[HN Gopher] LinearMouse - A minimal app to get rid of scrolling ...
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       LinearMouse - A minimal app to get rid of scrolling acceleration on
       macOS
        
       Author : lujjjh
       Score  : 35 points
       Date   : 2021-06-12 15:16 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (linearmouse.lujjjh.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (linearmouse.lujjjh.com)
        
       | burlesona wrote:
       | Interesting. I like scrolling acceleration and miss it when using
       | other platforms. I agree it should be a system setting, though.
       | Silly that we need apps for this and for having the mouse and
       | trackpad scrolling to be different.
        
       | Jare wrote:
       | I have to try this. I already have a reverser (how on earth is
       | this not the default, and not even an OS option to begin with?!?)
       | but scrolling with the wheel on a usb mouse jumps randomly.
       | Crossing fingers this may help there.
        
         | joshstrange wrote:
         | For smoother scrolling with a non-Apple mouse/trackpad you
         | might want to look at Smooze [0], it's what I use for my
         | logitech mouse. That said, it's paid and it looks like Moz [1]
         | claims to fix smooth scrolling so maybe check that out too.
         | 
         | [0] https://smooze.co/
         | 
         | [1] https://github.com/Caldis/Mos
        
         | jagger27 wrote:
         | You have always been able to reverse the scroll direction in
         | the Mouse/Trackpad options. It's a checkbox that says "Scroll
         | direction: Natural".
         | 
         | As for your jumping issue that sounds like a hardware problem.
         | It might just be that your mouse wheel is dirty.
        
           | Jare wrote:
           | You can reverse on both or neither, but not for just one.
           | That's why there's 3rd party software like this one.
           | 
           | Scroll jumping should be a hardware issue but I've swapped
           | mice and same issue; both also work fine on windows. It could
           | be the USB hub, I've still to try something with that, but it
           | sounds... unlikely.
        
           | throwawayboise wrote:
           | It's struck me as peculiar but with a trackpad or a mouse the
           | "drag down to move screen content up" feels natural, but on a
           | touch-screen, phone, or tablet it's the opposite. So on a Mac
           | I always have to change the default trackpad preference.
        
       | deagle50 wrote:
       | This is great. Scroll Reverser + scroll acceleration fix in one
       | app. If you can also figure out cursor acceleration, you'll have
       | a hit. The only app that correctly disables cursor acceleration
       | is SteelSeries ExactMouse.
        
         | Twixes wrote:
         | +1, ExactMouse is a must for me as a macOS non-Magic mouse
         | user. Would love for this tool to replace SteelSeries's app
         | too.
        
         | jtth wrote:
         | SteerMouse does this just fine, and has for years and years. I
         | can't use a Mac without it.
        
           | deagle50 wrote:
           | I tried SteerMouse in the past and it didn't feel right.
           | ExactMouse feels like Windows.
        
         | rosstex wrote:
         | Explain this?
        
           | deagle50 wrote:
           | Which part?
        
             | rosstex wrote:
             | Oh sorry, I misread this! Nevermind.
        
         | akhuchdy wrote:
         | +1, I've also been using the paid Mac app Smooze (smooze.co) to
         | get smooth mousewheel scrolling animation like I get on Linux
         | and Windows out-of-the-box when web browsing and so forth
         | because I haven't found a free app that can do this.
         | 
         | And while we're talking about the effort needed to get sane
         | mouse behavior for serious CAD/3D editing/art/gaming, it is way
         | too hard to reliably disable cursor acceleration on Linux.
         | There are at least three different X11 mouse drivers on Ubuntu:
         | the really old one, the evdev one, and the newest libinput one.
         | (I don't even know what you have to do for Wayland... never got
         | there....) So if you web search "disable mouse accel linux" you
         | likely get the wrong directions (at least I did) because you
         | might be using the libinput driver and the instructions you
         | found are for evdev. One unreliable method I tried involves
         | setting a matrix. This at first works and then you eventually
         | discover some apps like Blender develop cursor jump bugs....
         | 
         | So the reliable method is....
         | 
         | If using libinput mouse driver you do something like this:
         | 
         | $ xinput --set-prop 'Cooler Master Technology Inc. MM710 Gaming
         | Mouse' 'libinput Accel Profile Enabled' 0, 1
         | 
         | If using evdev mouse driver you do something like this:
         | 
         | $ xinput --set-prop 'pointer:Cooler Master Technology Inc.
         | MM710 Gaming Mouse' 'Device Accel Profile' -1
         | 
         | To figure out your mouse name string like the MM710 example I
         | used above you do this:
         | 
         | $ xinput --list
         | 
         | The number of tweaks I've needed to research and implement for
         | both Mac and Linux are one reason I'm now currently using
         | Windows + WSL for getting stuff done. I want to solve computer
         | science problems more interesting than configuring my mouse and
         | my window manager vsync tearing / compositor issues....
        
