slowing_down a super_fast mouse

Mon Jul 11 04:32:42 UTC 2016

On 06/21/16 05:23, Polytropon wrote:

dear sir or madam ---

i apologize for the delay of my response and my thanks .
however , as i am certain that you and other readers will appreciate ,
   since mid_day thursday [ jun_23 ] , here , at the salt_mine ,
   "brexit" has been creating additional work for me .
it is my understanding that i am not alone , in this situation .

[ update 16_jul_10_sun ---

   i had most of this done by 16_jun_30_thu .
   un_fortunately , another crisis developed .
   being self_employed , with no staff [ which has pros and cons ] ,
     i have to deal with everything my_self .
   i apologize for the additional delay ;
     rest assured , i did not forget about you .
]

separately and more importantly , i ask you for your assistance .
in my youth , i was taught "the rules"
   for writing a polite , proper business letter .
these rules have served me well , even before i discovered jean renoir .
some of these rules are premised upon
   the writer knowing the sex of the intended recipient ,
   so that the correct sex_specific titles and pronouns may be selected ,
   in those places where their use is appropriate .
when lacking this information ,
   somewhat more cumbersome solutions exist .
as i do not know you personally , i find that
   your appellation , "polytropon" , provides insufficient information ,
   for me to make the correct selection ,
   with a high probability of success .
my online_search attempts have been fruitless
   [ no doubt , i have not selected , as yet , the right engine ] .
as it is not my intent to offend
   [ unless , of course , i am playing
       the future victor of agincourt , during his princely days , or
       "francis urquardt" [ after "brexit" , the choice was obvious ]
   ] ,
   for the benefit of me and , possibly , others , for this purpose ,
   would you care to specify a preference
   for writers to select one sex rather than the other ?
regardless of your answer , for this , i thank you in advance .

> On Tue, 21 Jun 2016 01:55:33 +0000, spellberg_robert wrote:
>> howdy , folks ---
>>
>> i hope that everyone is well .
>>
>>
>>
>> in anticipation of installing 10.3 , i have been buying new hardware
>>     [ probably , intel "skylake" and "z170" , of some kind ] .
>> this new mechanical keyboard , "daskeyboard" ,
>>     with the cherry "blue" switches , is really nice ,
>
> Yes, those are great, but nothing beats "IBM model M". :-)

i believe that i have used one of those ; was it the kbd for the 3270 ?

>>     [ before i did any editing , this post looked like
>>         traudl junge's first effort for her new boss ,
>>         in that scene in "downfall" , at the beginning of the film
>>     ] .
>
> Then compare to the "typist audition" in "Schindler's List"
> for improvement. :-)

i do not have that one in my library
   [ i --did-- see it once , though , long ago ] .
in fact , steven's films are poorly represented among my 1500+ titles ;
   perhaps , one day ... .
however , thanks to much recent use ,
   my kbd error_rate has dropped , --markedly-- .

>> the ps2 keyboards and mice actually have usb interfaces ,
>>     with usb/ps2 adapters , plugged into ps2 ports .
>> from what i read on wikipedia ,
>>     these should look like ps2 devices to the ps2 ports .
>> the six_years_old moboes --do-- have usb ports of some kind ,
>>     but this is my first usb equipment ,
>>     therefore , i have no usb experience .
>
> Then why don't you use them natively via USB? Basically, it should
> work out of the box (as the kernel provides ukbd and ums drivers).

now , --this-- is a very good question .

essentially , most_of_the_time , i am a "late adopter"
   [ but , as i said , above , i am considering "skylake" ;
       whoda thunkit ?
   ] .
when i change things , i like to change them one_at_a_time .
this comes from my engineering mind_set ;
   change one variable , then , see what happened .
when i was young_and_stupid ,
   i had to be the first kid on the block to acquire the newest toy
   [ does anybody remember "mr machine" ? ] .
by my mid_twenties , i had discovered the benefits of "stability"
   [ this is one of the main reasons for my love of berkeley_unix ;
       once something works , LEAVE_IT_ALONE !!!
     unfortunately , in the real world ,
       rude third_parties make impositions upon decent people [ sigh ]
   ] .

