Mouse/pointer issues: Speed and acceleration

[Hagbard23]

Hello there

I have recently re-installed my boot partition in a Kali install. I use a separate user account as well, and after the reinstall, my mouse pointer speed is aggravatingly slow. I have tried editing the settings with the gui.
I have tried adding files to xorg.conf.d. I have tried editing with xinput. I have been reading page after page for the past 6 hours. Since my mouse moves at a slug's pace, that's probably only 30 pages, but I can't do anymore.

I am using a logitech marble mouse, and it shows up in xinput as root, but not as user. Nothing I have done has had any impact on the speed or acceleration

First and foremost, I need to know which of these is actually going to influence my pointer behavior in Debian Jessie.
Second, I need to know how to alter these settings to get the effects I want.

These effects: A MUCH faster pointer speed, and some reasonable acceleration. I have neither at this point, and am seconds from just smashing the mouse into the monitor, throwing the whole mess in the trash, and making an abacus out of some twigs and beads! lol

I can provide screenshots or output if needed, I just have no idea what is needed at this point.

Thanks in advance!

Drew

[GarryRicketson]

I have recently re-installed my boot partition in a Kali install.

Welcome to Debian User Forums
You might try this:
Kali users forum

First hit: https://forums.kali.org/

There is some info about Kali , even at the Debian wiki,
https://wiki.debian.org/Derivatives/Census/Kali

First and foremost, I need to know which of these is actually going to influence my pointer behavior in Debian Jessie.

If you have mixed Debian packages with Kali packages,
https://wiki.debian.org/DontBreakDebian

throwing the whole mess in the trash, and making an abacus out of some twigs and beads! lol

Well, I don't know about that, but what I would do is go to the Debian.org site
https://www.debian.org/distrib/ and download a true version of Debian,
and install that, instead of Kali,... but that is because I like Debian, and use it.
I don't know anything about Kali, so I really don't know what to tell you on that.
Maybe someone else will have some ides.

[Hagbard23]

Thanks Gary, for the reply.


Kali is built on Debian, and as far as config files go should be identical.
The reason I am here instead of Kali forums is that the user base of 'all Debian' is much larger than the user base of 'Kali Debian.'

I'm sure I don't need to explain the benefit of fishing in a stocked pond vs. a puddle.

As far as 'breaking Debian,' that hasn't happened. This is likely a permission issue, but since I don't know what exactly is causing the specific issue, I don't know which permissions to check.

As a die-hard Debian user, maybe you know something about input devices and configurations.If you don't know the answer, I appreciate your taking the time to let me know.

Thanks,
Drew

[GarryRicketson]

Ok, well at least you did tell us right at the start that ,you have kali installed,
so any way,

by Hagbard23 » This is likely a permission issue, but since I don't know what exactly is causing the specific issue, I don't know which permissions to check.

I think you are right on this, I just checked on mine, and I can get the

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:~$ xinput 

results, as a normal user,...but I am not sure on
that, on which permissions to check.
Another thing , I am using Debian Wheezy, and I am not very familiar with some
of the configuration methods on Debian Jessie,

Hagbard23 »If you don't know the answer, I appreciate your taking the time to let me know.

Unfortunately, off hand I do not know a clear, straightforward answer.
How ever ,

by Hagbard23 » I have tried editing the settings with the gui.
I have tried adding files to xorg.conf.d

One thing, I think it will help others to give you a better answer, if you can tell us
what Desktop Environment, ? what GUI ?
It will help also to be more clear on what files you have added to the xorg.conf.d
maybe show us the file , you can paste it into

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 [code] code boxes

[/code]
or if it is very large put it here : http://paste.debian.net/
and include a link to it.
I use "mate" as my desktop, (GUI) , and some time ago I wanted to change the size
of the mouse pointer, all the settings for this ,as well as the ones that would effect
the speed, tracking, etc. were on the same menu, however I did also have to make
some changes in my xorg.conf.d as well , I don't remember exactly , off hand,...
The one thing though that was also a problem, at first I did not realize it,
but I had to re-boot to make the changes take affect.
This was kind of a pain, because it took several tries, to get the settings right, each time
I changed some thing, I had to re-boot. That was frustrating, and just logging out and back in is not enough.
I was about to give up, but on my final try, I rebooted, and went back to the settings
menu, and finally it was working , I was and am still able to adjust the size of the pointer,
change the speed, etc, all from the menu now.
If you happen to be using the "mate" DE, I may be able to give some more pointers
or help, other DE's , I don't know.
Kind of a long post, the sum of it is, It is necessary to re-boot after you make the changes, ...in you original post you do not say if you re-booted after making the changes, that might be part of it.
I do have some good links, that help explain, I found doing searches, but they
would only be of use if you are using "mate", if it is another DE, there are answers
to this, but we would need to know what DE , (GUI) you have.
I don't think a screen shot is needed, but the out put of : xinput
and the xorg.config.d would help.

[Hagbard23]

I am running GNOME 3.21.90

I deleted all extra config files from my xorg.conf.d to see if I could narrow down the issue, and nothing changed.