           | smoldesu wrote:
           | Thankfully, KDE and Gnome have both added easy settings menus
           | that allow you to toggle this. Not sure how recently it was
           | added, but it sure is a nice addition now that Linux is
           | starting to break into the gaming space, where disabling
           | mouse acceleration is one of the first things you'll probably
           | end up doing.
        
       | sitzkrieg wrote:
       | isnt it kind of ridiculous that these apps have to exist because
       | usable input isnt high on apple's list? like paying fir window
       | snapping is one thing, but non wacky input.. ugh
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | ephimetheus wrote:
         | You mean you find it ridiculous that you need extra software to
         | make macOS input bad?
        
         | delgaudm wrote:
         | Rectangle [0] is FOSS and may satisfy your window arranging
         | needs.
         | 
         | [0] https://rectangleapp.com/
        
           | smoldesu wrote:
           | I think the larger concern is that the world's most valuable
           | company can't find the time to fix their window manager.
        
             | chrisseaton wrote:
             | It's not 'broken' just because it's not quite designed as
             | you'd like.
        
               | smoldesu wrote:
               | Sorry, would "functionally inferior" be a more suitable
               | name for it? I've come to expect robust and fully-
               | featured WMs from years of using Windows and Linux, it's
               | a bit funny to me that Apple has just given up in this
               | respect.
        
               | chrisseaton wrote:
               | Lack of cruft and fuss _is_ a feature though. And how 's
               | it not 'robust'?
        
               | smoldesu wrote:
               | Lack of cruft is a feature on Linux boxes, where people
               | care about running a lean machine. My Mac is a slow,
               | hulking trash box that runs Telegram and slurps bandwidth
               | through a swizzle-straw. I frankly don't care about how
               | little cruft my WM has when my system idles at 4 gigs of
               | memory usage.
               | 
               | Apple needs a few things to make their WM competitive out
               | of the box: 4/6 corner tiling would probably be a good
               | place to start: split-screen is useless. Hopefully they
               | would have an auto-tile functionality like Yabai, Pop
               | Shell or i3-gaps, since I've come to expect that on my
               | high-res devices too. They should also copy Microsoft's
               | FancyZones, which let you quickly draft window presets to
               | keep your screen divided the way you like it. Any of
               | these would be welcome additions, because currently it
               | feels like my Retina display is being put to waste with
               | only two or three apps all fighting for attention.
        
               | chrisseaton wrote:
               | They clearly don't need this stuff and they clearly are
               | competitive already, given their market share with
               | developers. I'd hate to see Apple cram in all these wacky
               | features you're describing - I much prefer a simpler
               | system.
        
             | rustyemu wrote:
             | It's not really broken, it's just not meant for power users
        
               | smoldesu wrote:
               | Broken might be a bit heavy-handed, but it's not like I'm
               | chiding some tiny mom-and-pop store for writing bad
               | software. This is Apple, a company that has been
               | developing their current operating system for nearly a
               | decade. In that time, the closest their window manager
               | got to a glow-up was the introduction of split-screen
               | tiling. Pretty pathetic if you ask me, which is why I
               | have to install Yabai on every godforsaken Mac I own. I'm
               | not following them into the ARM transition if they don't
               | fix the basics of their OS.
        
       | ribs wrote:
       | I've always considered Apple's scrolling acceleration to be among
       | its most important features. For, like, 30 years. Since the Mac
       | debuted. But I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that someone out
       | there wants to disable it.
        