i am considering the "asus" brand , their_model "z170-k" , mobo ,
   for my next two boxen .
in addition to several usb ports , having various revision_numbers ,
   it has separate ps2 ports [ hmmm ... , why "purple" and "green" ? ] .
thus , one less variable , initially .
because these k & m are my first usb_if devices ,
   here_to_fore , in the bios_screens , always ,
   i have disabled the usb_portion of my moboes .
this has had the added advantage of suppressing , at shut_down ,
   certain usb_related messages .
of these usb_messages , on a 24_row screen , their inclusion caused
   other , more_important messages to be scrolled_up ,
   far_enough , so that they fell_off of the top_edge of the world .
although it is un_finished , as yet ,
   the new vt(1) obviates this characteristic .
the first box will use the ps2_if
   [ even if it requires a usb_if mouse to boot ; i hear stories ...
   ] ;
   this permits me to concentrate on the cpu/mobo configuration .
the second box will use the usb_if , so that i may learn about it ,
   as the ps2_if is , apparently , not long for this world .

[ update 16_jul_10_sun ---

   i have ordered parts for four boxen , plus extras for spares ;
     of these parts , the last should arrive on 16_jul_11_mon ;
     mobo - asus z170-k ;
     cpu  - intel i3_6320 , i5_6600 , two of each [ "skylake" , 14_nm ] ;
     dram - 64_gb each , 2133 , no over_clock [ i do not game ] ;
     hdd  - seagate es.3 , 1_tb - 4_tb .
   the current boxen will be re_purposed
     [ intel celeron_440 [ "conroe_l" , 65_nm ] , 4_gb each ] .
   the initial build [ 10.3_amd64 ] , some time this week , will
     serve as a test_bed for your suggestions ,
     as the current 9.3_amd64 and 10.2_i386 [ celeron ] boxen are
     in rather_heavy use , currently .
   i am assuming that the mouse will behave the same .
   later , i can apply the changes back_wards .

   also , the mobo has
     one of these new_fangled "m.2" pci_ex__3.0__x4 ports ;
     which intrigues me [ i have been doing some reading ] .
   did you know that the handbook says nothing about solid_state drives ?
]

fyi , this next bit referred to psm(4) [ mea culpa ] .

>> so i start reading [ man_pages , handbook , et_cetera ] ;
>>     eventually , i find the man_page about "/boot/device.hints" .
>> i find words like "flags" , "resolution" and "acceleration" .
>> i find an example for "psm0" .
>> this looks promising .
>> i check my boot messages ;
>>
>> 	psm0: <PS/2 Mouse> irq 12 on atkbdc0
>> 	psm0: [GIANT-LOCKED]
>> 	psm0: model Intellimouse, device ID 3
>>
>> these are the same messages as those for
>>     the old mitsumi mouse on the 10.2 box ;
>>     i get the impression that all ps2 mice are pretty much the same .
>
> The easiest way to configure the mouse behaviour for the console
> is using moused. In this case, accessing the settings via /dev/psm0
> (through the PS/2->USB adapter) is quite easy:
>
> 	moused_enable="YES"
> 	moused_type="auto"
> 	moused_flags="-z 4"
> 	moused_port="/dev/cuaa0"
> 	moused_type="mousesystems"
> 	moused_flags="-r 300 -a 2.0"
>
> This is an example from one of my older systems where a serial mouse
> with 3 buttons needed adjustment for resolution and accelleration.
> See "man moused" for details about the required flags.
>
> In your case, you'd probably have to use
>
> 	moused_type="auto"
> 	moused_port="/dev/psm0"
>
> instead. You can try out various settings by first invoking moused
> with the -d -f flags (print debugging messages, run in foreground),
> and when you're happy with the settings, add them to /etc/rc.conf
> accordingly.
>
> Note that using moused with USB devices is not that trivial as it
> is controlled "dynamically" via devfs/devd, if I remember correctly.

here is the relevant portion , from my "/etc/rc.conf" ;
   all are defaults , except "enable"
   [ i deleted and compressed much , due to "auto_wrap" ] .

	#.
	#---+240+-30+a--1---+---+---+---2---+---+---+---3---+---+---+---
			moused_enable="YES"	#srl	set by srl .
	#---+240+-30+a--1---+---+---+---2---+---+---+---3---+---+---+---
	#.
	#srl		moused_nondefault_enable="YES"	#bsd	T... .
	#srl		moused_enable="NO"		#bsd	R... .
	#srl		moused_type="auto"		#bsd	S... .
	#srl		moused_port="/dev/psm0"		#bsd	S... .
	#srl		moused_flags=""			#bsd	A... .
	#srl		mousechar_start="NO"		#bsd	i... .
	#.

from what i read in moused(8) , along with "-d" and "-f" ,
   "-r" , "-a" and "-A" should do the trick .
i will "play" with it .

