I've got a USB mouse attached to my Ubuntu notebook. This mouse is (unfortunately) really sensitive, and so it sometimes gets hard to hit small icons with the mouse pointer. This is really a hardware issue, it's not a bug and it's not Ubuntu's/gnome's fault. Still, I would very much like to this issue through software (solving through hardware would imply buying a new mouse).
Back in Windows, if I set the sensitivity as really low it was comfortable enough. In Ubuntu, even the lowest sensitivity and acceleration available (in the System>Prerences>Mouse menu) is still frustrating. How can I decrease it below the default minimum?
I tried xset
, but it seems xset
only deals with acceleration and threshold, but not actual sensitivity.
I have a Razer DeathAdder mouse and like in your case, the sensitivity/acceleration are too high even if I put them at the lowest level in the mouse preferences. So to solve this problem, I used the xinput command.
First, you will need your mouse ProductName and ID:
Then you set the constant deceleration level that suits your needs with this command:
To make the config persistent (and make it system wide), you will need to edit your xorg.conf (
/etc/X11/xorg.conf
).Once you reboot, you should have the same result as the xinput command.
Let me know if it helps.
Ubuntu 17.04
Follow the instructions below, but change:
To:
Thank you @tambre. Not sure this is quite as ideal as the old setting, but it's pretty close.
That still works pretty darn well. Need to figure out how to save so this is the default on reboot.
Ubuntu 16.04
@JackTravis 's answer was incredibly helpful, but I think it's worth updating for 16.04 because the xorg.conf file has moved and been split into multiple files. Before writing this answer, I tried using
xset
and played around with thexinput
settings for a while before deciding that JackTravis'sxinput
ConstantDeceleration
3
setting was the best one for both my Logitech M510 on my desktop and some older wired mouse on my laptop.1. List Mice
My mouse was the
Logitech M510
,id=10
so I'm going to use that in this example. You will need to replace that with whatever your mouse is called. Now, usexinput set-prop
to try out various settings until your mouse moves exactly as you want it to. The10
in the following corresponds to theid=10
for my mouse on my system. You'll probably have to change that.2. Change Your Settings Temporarily
If you're curious what other settings affect your device try
To clear the settings after I had really messed them up, all I had to do was unplug and re-plug my mouse.
3. Save the New Setting Permanently
If you like ConstantDeceleration of 3, then you need to add an xorg.conf file the new Ubuntu 16.04 way: by adding a new file in
/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/
You will want to changeLogitech M510
andlogitech-m510
in the file name to match your mouse. I think the60-
at the beginning of the file name is the priority with which these files are loaded. The following one-line shell command is what I put in mymachineSetup.sh
file in Dropbox so that I can quickly customize a new machine exactly how I like it within minutes of a fresh install:OR, if you want to do it the GUI way, open an editor as root then paste and edit the following into
/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/60-<whatever>.conf
4. Reboot
That's it. Just reboot and verify that the new settings took effect.
Late reply, but I think this is worth posting:
Since we're talking about gaming mouse here. Better is to turn off the mouse acceleration entirely (useful for FPS gamers etc.). Save up some CPU cycles by not using it to calculated any mouse acceleration and likely to be more accurate readings too (depend or the mouse hardware sensor has build-in extrapolation).
or
Source
A slight modification to Glen's answer, this works for my Logitech mouse and doubles "slowness" from 1 to 2.
Add to ~/.profile (as pointed out in comment) (or .bashrc but then you have to launch a terminal for the change to take place)
Sadly none of the answers worked 'enough' for my Ubuntu 18 Dell Wireless mouse. The speed was not slow enough.
This answer for a similar question helped me.
Use
xinput list
and get the device id. Refer top answer to do this properly.Next do
Adjust the
0.2
above to any fraction as you want. Lower=Slower.You can use the same technique as the top answer to make it permanent. Only replace
"ConstantDeceleration"
with"TransformationMatrix"
and replace"3"
with"0.2 0 0 0 0.2 0 0 0 1"
If you use the PS2 port the mouse movement is much slower for the same mouse resolution.
For your mouse try to use a USB to PS2 converter and put the mouse it the PS2 port.
Edit:
I have found the
xorg.conf
working solution:Where a sensitivity of 1 is the default and the 0.2 one is decreasing it five times.
Read the manual for your mouse first before trying any of these other answers.
Razer brand mice have on the fly sensitivity features. For the DeathAdder that is mentioned in the accepted post, the one I use has 2 buttons on the top that controls sensitivity. If you make config changes first, you could one day have sensitivity that is too low because you unknowingly triggered the built in sensitivity features in the mouse.
I had just had this issue where I set the sensitivity as low as it would go and it was still too high, but it worked fine just days before. I had pressed the button to increase the sensitivity not knowing what they did, thinking I could use them as additional buttons for a game and ended up with very high mouse sensitivity. It's happened to me before, then would go back to normal and I never knew why, until just now.