         | fartcannon wrote:
         | I like it for some things and not for others.
         | 
         | I like choice.
        
       | jzelinskie wrote:
       | I've been using Mos[0] for this. Don't be scared away by the
       | language in the README, it supports an English UI.
       | 
       | [0]: https://github.com/Caldis/Mos
        
         | eyelidlessness wrote:
         | The website[0] has English copy. Unfortunately on mobile the
         | screenshots are cropped in a way I still can't tell what it
         | does
         | 
         | 0: https://mos.caldis.me/
        
         | Shank wrote:
         | Do you know how this compares to the aforementioned SteelSeries
         | ExactMouse Tool?
        
       | toomanyducks wrote:
       | So it takes a dedicated app to adjust mouse acceleration curves?
       | Is this an accurate reflection of the platform as a whole?
        
         | chrisseaton wrote:
         | It is in general to be used as designed rather than configured,
         | yes. I don't think I change any configuration options at all in
         | macOS for example - not even the wallpaper.
        
       | smoldesu wrote:
       | This is one of the reasons I ended up using Linux, it's nice to
       | see that current Mac users don't have to suffer with the asinine
       | mouse controls anymore.
        
         | oneplane wrote:
         | I don't get all the mouse hate. It works fine for me yet I'm
         | not calling other's mouse preferences asinine.
        
           | smoldesu wrote:
           | I wouldn't be mad if it was a matter of preference, but Apple
           | doesn't give you the choice to disable acceleration. Across
           | every device I've ever used (even Android phones), I've
           | always been able to disable mouse acceleration. For most
           | people who aren't using a trackpad, it feels imprecise and
           | terrible, and it absolutely doesn't make sense in the age of
           | the modern optical mouse.
           | 
           | I'm just tired of Apple refusing to add settings for the most
           | basic options. I want to use MacOS, but Apple keeps removing
           | features that I use religiously and refusing to extend their
           | desktop in ways that compete with the rest of the market. Is
           | it too much to ask them to spend some of their 2 trillion
           | dollar valuation on adding a mouse menu?
        
             | oneplane wrote:
             | I use a mouse too. I've also started using trackpads more,
             | but for the last 20 years it's been mice in various
             | incarnations (currently a razor deathadder elite), no
             | problems so far. Had a steelseries before that, and a
             | roccat before that, Logitech before that.
             | 
             | I suppose the difference is the religious use of a specific
             | configuration. I usually use the same mouse (buy them 2 or
             | 3 at a time) on Linux (Gnome 3 mostly) and Windows. No
             | problems there either. All on mostly default settings,
             | perhaps a little faster tracking speed but that's about it.
        
             | chrisseaton wrote:
             | > For most people who aren't using a trackpad, it feels
             | imprecise and terrible
             | 
             | Are you sure it's for most people? Or just you and some
             | people you know?
        
         | akhuchdy wrote:
         | > This is one of the reasons I ended up using Linux
         | 
         | This is one of the reasons I ended up ditching Linux for
         | Windows+WSL.
         | 
         | Disabling mouse cursor acceleration under X11, for example,
         | depends on which of at least three different X.org mouse
         | drivers you are using (really old, evdev, or libinput). And web
         | searches often turn up an unreliable or incorrect method.
         | (Search this article's comments for "xinput" to find more info
         | I just typed up for another reply.)
         | 
         | And if you use a Logitech unifying receiver you need to
         | research that the program you need is 'solaar' to pair/unpair
         | your mouse under Linux.
         | 
         | And if your bluetooth mouse or keyboard goes to sleep too fast
         | under Linux (5 seconds in my case) you might need to add this
         | to your grub boot params (worked for me):
         | 
         | $ sudo vi /etc/default/grub
         | 
         | # Add btusb.enable_autosuspend=n to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT
         | 
         | GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="btusb.enable_autosuspend=n"
         | 
         | Then:
         | 
         | $ sudo update-grub
         | 
         | The point is, researching all this hardware config stuff is
         | time I could have been using to research more interesting
         | computer science problems. I sure can get my printer working
         | much faster under Windows than Linux....
        
