slowing_down a super_fast mouse

[spellberg_robert]

howdy , folks ---

i hope that everyone is well .



in anticipation of installing 10.3 , i have been buying new hardware
[ probably , intel "skylake" and "z170" , of some kind ] .
this new mechanical keyboard , "daskeyboard" ,
with the cherry "blue" switches , is really nice ,
much like that which came with my compaq 486dx , twenty years ago ,
[ which --still-- works and is in use !!! ] ,
even if the manufacturer --is-- too cheap to
put legends on the keycaps
[ before i did any editing , this post looked like
traudl junge's first effort for her new boss ,
in that scene in "downfall" , at the beginning of the film
] .

let me start with the

9.3/amd64/syscons/ps2

box ;
i have not , as yet , installed any new equipment on the

10.2/i386/vt/ps2

box .
if i can identify the solution for these two boxen ,
then all of the others should be "variations on a theme" .

the ps2 keyboards and mice actually have usb interfaces ,
with usb/ps2 adapters , plugged into ps2 ports .
from what i read on wikipedia ,
these should look like ps2 devices to the ps2 ports .
the six_years_old moboes --do-- have usb ports of some kind ,
but this is my first usb equipment ,
therefore , i have no usb experience .

my question is about
cursor_on_screen distance versus mouse_on_pad distance .
the old mice [ mitsumi "roller_ball" ] were kinda slow
[ lotsa pad for little screen ; just fine , otherwise ] ,
but not so much as to be worth whining about .
with this new mouse [ cherry model m-5400/01 optical ] ,
the cursor goes flying , if i just breathe on the mouse .

you know how it goes : power_down , swap kb & m , power_up ;
then , see what's different .

so i start reading [ man_pages , handbook , et_cetera ] ;
eventually , i find the man_page about "/boot/device.hints" .
i find words like "flags" , "resolution" and "acceleration" .
i find an example for "psm0" .
this looks promising .
i check my boot messages ;

psm0: <PS/2 Mouse> irq 12 on atkbdc0
psm0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
psm0: model Intellimouse, device ID 3

these are the same messages as those for
the old mitsumi mouse on the 10.2 box ;
i get the impression that all ps2 mice are pretty much the same .

i note that there are no "flags" ; so i try that .
i "guess" that flags of "0x01" and "0x04" will
disable "acceleration" and
set "resolution" to either extreme , one way or the other .
if this works ,
then i should observe a 8:1 ratio for cursor distance ;
all that i have to do is to pick a "comfortable" setting .

well , that was the plan .
it failed .

let me emphasize : the new hardware --works-- .
it is just that the cursor goes flying across the screen ,
for a small mouse_on_pad motion .
positioning --is-- challenging .

the flags --are-- recognized ; they appear in the boot messages ;
for example ,

psm0: <PS/2 Mouse> flags 0x1 irq 12 on atkbdc0

but the behavior does not change on either the console or the xterm .

maybe the mouse has hardware limitations .
maybe i have mis_identified the correct software module to tweak .
maybe there is some "buzzword" , of which i am unaware .
which ignorance prevents further research by me .

should i be trying to effect this change in "rc.conf" ?

should i be trying to effect this change in "X" ?

[ in re_reading the above , before i send this ,
the thought occurs to me that ,
even if the mouse has only one motion_size ,
scaling --could-- be effected in software , --somewhere-- .
this entire post can be summarized into three words :
"possible" , "where" and "how" .
]

i ask , before i try "something" , because ,
even with all drives backed_up ,
onto drives on --different-- machines ,
none_the_less , i wish to avoid
finding myself in the position of
having to recover from some hardware problem by
turning off the power supply .
although this works , most of the time ,
i --have-- lost a hard_drive this way .
i prefer to not_repeat the experience .



does anyone have any thoughts ?
maybe , someone knows the right leading question to ask me .



tia

rob



ps --- does anyone know how to
turn_off this narrow 65_column auto_wrap
in the "thunderbird" editor ?

[Polytropon]

Post by spellberg_robert
howdy , folks ---
i hope that everyone is well .
in anticipation of installing 10.3 , i have been buying new hardware
[ probably , intel "skylake" and "z170" , of some kind ] .
this new mechanical keyboard , "daskeyboard" ,
with the cherry "blue" switches , is really nice ,

Yes, those are great, but nothing beats "IBM model M". :-)

Post by spellberg_robert
[ before i did any editing , this post looked like
traudl junge's first effort for her new boss ,
in that scene in "downfall" , at the beginning of the film
] .

Then compare to the "typist audition" in "Schindler's List"
for improvement. :-)

Post by spellberg_robert
the ps2 keyboards and mice actually have usb interfaces ,
with usb/ps2 adapters , plugged into ps2 ports .
from what i read on wikipedia ,
these should look like ps2 devices to the ps2 ports .
the six_years_old moboes --do-- have usb ports of some kind ,
but this is my first usb equipment ,
therefore , i have no usb experience .

