Learning Curve for OS X Mouse Acceleration?
 

I'll divulge a little secret...I am no fan of OS X's built-in mouse acceleration. It's not that I don't like mouse acceleration, it's just I don't like not being able to adjust.

Now, of course I could just use SteerMouse or USB Overdrive (both of which i have licenses for, and have used them in the past) however, i just bought a Logitech S530 keyboard/mouse combo set and if I use any other mouse driver than the one provided by Logitech, I lose some of the functionality on the keyboard.

So I've reverted to using Logitech's driver, which in turn uses Apple's mouse acceleration/tracking settings, and it's kinda hard to get used to.

I feel the effect the most when I go in to click on a small target (eg, the zoom button on a Finder window). To me, it decelerates way too fast, and I find my cursor about a few millimeters away from my target, and then i have to consciously try a few more times until i get actually make it to that little green button.

Anyone else have this experience? How long did it take you to get used to it?

Microsoft really screwed up the mouse acceleration with Windows and many people have adjusted to it. It will just take you a little bit longer to adjust to the Mac acceleration curve. Then you'll find it hard to use a PC.

I'll have to disagree with your comment about M$. I think Apple has screwed the mouse acceleration up. I use XP and Ubuntu and they use similar acceleration curves. I had to get SteerMouse for OSX becuase I would end up having to lift up my mouse trying to get from one side of the screen to the other.

One of the first things I do on any PC I install Windows on is turn off the "Enhance pointer precision" option. With it on, I constantly overshoot my target.

Yellow, is the pointer precision the same thing as mouse acceleration?

I believe it is. Being a Mac lifer I have no need for artificial acceleration or OS-assisted pointer accuracy.
With it ON, I constantly overshoot my target. With it OFF, it's the same pointer accuracy I enjoy on my Mac.

Another thing to note is that the Mac OS is MUCH less forgiving for pointer inaccuracy. On Windows, I can get some part of the cursor over the whatever I'm trying to click and it will work, it seems on the Mac, if it's not the actual very TIP of the arrow pointer, then it's not going to register. I find this to be a problem for a lot of switchers. And then there's the issue of icons, again, Windows is much more forgiving for inaccuracy.

Yeah, i wish Apple would simply let you turn off the acceleration. I'm just as bad today at it as i was yesterday!

Err.. I didn't think OS X had any acceleration, which typically seems to be people's (switcher's) problem with it?

No I believe it does...when i use SteerMouse or USBOverdrive I am able to turn it off completely, or leave it at say 1% or 2%...but without that I can't change it.

Well, according to Rob, it was added in 10.3.

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.p...7997&lsrc=osxh

Apparently I'm not seeing it on my main Macs because I use Intellimouse which overrides it. But I just tried it out on my MBP and I never noticed it but there is definitely accelleration there. It's still not something that bothers me. Good hand/eye coordination I guess? <shrug>

Is this what we're speaking of?
 

I think I'm not understanding the question/problem. Is tracking speed equivalent to the acceleration about which we're speaking? I haven't yet updated to 10.4.8, but in my 10.4.7 this is what my mouse preference looks like.

Yep the prepfane is similar (you use a mighty mouse, i don't) but remember tracking speed and acceleration are not the same thing.

Hi MBH, please fill me in on the difference.

Tracking speed is just that...speed. Speed and acceleration are two different things. Acceleration is the rate at which you are changing your speed, while speed is just how fast you are moving at any given instant.

So for a mouse cursor, with 0 acceleration, every movement of the mouse by the user corresponds to the same jump in position the user would notice on the screen.

With anything but 0 acceleration, this relationship is no longer linear...and so someone moving a cursor from one end of the screen to the other would see that the cursor is not moving at the same speed at any given instant...instead of increasing the speed at a constant rate (eg. the speed that your hand is moving the mouse) it is increasing the rate at which your cursor speeding up.

To me, this results in jerkier movements of the cursor around the screen. I constantly find myself undershooting or overshooting my target.

I remember vector vs scalar and acceleration vs speed from physics, but in the Mac, regarding acceleration, does Apple automatically include mouse acceleration? Is it something not included with my G4 mini as opposed to your new iMac?

If your G4 mini is running anything later than 10.3, it has it.

You just might be used to it so it feels normal to you.

I went to the preferences pane again. I ticked a slower tracking speed and it seemed to change the acceleration as well as the speed. By that I mean when set at my usual one notch from the fastest, the more quickly I move the mouse, the greater the distance the cursor travels. When I set the tracking speed at the second from the slowest, no matter how quickly I move the mouse, the cursor barely travels at all.

It seems that the tracking speed setting does influence the acceleration on my rig. But, being a child of the 60s, I can hallucinate quite a few things. I still hear colours by the way.

You're absolutely right, it accelerates more at higher tracking speeds. This is precisely what i detest about the built-in acceleration...i simply don't like the relationship they chose.

So, you'd like the faster tracking speed without the greater distance travel which accompanies that, at the faster settings? And if I understand earlier posts, SteerMouse and USBOverdrive can modify that behaviour?

I think the situation is able to be controlled in Leopard. Not that it'll let us control acceleration, but we can Time Machine a couple nanoseconds back to when our cursor was directly over the intended target!:D

acceleration curve sucks
 

Yup, I absolutely hate this about my Mac... and I've had it for quite some time. And I don't feel that any of the current solutions work correctly.

With my Intellimouse, I can override the settings and use the Microsoft driver . This way, the movement is linear, and I always know exactly where the mouse pointer will be based on my my mouse is. This is pretty much required of gamers, also. No one can say to "just get used to it." I see people all the time that just pick the Mighty Mouse up off the desk in order to move the pointer farther. Windows and Ubuntu by default use 0 acceleration. OSX uses an acceleration curve which makes it impossible to accurately predict the mousement of the curson, and requires you to manage the speed of your mouse movement so that you don't overshoot your target or have to lift the mouse off the desk....

I'm having the exact same problem as the OP.

I've been coping with the acceleration using USB Overdrive since Apple made the acceleration change in 10.3, but now I'm using a logitech keyboard and cannot use any other third party drivers. I tried looking for any terminal commands or system-fixes that would allow me to disable the acceleration in Os X, but to no avail thus far.

Tried iMousefix, steermouse, controllermate, USB overdrive coupled with Logitech control center, but nothing will work with the logitech drivers.

Alternatively, I wonder if could be possible to manually map the media keys including the fn-key on the Logitech keyboard so I dont have to use the Logitech driver so I may continue using USB overdrive?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I've spent a whole day trying to fix this.

I had no problem with the mouse when i test drive my Imac at the Mac store, put when brought it home and put it on my desk it was driving me crazy. PC users are used to sitting in front of a computer with limited space to move a mouse around. I have found that using the mouse on a Mac standing up feels more natural. When standing up you automatically use your whole arm to move the mouse not just your wrist. Notice how every Mac store has them setup on counter height desk and you just walk up to try them.