Mouse "movement" on Mac OS X vs Windows/Unix

Dracata

Dracata

Dracata

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Okay.. please bear with me because this is difficult to explain.

I use several different macs at work, and i've just started using a Macbook constantly

**but**

I just cannot get use to the strange mouse movement. I've used Windows/Unix systems for years, where i'm used to the mouse movement, standard settings, the mouse moves at a constant speed.

On the Macs, it feels.. odd.. softer, if I move it slowly, it it feels as though the cursor is moving slower than it would on a Windows system, yet, fast movement is perfect.

I've played with all the mouse settings in sys preferences but no joy, have also spoken to a colleague about this and he finds it the same.

Anyone know what i'm on about? Are there any cures, or is this the fundamental way in which mouse movements are on Mac OS X?
 
There's definitely a difference but what mouse are you using?

I've got a Logitech G7 and it zips about in Windows in ways that it never does on OS X. But that's not surprising given that it's not officially supported in OS X.
 
Slogan said:
There's definitely a difference but what mouse are you using?

I've got a Logitech G7 and it zips about in Windows in ways that it never does on OS X. But that's not surprising given that it's not officially supported in OS X.
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I'm using my one-and-only Microsoft Intellimouse (5-button), i've got about 5 of them on various systems at work and at home.

I find the same when using the mouse trackpad though, as opposed to trackpads on Windows laptops.

It doesn't feel mouse-hardware related.. it's just so hard to explain :(

Edit: Oh and the intellimouse is officially supported, I dled the Mac software from Microshaft and played with it but no joy
 
Yep, it's cursor acceleration (not speed). As in, moving the mouse over a given physical distance (say 5 cm) will translate to a different pixel distance on screen dependent on how you fast your hand covered that distance. The alternative being linear, i.e. moving the mouse 5cm will always produce the same on screen result regardless of how fast you did it.

Personal preference, but I personally think cursor acceleration is dire and its inexcusable that OS X doesn't at least let you toggle it on and off. I had to buy the shareware program SteerMouse to disable it.
 
Wush is bang on the money. The faster you move the mouse, the faster the cursor goes. I personally like it a lot, but some can't bear it, and Steermouse lets you switch it off.

I like it because I can whizz my mouse across the screen in a small movement, but in for example Photoshop I can move it slowly and much much more precisely, it's a good way of letting you do both things well without constantly adjusting your cursor speed.
 
I don't really mind either, but it takes a bit of getting used to going from Windows > Mac (Through BootCamp on my MacBook using the trackpad) after being in Windows for a while :D Strangely not at all in the other direction :confused:
 
perfect while getting down with your trackpad - but with an mouse.... its not so great
 
Robotica said:
perfect while getting down with your trackpad - but with an mouse.... its not so great
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Yep, agreed.

Talking of mouses... the trackpad on my keyboard goes horribly slowly whenever I'm transferring files wirelessly from my PC to my Mac Mini. Almost as if the bluetooth is affected by the WLAN being used. Not a biggie but annoying all the same.
 
bledd. said:
it's like that for the finer editing of photo's i assumed, just feels weird to me :)
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Yeah I can understand why some people would like it, I just personally hate it. I've worked fine for years without acceleration so I don't need it now!

I tried steermouse, which seems better.. it still seems a little accelerated though, maybe its just me, or i'm doing something wrong!
 
Yep, the "enhance pointer precision" checkbox in the driver-less mouse options, although its effect is far more subtle than OS X's implementation.

Dracata said:
I tried steermouse, which seems better.. it still seems a little accelerated though, maybe its just me, or i'm doing something wrong!
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Did you set the "Tracking Speed" (badly named, but it is a Japanese program!) slider to zero? That definitely eliminates all acceleration for me.
 
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I love it and hate the fact windows doesn't have it.

Makes life so much easier as if you just need small movements and when you need to go corner to corner its just as quick.

Love it :D
 
Concorde Rules said:
I love it and hate the fact windows doesn't have it.

Makes life so much easier as if you just need small movements and when you need to go corner to corner its just as quick.

Love it :D
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Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's a childhood spent playing CS and other FPS games, but on a Windows system if I move the mouse, I can precisely move it exactly where I want it to be very quickly, i've no need of the acceleration.. and it's so difficult to adjust to something so different to what you're used to :(
 
There is a problem with some mice where the acceleration isn't right.

An example of this is when i used my Logitech G7 in OS X with no drivers, it would go fast when on no icons and then once on an icon in the dock it would go very slowly. It had the wrong acceleration curve and wasn't natural. It was like "Enhance Mouse Motion" was on in Windows (or whatever it is called).

I couldn't bare it so bought a Wireless Mighty Mouse which is perfect, same acceleration as windows and doesn't alter what it should be doing.
 
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