[EDIT] Why do I need mouse acceleration to move windows and click buttons?

[Corbin Simpson]

Dirk wrote:
>>> The bottom sticker of my mouse says 2000 DPI... so I want to move the
>>> pointer 2000 pixels when i move the mouse an inch... NO MATTER HOW FAST I
>>> MOVE THE MOUSE.
>> These are device pixels, not screen pixels. I really hope you didn't
>> need me to explain this.
> 
> 
> Well... the thing I tried to explain is that I (and other people) don't 
> want to /have/ to give a f***...
> 
> 1) I plug in 2000 dpi mouse
> 2) I move mouse 1 inch horizontally and/or vertically
> 3) pointer moves 2000 pixels horizontally and/or vertically
> 
> NO MATTER HOW FAST I MOVE THE MOUSE
> 
> 
> that really is all that one cares about when he wants to use Linux for 
> gaming. PRECISION! Not useless Desktop features that interfere and make 
> one seriously freak out during an important match.
> 
> You could completely remove mouse acceleration from the codebase and 
> increase the quality of Linux as a gaming system.
> 
> People who believe they need an accelerated pointer to click buttons or 
> move windows are not bright enough to realize the absence of 
> acceleration anyways.
> 
> I know Windows has mouse acceleration too... but just because they call 
> it a feature it shouldn't be part of a Linux Desktop and enable itself, 
> randomly, over and over again.
> 
> Right now I run a script that calls xset 30 times a minute with sleeps 
> as a cronjob to make sure it stays disabled.
> 
> Before, I even sent my mouse back to the manufacturer because I thought 
> it was broken before I realized it was a problem with Linux so I guess I 
> /am/ a little annoyed.
> 
> Not as much as i (e.g.) was before i uninstalled HAL to get control over 
> my Linux back. But still...
> 
> I'll check out 
> http://www.x.org/wiki/Development/Documentation/PointerAcceleration
> 
> Thanks.

You wrote up this entire flame before reading the manual?
http://xkcd.com/293 comes to mind.

Additionally, acceleration's presence can always be made negligible by
changing the rate of acceleration. (Ah, the joys of calculus.) It's
definitely an enhancement, not a feature.

~ C.