How to have separate sensitivity settings for internal trackpoint & external mouse

Hardware Support
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1

Hi everyone, just had a quick question that I wanted to ask.

I use my laptop (Dell Latitude 5400) with a mouse preferably, but when I don't have enough desk space I prefer to use the TrackPoint on it's keyboard.

With my mouse, it's pointer speed is incredibly slow to my liking, so even on the highest setting that the mouse offers, I still had to go into Zorin OS's settings and set the mouse speed to a higher level just to have the mouse speed be what I'm used to.

But, the issue is that this mouse sensitivity setting not only applies to my wireless mouse, but the internal TrackPoint as well. When I have the sensitivity raised to my liking for the mouse (which is close to the max), the TrackPoint becomes basically unusable because of how sensitive it is.

Is there any way I can set each of these devices to have their own separate sensitivities instead of having one blanket sensitivity for the whole OS?

2

As far as I understand it, you can't set them independently via OS software. However, if you get a Logitech gaming mouse, they come with a macro button on them, to quickly adjust DPI sensitivity on the fly. You can set these sensitivity options for the macro button, using the Piper APP.

I recommend the Logitech G502 mouse, it should serve you well.

In conclusion, the idea here, is that you set the sensitivity in the OS which best suits your trackpad, then with a touch of a button on the G502, you can adjust your mouse how you want it, based on how you setup the button macro, in the Piper app.

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3

I'm not familar how to do this. It should work, but only with terminal.

It seems to me that are some informations obsolete.

Switch to Xorg, I'm not sure if it will work on wayland. Logout and at login click on your profile then a cog wheal appears at the bottom right. There select "Zorin Desktop on Xorg". Then login with your password.

I wanted to try it on my system (Dell Latitude 7490), but on my virtual machine and in Zorin live session mode no trackpoint was listed. I have the same issue that the trackpoint is very slow, but I don't use it.

What is shown when you enter

xinput list

Is there an output for a trackpoint/dualpointstick...? The name may be different.

Then list the trackpoint's properties:

xinput list-props <trackpoint-id>
4

It's me again. I tested it with my Dell Latitude E6430 running Linux Mint 22.1 XFCE. The following worked:

First switch to Xorg.

xinput list

to list the name and id of the trackpoint. It was shown as
AlpsPS/2 ALPS DualPoint Stick id=14

xinput list-prop 14

Enter the id of the trackpoint here (mine was 14).
I looked for the line
libinput Accel Speed (299)
and the value there (=299).

Then I set

xinput set-prop 14 299 1

I choose 1, that is the maximum speed. You can choose a value between [-1;1]

Now the trackpoint is fast.

I'll look for further solutions and how to make it permanently and will report later (if you logout or reboot, this setting is reset). In terminal you can easily get it back when you press :up_arrow: to show the last command (press the arrow as often as you want to get the history of the last entered commands)

Okay. Ready.
To add the function to autostart go to settings>session and startup and create a new entry, e.g.

Name: Trackpoint
Comment: Trackpoint acceleration
Command: xinput set-prop 14 299 1
Trigger: on login

5

If you want even more speed, you can also change the following (alternatively or additionally):

The command

xinput list-props 14

shows a line
Coordinate Transformation Matrix (152): 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1
You can change the first and second "1" values here from 1 to any number, e.g. 2, 3, 4...or higher to increase speed.

The command for the terminal is e.g. for value 4 (I'm not sure if you will need commas, I need them)

xinput set-prop 14 152 4, 0, 0, 0, 4, 0, 0, 0, 1

I don't know if this is correct, but I have noticed that if you combine both commands, the one from before and this one with changing the matrix, then the trackpoint becomes even faster.

xinput set-prop 14 152 4, 0, 0, 0, 4, 0, 0, 0, 1; xinput set-prop 14 299 1

To add it to autostart use the command

sh -c 'xinput set-prop 14 152 4, 0, 0, 0, 4, 0, 0, 0, 1; xinput set-prop 14 299 1'

Please use your trackpoint id, your accel speed and your matrix number.

@Aravisian Can you please take a look if the commands are okay?

6

I switched to Xorg and unplugged my mouse's dongle, then ran the command. This is what I got:

⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ DELL08B8:00 0488:121F Mouse id=12 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ DELL08B8:00 0488:121F Touchpad id=13 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ PS/2 Generic Mouse id=19 [slave pointer (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard id=3 [master keyboard (2)]
↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard id=5 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Video Bus id=6 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=7 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Sleep Button id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ DELL08B8:00 0488:121F UNKNOWN id=14 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Intel HID events id=15 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Intel HID 5 button array id=16 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Dell WMI hotkeys id=17 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard id=18 [slave keyboard (3)]

I did check to see if mines was also id #14, and it seems like it is. Instead of showing up as AlpsPS/2, it just showed up as DELL08B8. Here's the full list of what appeared when I ran xinput list-props 14:

Device 'DELL08B8:00 0488:121F UNKNOWN':
Device Enabled (189): 1
Coordinate Transformation Matrix (191): 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000
libinput Send Events Modes Available (310): 1, 0
libinput Send Events Mode Enabled (311): 0, 0
libinput Send Events Mode Enabled Default (312): 0, 0
Device Node (313): "/dev/input/event15"
Device Product ID (314): 1160, 4639

Given the fact that it also appears to show up as a Coordinate Transformation matrix, I would like to think that that the script(s) you gave me should work.

I'll try to run some later on when I have the time, then report back. I'll also try to do some of my own research since I would personally prefer to still use Wayland instead of Xorg, but if I have to I would stick with it.

Thank you for your help, though. I appreciate all the resources you linked me to, I've definitely learned a bit going through it all!

1 Like
7

I'm not sure, I dealt with this topic for the first time yesterday, but I'd try it with this one:

PS/2 Generic Mouse id=19 [slave pointer (2)]

All information below this in the lower half refers to keyboard. In mine and all other terminal outputs I found in internet the trackpoint was the last one in the upper part. It must contain the word pointer, not keyboard. In the ubuntuusers link the designation "PS/2 Generic Mouse" is shown for Dell Trackpoints.
The id 14 is not the right one in your case.

I just re-read your initial post and realized I made a mistake. I started from my system where the trackpoint was too slow and tried to make it faster. That's not your point at all, sorry.
You would have to do the opposite, slow it down (or increase the speed of your external mouse which also should be possible this way).
You can do this by not setting 1 (the fastest possible speed) at the end of the command, but by choosing a number <0 (if I've explored this correctly, I've just played around with different values), e.g. 0.5, -0.2, -0.5, -1

xinput set-prop 14 299 -1

It can easily be done in terminal, just enter the command, press return, then the speed is set. Keep your terminal opened. Move your trackpoint to test its speed.
To try the next value, press :up_arrow: on your keyboard, this will call up the last command and you can change the number at the end to another one. Then press return to apply it. Test again the speed of trackpoint. If you enter 0 at the end of the command or logout the current setting is reset. Only add the command to autostart when you have found a good solution for you.

If the minimum -1 is not slow enough, you could try to change the matrix and replace the first two "1" with a value <1, e.g. 0.5.

8

In wayland libinput should be used. Maybe the trackpoint-multiplier can help.