Removing Mouse Acceleration OSX

Some people just miss the point of what we're saying and instead just come here "guns blazing" to defend OSX.

Some posters should go back and read the comments and they'll see that most of us complaining are NOT trashing OSX, we love it and we DON'T want to switch back to Windows. We'd just like a little more options when it comes to mouse control. Is that really asking too much??

Aside from the acceleration issue, one can easily see just how little development has ever been done regarding the mouse on OSX by looking at the one tiny black pointer that is offered to users of OSX.

There is a stupid option to enlarge the pointer under the Universal Access section of the Control Panel but all that does is create a large pixelated mouse cursor. Why only the one mouse cursor??

I work on a 32 inch screen and finding the cursor is a major strain for my eyes, I had to purchase PinPoint to make life more bearable but I hate using add on software for something that should be a core function. A variety of mouse pointers has been available in Windows since forever, even Linux systems have multiple pointer options but trying to change the pointer in OSX is virtually impossible. Not even PinPoint can get it right, very evident by the fact that they use an overlay system and cannot directly change the mouse pointer.

A mouse is probably the single most basic function of any computer, why such resistance to any change from Apple? Apple makes it a point of attracting users away from Windows but when we arrive anything we have to say that may be deemed "anti Apple" by themselves or this community is just ignored or shot down in flames.

I can only speak for my own intentions but I am not trying to defend OS X, & of course I cannot speak for Apple. All I can do is point out that Windows & OS X use very different graphics display models & because of that fundamental difference the two will never have exactly the same pointer characteristics, regardless of the options provided by the OS or add-on drivers.

I have tried to explain to the best of my ability why this is so, but without some appreciation for these "under-the-hood" differences I doubt there is any answer to the "why?" questions that will satisfy anyone unhappy with OS X's pointer behavior.

As simply as I can put it, this isn't about some small change Apple is just too stubborn to make; it is about a change that would require a major rewrite of the OS, right down to its core display technologies.

And again you are just plain dead wrong. How OS X and Windows, or any other operating system ever conceived handles graphics has absolutely nothing to do with the mouse acceleration issue on OS X. The operating system design has absolutely nothing to do with it. This is an issue with the mouse driver that was introduced in OS X 10.4. Adding a feature to a mouse driver has nothing to do with with the "core display technologies" as you put it nor does it require a rewrite of an entire operating system.

There are third party mouse drivers that fix the acceleration issue but they don't implement the proprietary features of Apple peripherals thus leaving the user with a fancy gimped input device.

Let me point this out again, there are drivers that fix the acceleration curve on OS X. They are only really useful for third party mice that aren't high DPI.

What would fix the issue people are having is for Apple to add a feature to their mouse driver to give the user the option to select another acceleration model. The acceleration model used in OS X 10.0 to 10.3 would be sufficient.

I have no idea where you got the idea that the "mouse driver" was changed in OS 10.4 in any way that is relevant to the "acceleration issue."

Can you provide a reference for that (or explain what you mean in more detail)?

R C-R wrote:

I have no idea where you got the idea that the "mouse driver" was changed in OS 10.4 in any way that is relevant to the "acceleration issue."

Well, that's because you are being dense and reaching for straws simply for the sake of trying to "win" the discussion and defend your beloved platform.

R C-R wrote:

Can you provide a reference for that (or explain what you mean in more detail)?

I could, but I'm not going to. You can demonstrate it for yourself if you have two OS X machines, one running OS X 10.0 to 10.3 and another machine running OS X 10.4 or greater. Take a USB mouse and plug it into the first machine and move it around. Unplug said USB mouse and plug it into the second machine and move it around. The difference will be obvious.

I could spend a bunch of hours digging through the revisions of IOHIDFamily and other crap, even perhaps disassembling some stuff here and there to pinpoint percisely what the issue is and how it's changed but we both know that's a waste of time. As far as you are concerned it's impossible to fix the cursor issue, it would require one to rewrite the entire operating system. (even though solutions already exist, such as the intellipoint driver from microsoft which lets you choose from two pointer models, USB overdrive, controller mate, etc.)

You can demonstrate it for yourself if you have two OS X machines, one running OS X 10.0 to 10.3 and another machine running OS X 10.4 or greater. Take a USB mouse and plug it into the first machine and move it around. Unplug said USB mouse and plug it into the second machine and move it around. The difference will be obvious.

Sorry, but I see no significant differences attributable to anything besides the difference in screen sizes of the two Macs. I tried several old one button Apple units & an approximately 4 year old Microsoft two-button one. I installed no third party drivers & set the preferences to what I judged to be the same sensitivity.

Maybe that is why you see something different?

I loaded LION on my Macbook Pro and I can see a marked improvement in the mouse acceleration versus Snow Leopard. Additionally you can now upscale the pointer and it upscales perfectly, it's not pixelated whatsoever.

Goes to show that Apple DOES read these forums, they just don't say anything or reply to anything.

MKZA wrote:

I loaded LION on my Macbook Pro and I can see a marked improvement in the mouse acceleration versus Snow Leopard. Additionally you can now upscale the pointer and it upscales perfectly, it's not pixelated whatsoever.

Goes to show that Apple DOES read these forums, they just don't say anything or reply to anything.

Just because the pointer was improved does mean it has anythign to do with these forums.

The cursor is identified under Accessibility as one of the features of Lion. -> http://www.apple.com/macosx/whats-new/features.html

Some Lion icons are now 1024x1024 instead of the standard 512x512 so likely they are simply improving everything.

This is a major problem. Anyone who actually takes gaming seriously knows you want the mouse cursor to move the same distance no matter what speed you move it at. Its logical. Theres a very good fix for snow leopard on team liquids forum that works in starcraft 2 ill get a link when i get out of work. but i agree apple need to fix this on the os. The fix on team liquid only lets you adjust the sensitivity by adjusting the dpi so itll only work on high end gaming mouses. Its a problem that had me angry for a while but now ill slightly satisfied.

Seriously:

Open Terminal & copy / paste, or type the following (CASE SENSITIVE of coarse):

defaults read .GlobalPreferences com.apple.mouse.scaling

That will give you the current accelleration setting.

Then type:

defaults write GlobalPreferences com.apple.mouse.scaling -1

Now logout & log back in & your done. A way to do this quickly is command-shift-option-Q to log out without confirmation.

The only problem is that you are going to have to logout & log back in when you make the changes.

It doesent work.

Rubbish.

It's case-sensitive.

Thats the fix

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=194668

Ive tried that fix so many times. So many times it hurts. have u tried it in starcraft 2 because even usb overdirve gets overridden when it starts. done test using that fix and its still accelerating.

http://davidseah.com/index-ee.php/wikilab/Macbook-Pro-Windows-Installation/

Read the "Stupid Mac OS X Mouse Acceleration" Section.

"In MacOSX 10.6 "Snow Leopard", the above no longer works. Rather than mess around with it any further, I downloaded the trial version of USB Overdrive, which has nag screens but is fully functional. It appears to work just fine."