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An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

linearmouse.app

31–40 of 175 posts

Re: An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

#31
post #29

The lack of mouse acceleration in Windows is what make it feel, to me, clunky and slow. I know it’s a function of what you grew up with/are used to but it’s interesting to see. Personally I like being able to flick my mouse across the screen without having to pick up my mouse—enables faster work.

> The lack of mouse acceleration in Windows is what make it feel, to m

Windows has had built-in acceleration since Windows XP (maybe 2000?) - it's the "Enhance pointer precision" option in the (classic) Mouse control panel.

There's also an acceleration curve you can customize, but there's no built-in GUI editor, but the data's all in the HKCU\Control Panel\Mouse registry keys.

Re: An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

#32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you use it for? I use a non-Apple keyboard and just switched the options / command key in System Settings.

Say you have a laptop and a PC keyboard and want to have different settings for the internal and the external keyboard

The settings in System Settings.app are per-keyboard, so you don't need anything external for that.

Re: An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

#33
post #2

I've long looked for a good mouse utility for Mac that can disable mouse acceleration, modify scroll wheel behavior, etc. This one even saves preferences per-device which I find very useful.

I’m eager to try this out, but you might also want to check out Steermouse[1], which is a utility it took me years longer to discover than it should have. I’m not sure how it stacks up to this open source project, but it’s definitely been worth the license cost to me over the years. [1] https://plentycom.jp/en/steermouse/

[deleted]

Re: An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you use it for? I use a non-Apple keyboard and just switched the options / command key in System Settings.

Say you have a laptop and a PC keyboard and want to have different settings for the internal and the external keyboard

It already lets you have different settings for the internal en external keyboards by default. I use it just like that - vanilla settings on my MacBook built in and for the external keyboard I switch command and option, since it’s a windows keyboard.

I don’t want to be inflammatory, but the amount of baby duck syndrome when people say MacOS and Linux are unusable is crazy. Just try to go vanilla for 2 weeks before you install two dozen utilities.

Re: An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

#36
post #30

This is a mandatory install on macOS for me (one of many). The suite of extra software utilities required to make the base OS usable is ridiculous, but I'm glad to see open source maintainers working to keep my mouse working.

Funnily enough, they've just added a toggle to disable pointer acceleration in this year's macOS Sonoma: https://i.redd.it/rezxi3gfwf4b1.png

Yep finally!

Linearmouse utilizes the new API introduced in macOS Sonoma to disable pointer acceleration.

Re: An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

#37
post #29

The lack of mouse acceleration in Windows is what make it feel, to me, clunky and slow. I know it’s a function of what you grew up with/are used to but it’s interesting to see. Personally I like being able to flick my mouse across the screen without having to pick up my mouse—enables faster work.

I've had my touchpad randomly stop working. Sometimes a restart fixed it, sometimes it required a deep dive into driver land. Something so basic that should just work.

I am not aware of any trackpad failures on Mac.

Re: An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The suite of extra software utilities required to make the base OS usable is ridiculous Use Windows or Linux. Good luck and have fun!

Windows isn't Unix, which is one of macOS's biggest selling points for developers and hackers (remember which website you're on). Recommending it as the solution whenever someone complains about macOS is counterproductive, because in many cases it's not a suitable substitute for macOS. WSL isn't a solution to this problem, especially ever since they gave up adding support to the actual Windows kernel and just used a…

It's tiring to read almost everyday on HN: “the amount of work required to make this circle into a square is ridiculous”.

Some of us enjoy circles. Use whatever you like, but complaining A is not B is annoying.

Re: An open-source mouse and trackpad utility for Mac

#40

This is a mandatory install on macOS for me (one of many). The suite of extra software utilities required to make the base OS usable is ridiculous, but I'm glad to see open source maintainers working to keep my mouse working.

> This is a mandatory install on macOS for me Would you mind expanding on that? I'm not sure what I'd improve about my touchpad experience on my Mac.

Not the OP, but for one thing, natural scrolling is just an awful idea for mouse users, it was designed for touch screens, and translates pretty well to trackpads (Although it broke with over a decade of user experience), but it's completely unnatural on a mouse. Unfortunately, if you're a user who switches between a mouse and the trackpad, Mac OS only let's you pick one.
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