[ note : i create my "/etc/rc.conf" [ and others ] in this manner .

   save any existing version that may have been installed .
   copy "/etc/defaults/rc.conf" to "/etc/rc.conf" .
   invoke vi(1) ; perform extensive editing ,
     for readability [ according to --my-- needs ; ymmv ] .

     a]  comment --every-- line ,
           with --my-- comment_syntax , "#srl<HT>" ,
           while preserving the bsd_markers as "#bsd<HT>" ; example :

	#srl	#bsd	thingy="mumble"		#bsd	comment .

     b]  combine multi_line comments onto one line ; move right_ward .
     c]  separate un_related groups of parameters with "#.<LF>" .
     d]  high_light changes by
           0]  enclosing them in a pair of horizontal_rule lines ;
           1]  adding the notation "<HT>#srl<HT>set by srl ." .
     e]  add a comment_header at the top , for file_scope notes .
     f]  add a line at the bottom , "#eof." .
     g]  use <HT> to separate , clearly , code from comments .
     h]  miscellaneous , as appropriate .

   this way , i have --one-- file , only , to manage .
]

>> i note that there are no "flags" ; so i try that .
>> i "guess" that flags of "0x01" and "0x04" will
>>     disable "acceleration" and
>>     set "resolution" to either extreme , one way or the other .
>> if this works ,
>>     then i should observe a 8:1 ratio for cursor distance ;
>>     all that i have to do is to pick a "comfortable" setting .
>>
>> well , that was the plan .
>> it failed .
>
> As expected. :-)

if you please , would you elaborate upon this ?
your use of punctuation suggests that
   you know more than you are letting on .
at the time , this method really did look like the correct one .

>> let me emphasize : the new hardware --works-- .
>> it is just that the cursor goes flying across the screen ,
>>     for a small mouse_on_pad motion .
>> positioning --is-- challenging .
>>
>> the flags --are-- recognized ; they appear in the boot messages ;
>>     for example ,
>>
>> 	psm0: <PS/2 Mouse> flags 0x1 irq 12 on atkbdc0
>>
>>     but the behavior does not change on either the console or the xterm .
>
> The console has a different mouse driver than X. For X, you need to
> configure the mouse parameters using the tool your desktop environment
> provides. If you're not using a DE, consider using /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
> Again an example:
>
> 	Section "InputDevice"
> 	        Identifier      "Mouse0"
> 	        Driver          "mouse"
> 	        Option          "Device"                "/dev/sysmouse"
> 	        Option          "Protocol"              "Auto"
> 	        Option          "ZAxisMapping"          "4 5"
> 	        Option          "Emulate3Buttons"
> 	        Option          "EmulateWheel"
> 	        Option          "EmulateWheelButton"    "2"
> 	EndSection
>
> You can set "Samplerate" and "Resolution" as well. You can find
> even more options in the documentation.

i am pleased to report that i no longer use a "desktop environment" .
twenty_odd years ago , i tried that microsoft_brand "windows" thing ;
   specifically , 3.1 , 95 and 98se .
in general , they are difficult to use , to configure and to program .

further , i am pleased to report that i have had a "xorg.conf" file ,
   in one location or another , since mr_lehey's second_edition .
in fact , my "monitor" section still has "modeline"s ;
   i wonder if a way has been developed to
   probe the lcd_monitor for parameters ;
   that would be nice , but , i digress .

again , the relevant portion :

	#---+240+-30+a--1---+---+---+---2---+---+---+---3---+---+---+---
	#srl		section_begin	input device :	mouse .
	#.
	  Section	"InputDevice"
	#.
	    Identifier	"mouse_3_button"
	#.
	    Driver	"mouse"
	#.
	    Option	"Protocol"	"Auto"		#srl	... .
	#.
	    Option	"Device"	"/dev/sysmouse"	#srl	... .
	#.
	#srl	from here , all is commentary until "EndSection" .
	#.