Then why don't you use them natively via USB? Basically, it should
work out of the box (as the kernel provides ukbd and ums drivers).

Post by spellberg_robert
so i start reading [ man_pages , handbook , et_cetera ] ;
eventually , i find the man_page about "/boot/device.hints" .
i find words like "flags" , "resolution" and "acceleration" .
i find an example for "psm0" .
this looks promising .
i check my boot messages ;
psm0: <PS/2 Mouse> irq 12 on atkbdc0
psm0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
psm0: model Intellimouse, device ID 3
these are the same messages as those for
the old mitsumi mouse on the 10.2 box ;
i get the impression that all ps2 mice are pretty much the same .

The easiest way to configure the mouse behaviour for the console
is using moused. In this case, accessing the settings via /dev/psm0
(through the PS/2->USB adapter) is quite easy:

moused_enable="YES"
moused_type="auto"
moused_flags="-z 4"
moused_port="/dev/cuaa0"
moused_type="mousesystems"
moused_flags="-r 300 -a 2.0"

This is an example from one of my older systems where a serial mouse
with 3 buttons needed adjustment for resolution and accelleration.
See "man moused" for details about the required flags.

In your case, you'd probably have to use

moused_type="auto"
moused_port="/dev/psm0"

instead. You can try out various settings by first invoking moused
with the -d -f flags (print debugging messages, run in foreground),
and when you're happy with the settings, add them to /etc/rc.conf
accordingly.

Note that using moused with USB devices is not that trivial as it
is controlled "dynamically" via devfs/devd, if I remember correctly.

Post by spellberg_robert
i note that there are no "flags" ; so i try that .
i "guess" that flags of "0x01" and "0x04" will
disable "acceleration" and
set "resolution" to either extreme , one way or the other .
if this works ,
then i should observe a 8:1 ratio for cursor distance ;
all that i have to do is to pick a "comfortable" setting .
well , that was the plan .
it failed .

As expected. :-)

Post by spellberg_robert
let me emphasize : the new hardware --works-- .
it is just that the cursor goes flying across the screen ,
for a small mouse_on_pad motion .
positioning --is-- challenging .
the flags --are-- recognized ; they appear in the boot messages ;
for example ,
psm0: <PS/2 Mouse> flags 0x1 irq 12 on atkbdc0
but the behavior does not change on either the console or the xterm .

The console has a different mouse driver than X. For X, you need to
configure the mouse parameters using the tool your desktop environment
provides. If you're not using a DE, consider using /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
Again an example:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Device" "/dev/sysmouse"
Option "Protocol" "Auto"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons"
Option "EmulateWheel"
Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
EndSection

You can set "Samplerate" and "Resolution" as well. You can find
even more options in the documentation.

Post by spellberg_robert
maybe the mouse has hardware limitations .

That is possible.

Post by spellberg_robert
maybe there is some "buzzword" , of which i am unaware .
which ignorance prevents further research by me .

Yes, there is dynamic leverage synergetic mouse outsourcing for
startup unicorn capital growth inflation. :-)

Post by spellberg_robert
should i be trying to effect this change in "rc.conf" ?

Yes.

Post by spellberg_robert
should i be trying to effect this change in "X" ?

Yes, as well. As I said, console and X use different mechanisms
for the mouse, so there are two different configurations needed.

Post by spellberg_robert
ps --- does anyone know how to
turn_off this narrow 65_column auto_wrap
in the "thunderbird" editor ?

Why is that a problem? You should breat your lines between column
60 and 70. If you prefer to do this manually (as I do), you'll
find the relevant setting in the message compose configuration,
if I remember correctly.

[Erich Dollansky]

Hi,

try:

xset m 4 1

Check man xset for what the two numbers stand.