           | smoldesu wrote:
           | Gnome and KDE offer options to fix this out of the box, and
           | while that's not a tacit approval of installing full-fat DEs
           | on every system, I think the average user won't have to worry
           | about this unless they're using a bare-bones WM on a stripped
           | down compositor, at which point I'd argue their already well-
           | versed enough in Linux-fu to know how to fix it.
           | 
           | That said though, I get it. I think the pervasive myth of
           | "the year of the Linux desktop" riles people up into
           | believing that Linux has finally "Windows-ified" itself,
           | which it hasn't.
        
       | speedgoose wrote:
       | Since the discussion is about making MacOS more usable, do you
       | have something to recommend to switch between windows and not
       | applications using command+tab, and to have a dock that shows all
       | the windows easily, grouped per application. Because the default
       | MacOS windows manager is really crappy when you have more than
       | one window of the same application.
       | 
       | I would also enjoy a maximize button that does maximize the
       | window and not create a virtual space with the application in
       | full-screen.
       | 
       | I think people at Apple should probably use windows 10 for a few
       | days on a dual screen setup, because MacOS is not very good
       | compared to it. Thankfully it looks like a lot of people produce
       | tools to make it better.
        
         | jmole wrote:
         | Command ` (or Command ~) switches between app windows.
         | 
         | You can also use expose, recently renamed to mission control to
         | view all app windows.
         | 
         | It looks like the default key binding for application windows
         | is Control-| and for all windows is Control-|
         | 
         | edit: you can also bind these to mouse buttons in system
         | preferences.
        
           | speedgoose wrote:
           | Thanks. I should try to rebind the shortcuts to make mission
           | control a bit more convenient to use. I have it in a hot
           | corner, but this is useless on dual screen. Maybe a button on
           | the mouse will be better.
        
         | TooKool4This wrote:
         | > I would also enjoy a maximize button that does maximize the
         | window and not create a virtual space with the application in
         | full-screen.
         | 
         | This was the biggest thing that annoyed me when switching from
         | Windows. I've been using SizeUp for 5 years now without any
         | problem and it's great, especially when using a 4K screen
         | (quarter screen window tiles).
         | 
         | https://www.irradiatedsoftware.com/sizeup/
        
         | joombaga wrote:
         | Contexts is a good cmd+tab replacement/supplement. You can try
         | it for free.
         | 
         | https://contexts.co/
         | 
         | Hold option while clicking maximize and the window will do what
         | you want.
        
           | speedgoose wrote:
           | Thanks! Contexts looks like an improvement. It's still
           | missing the window previews though.
           | 
           | I had mixed results with the option key pressed while
           | clicking maximize, some apps such as safari gets slightly
           | bigger by a random amount that is probably a failed tentative
           | to guess the optimal size.
        
         | brumm wrote:
         | https://manytricks.com/witch/ may be exactly what you're
         | looking for
        
           | speedgoose wrote:
           | Thanks. I will try this one too.
        
         | Angostura wrote:
         | > ince the discussion is about making MacOS more usable, do you
         | have something to recommend to switch between windows and not
         | applications
         | 
         | Command + ` does that.
         | 
         | > and to have a dock that shows all the windows easily, grouped
         | per application.
         | 
         | Does Expose not work for you? F3 by default, I think?
         | 
         | > I would also enjoy a maximize button that does maximize the
         | window and not create a virtual space with the application in
         | full-screen.
         | 
         | You might want to try opt-clicking the window maximise button.
         | This maximise window size, in context of the content. May not
         | always be full screen, but as big as the content needs.
        
           | speedgoose wrote:
           | Isn't command + ` switching between windows of the same
           | application?
           | 
           | Expose is not the same no.
           | 
           | The option click algorithm that decide how big the window
           | should be hasn't impressed me to say the least.
        
             | fatboy wrote:
             | I agree the window maximising is frustrating in macOS. I
             | use what used to be Spectacle and is now Rectangle to bind
             | a "real" fullscreeen commmand to a key combo.
             | 
             | The way the default behaviour creates a new space makes me
             | think that no one in Cupertino uses a second monitor
             | because that behaviour simply does not work if you do.
        
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