     [ snip --- prior implementations , kept for historical reference ]

	#.
	  EndSection
	#.
	#srl		section_end	input device :	mouse .
	#---+240+-30+a--1---+---+---+---2---+---+---+---3---+---+---+---

i have never used any_thing else , in this section ,
   because it was never necessary ; perhaps , it has become so .
you give me some ideas ; i will do some "playing" , here , also .

>> maybe the mouse has hardware limitations .
>
> That is possible.

tbd .

>> maybe there is some "buzzword" , of which i am unaware .
>>     which ignorance prevents further research by me .
>
> Yes, there is dynamic leverage synergetic mouse outsourcing for
> startup unicorn capital growth inflation. :-)

i laughed my_self silly .
you have a sense_of_humor ; this is good .

>> should i be trying to effect this change in "rc.conf" ?
>
> Yes.

as above .

>> should i be trying to effect this change in "X" ?
>
> Yes, as well. As I said, console and X use different mechanisms
> for the mouse, so there are two different configurations needed.

as above .

>> ps --- does anyone know how to
>>     turn_off this narrow 65_column auto_wrap
>>     in the "thunderbird" editor ?
>
> Why is that a problem? You should breat your lines between column
> 60 and 70. If you prefer to do this manually (as I do), you'll
> find the relevant setting in the message compose configuration,
> if I remember correctly.

oh , dear .

the nature of your response was completely un_expected .
my initial reaction was one of shock ;
   since then , my shock has morphed into disappointment .
no worries , mate ; i am not angry .

because i am a subscriber to -questions@ ,
   i have observed that you are a frequent responder ,
   when so many posters echo the desperate cry of "tamino" :
   "zu hilfe , zu hilfe , sonst bin ich verloren" .
i have no doubt that , certainly ,
   most , if not all , readers , of this list , appreciate
   your willingness to take on this task .
i do .

permit me to answer you , one sentence at a time .

0]	why is that a problem ?

standing alone , this question is not un_reasonable .

recently , thanks to this new mouse , i have discovered that
   i can "yank" text , from a xterm , and "print" it ,
   into the "thunderbird" editor .
on the surface , this appears to be A Good Thing .

un_fortunately ,
   "thunderbird" insists upon imposing its idea of good manners
   by re_formatting my text .
it converts tabs to spaces and [ the affrontery ! ]
   it inserts line_breaks into the middle of blank_delimited words .
for prose , this is not so bad ;
   for "computerese" , this is an un_qualified --disaster-- .
above , each time , it required several minutes for me to
   re__re_format the result of what should have been a simple task .

1]	you should break your lines between columns 60 and 70 .

this assertion got my attention .

the justly_famous person , lawrence wall , has proclaimed
   his , now , justly_famous motto ,
   "there is more than one way to do it" .
are you familiar with this ?
although he was speaking of "perl" ,
   his words apply to "unix" , as well .

my writing style developed from observations that were made ,
   during team code_review sessions ,
   while sitting around the departmental conference table .
how does one induce rapid comprehension of new information ?

for prose , over time , i developed and refined this approach :
   a]  sentences begin on a new line ;
   b]  within a sentence , line breaks are placed --between-- clauses ,
         not --within-- them ;
   c]  de_limit clauses with the comma and the semi_colon ;
   d]  paragraphs are separated by one   blank line  ;
   e]  sections   are separated by three blank lines ;
   f]  white_space is my friend , so , use it between "token"s ;
   g]  use the double_quote to de_limit jargon or "odd" word_usage ;
   h]  use the under_score to combine multi_word phrases ;
   i]  many others , for more_or_less special situations .

of course , i have a style for code , also ;
   however , that is not important , here .

normally , i write on a page that has a width of 318 characters .
this is wide for prose , but , it is just_about right for code .
of course , different people have different ways .
for this list , i would use a width of 132 characters .
usually , this is sufficient to satisfy item [b] , above .
when present , code will be cramped , still , but , not too badly .

i propose a compromise :
   i will not demand that you write according to my "manual of style" ,
   if you do not demand that i write according to yours .

2]	you'll find the relevant setting in
	  the message compose configuration .

hmmm ... , did you configure and compile from "ports" ?
mine is the "package" from 9.3_amd64 [ 24.4.0 ] .
there is --nothing-- , --any_where-- , regarding "wrap" .

i re_pose the question :
   does any_one know how to defeat this "feature" ?

tia .

rob