Erich


On Tue, 21 Jun 2016 01:55:33 +0000

Post by spellberg_robert
howdy , folks ---
i hope that everyone is well .
in anticipation of installing 10.3 , i have been buying new hardware
[ probably , intel "skylake" and "z170" , of some kind ] .
this new mechanical keyboard , "daskeyboard" ,
with the cherry "blue" switches , is really nice ,
much like that which came with my compaq 486dx , twenty years ago ,
[ which --still-- works and is in use !!! ] ,
even if the manufacturer --is-- too cheap to
put legends on the keycaps
[ before i did any editing , this post looked like
traudl junge's first effort for her new boss ,
in that scene in "downfall" , at the beginning of the film
] .
let me start with the
9.3/amd64/syscons/ps2
box ;
i have not , as yet , installed any new equipment on the
10.2/i386/vt/ps2
box .
if i can identify the solution for these two boxen ,
then all of the others should be "variations on a theme" .
the ps2 keyboards and mice actually have usb interfaces ,
with usb/ps2 adapters , plugged into ps2 ports .
from what i read on wikipedia ,
these should look like ps2 devices to the ps2 ports .
the six_years_old moboes --do-- have usb ports of some kind ,
but this is my first usb equipment ,
therefore , i have no usb experience .
my question is about
cursor_on_screen distance versus mouse_on_pad distance .
the old mice [ mitsumi "roller_ball" ] were kinda slow
[ lotsa pad for little screen ; just fine , otherwise ] ,
but not so much as to be worth whining about .
with this new mouse [ cherry model m-5400/01 optical ] ,
the cursor goes flying , if i just breathe on the mouse .
you know how it goes : power_down , swap kb & m , power_up ;
then , see what's different .
so i start reading [ man_pages , handbook , et_cetera ] ;
eventually , i find the man_page about "/boot/device.hints" .
i find words like "flags" , "resolution" and "acceleration" .
i find an example for "psm0" .
this looks promising .
i check my boot messages ;
psm0: <PS/2 Mouse> irq 12 on atkbdc0
psm0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
psm0: model Intellimouse, device ID 3
these are the same messages as those for
the old mitsumi mouse on the 10.2 box ;
i get the impression that all ps2 mice are pretty much the same .
i note that there are no "flags" ; so i try that .
i "guess" that flags of "0x01" and "0x04" will
disable "acceleration" and
set "resolution" to either extreme , one way or the other .
if this works ,
then i should observe a 8:1 ratio for cursor distance ;
all that i have to do is to pick a "comfortable" setting .
well , that was the plan .
it failed .
let me emphasize : the new hardware --works-- .
it is just that the cursor goes flying across the screen ,
for a small mouse_on_pad motion .
positioning --is-- challenging .
the flags --are-- recognized ; they appear in the boot messages ;
for example ,
psm0: <PS/2 Mouse> flags 0x1 irq 12 on atkbdc0
but the behavior does not change on either the console or the
xterm .
maybe the mouse has hardware limitations .
maybe i have mis_identified the correct software module to tweak .
maybe there is some "buzzword" , of which i am unaware .
which ignorance prevents further research by me .
should i be trying to effect this change in "rc.conf" ?
should i be trying to effect this change in "X" ?
[ in re_reading the above , before i send this ,
the thought occurs to me that ,
even if the mouse has only one motion_size ,
scaling --could-- be effected in software , --somewhere-- .
"possible" , "where" and "how" .
]
i ask , before i try "something" , because ,
even with all drives backed_up ,
onto drives on --different-- machines ,
none_the_less , i wish to avoid
finding myself in the position of
having to recover from some hardware problem by
turning off the power supply .
although this works , most of the time ,
i --have-- lost a hard_drive this way .
i prefer to not_repeat the experience .
does anyone have any thoughts ?
maybe , someone knows the right leading question to ask me .
tia
rob
ps --- does anyone know how to
turn_off this narrow 65_column auto_wrap
in the "thunderbird" editor ?
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[spellberg_robert]

Post by Erich Dollansky
Hi,
xset m 4 1
Check man xset for what the two numbers stand.
Erich
On Tue, 21 Jun 2016 01:55:33 +0000

Post by spellberg_robert
howdy , folks ---
i hope that everyone is well .

[ big snip ]



i thank you , sir , for your response .



after reading both of the two responses that i received ,
i chose to address , first , the content that was supplied by
{ A | A in [ "mr ." , "mrs ." , miss , e_production ] } polytropon ,
as that content dealt , principally , with configuration .

because my response to { B | B in [ him , her ] } will be extensive
[ it will take most of the day to compose , here at the salt_mine ] ,
i wanted to respond to you , immediately .
fortunately , this content applies to both of the said responses .



after satisfying myself , that my configuration was correct [ mostly ] ,
i returned to your post , as it had piqued my interest .
one or another of my configuration files uses xset(1) ,
to define the keyboard "auto_repeat" parameters .
consequently , i am familiar with the output of "xset q" .
until now , i had had no need to adjust any of the mouse settings .
the defaults were "good enough" .

from "xset q" , i found that both boxen were configured as

Pointer Control:
acceleration: 2/1 threshold: 4

after playing around with the settings , for a_while ,
i found that your exact suggestion [ above ] works very well ,
on the 10.2/i386/vt/ps2 box [ "slowpoke rodrigues" ] .
for the time being , i can leave this box be .
given that 10.3 is released , i do not want to do more with this ,
except , of course , when necessary .

however , on the 9.3/amd64/syscons/ps2 box [ "speedy gonzales" ] ,
i have settled upon , for now ,

Pointer Control:
acceleration: 1/4 threshold: 1

which --does-- help , somewhat , for --general-- use .
none_the_less , for precise positioning ,
even this setting is way too "touchy" .
this suggests that , as regards the "resolution" concept ,
i need to conduct further research and experimentation .
the effort will be worth my while .
probably , my 9.3 boxen will be around for some time ,
as they are "amd64" .



again , sir , i thank you , for your assistance .
certainly ,
you hit one_and_a_good_fraction of the two nails on the head ,
given that most of my cli is done in xterm and that
most of my gui is done in firefox [ and , sometimes , thunderbird ] .



rob



ps --- no need to "cc" ; i am subscribed to "-questions@" .