion (for lack of a better word)...

These have to be set each time the computer starts? In other words, into autostart file?

  • From: Crystal Lake, Illinois
  • Registered: 2009-02-24
  • Posts: 24

Re: How to increase mouse speed or motion (for lack of a better word)...

I have edited my  autostart file ~/.config/openbox/autostart.sh with something like the previous post info thankx anonymous:)for reference and xset info

# Mouse Pointer speed 
# "System Default"     xset m default &
# "Normal(Fast)"       xset m 3 10 &
xset m 5 10 &
  • yoda7
  • New member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2010-02-19
  • Posts: 2

Re: How to increase mouse speed or motion (for lack of a better word)...

anonymous wrote:

Heres some more examples if you like:

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

Thanks for the tips.

rrplay wrote:

I have edited my  autostart file ~/.config/openbox/autostart.sh with something like the previous post info thankx anonymous:)for reference and xset info

# Mouse Pointer speed 
# "System Default"     xset m default &
# "Normal(Fast)"       xset m 3 10 &
xset m 5 10 &

Thanks rrplay, that's a nice idea with the autostart file, I settled for: Faster, leaving the examples in for future reference

# Mouse control
#xset m 7 10 &     # Very Fast
xset m 5 4 &     # Faster
#xset m 3 10 &     # Normal(Fast)
#xset m default &  # System Default
#xset m 0 10 &     # Glacial