I still have normal pointer movement as root, and agonizingly slow movement as my main user.
As an additional test, I created a second user account, and the pointer in this account behaves normally.

I can check xinput with all users, and the output for root and my second user are the same, but my main user account differs. I will post that output since it is the only thing I have found so far that shows a difference.

As a test, I attempted to modify acceleration and speed as root, and it worked as-expected.
I can't seem to find where xinput stores these configs to check permissions, though.



This is the output of xinput --list for the problematic user:

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⎡ Virtual core pointer                    	id=2	[master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer              	id=4	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ xwayland-pointer:11                     	id=6	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                   	id=3	[master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard             	id=5	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ xwayland-keyboard:11                    	id=7	[slave  keyboard (3)]

Here is the output from xinput --list as root:

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⎡ Virtual core pointer                          id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Logitech USB Trackball                    id=8    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Logitech USB Receiver                     id=10   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Microsoft Natural® Ergonomic Keyboard 4000        id=12   [slave  pointer$
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                         id=3    [master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard               id=5    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=6    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Logitech USB Receiver                     id=9    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Microsoft Natural® Ergonomic Keyboard 4000        id=11   [slave  keyboar$
    ↳ Eee PC WMI hotkeys                        id=13   [slave  keyboard (3)]

Also, this is the contents of my xorg.conf.d with permissions. Is there any reason that a user would need write permissions to sue 10-evdev.conf?

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-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2057 Sep  9 23:36 10-evdev.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1350 Oct 27  2015 10-quirks.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1753 May  3  2015 50-synaptics.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  115 Oct 28  2015 50-vmmouse.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1385 Jul  3  2015 50-wacom.conf

[freek]

eh ..

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xset m <acceleration> <threshold>

In my case in .xinitrc:

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xset m 5 1 &

[dasein]

Kali is built on Debian, and as far as config files go should be identical.

Then you should have no trouble all reproducing the problem in a stock Debian install.

See http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php? ... 15#p542283

Once you've done that, post back.

[Hagbard23]

Freek: I tried your suggestion, but it doesn't change the pointer behavior, and doesn't modify the config file you mentioned. Thanks for trying, though I appreciate it!


Dasein: I agree, and once I figure out what the issue IS, I will happily test it in a vanilla Debian VM.


The irony here is that this mindset is what has created the hundreds of 'I'm not helping you' hits on Google and resulted in there being zero answers to my question which is why I am here in the first place.

[GarryRicketson]

Well, part of the problem, or "issue", seems to be people install "kali" for some
reason, beyond what it is intended for , with out reading the documentation carefully,
and thinking about how it will affect their system,... probably this is why you only
can run 'xinput' as root,... I don't know, for sure, since I am just a debian user,
and not a kali expert,.........
However look at this:

from :http://docs.kali.org/introduction/shoul ... kali-linux
Single user, root access by design: Due to the nature of security audits, Kali Linux is designed to be used in a “single, root user” scenario. Many of the tools used in penetration testing require escalated privileges, and while it’s generally sound policy to only enable root privileges when necessary, in the use cases that Kali Linux is aimed at, this approach would be a burden.[/url]
Also,

A minimal and trusted set of repositories: given the aims and goals of Kali Linux, maintaining the integrity of the system as a whole is absolutely key. With that goal in mind, the set of upstream software sources which Kali uses is kept to an absolute minimum. Many new Kali users are tempted to add additional repositories to their sources.list, but doing so runs a very serious risk of breaking your Kali Linux insta

The thing is, after you installed "kali" as you say,

I have recently re-installed my boot partition in a Kali install.

But then you say, you have a Debian Jessie,

First and foremost, I need to know which of these is actually going to influence my pointer behavior in Debian Jessie.

The problem is, now you do not have "kali", nor Debian Jessie, you have a "frankendebian",.... and that is fine, if you are advanced enough to know how to repair
the things, and figure out the configurations, etc.
I don't know the answer to the question, but my searches make me think that you should re-install, either Kali, or Debian Jessie, and not try to combine the 2, I do not know if you can remove kali from the boot partition,... I think what the OP should have done, is left their Debian Jessie alone, and installed Kali on a VM or entirely different
partition, that could be bootable, but separate from the Debian, like in a dual-boot or multi boot system.
Any way it looks like the OP now needs to do everything as root, ....based on
what the kali site says.

[Hagbard23]

I use Kali for its intended purpose: penetration testing.
There is no reason not to create a user account in Kali, which, for me, makes much more sense than taking up HDD space with a dual-boot or something.
The only reason you need to be root is that some tools require it.

This was never a Kali-over-Debian install. This was simply a reinstallation of Kali on a formatted lvm boot partition.
I came here because this is a general Debian question and not Kali-specific. Kali is, for the purposes of input devices and permissions, identical to Debian, and is, in fact, built on Debian Jessie.

I have read both Kali and Debian documentation looking for answers, and have now posted on 4 different forums. The idea that there is something wrong with looking for information in additional places after exhausting standard resources is patently absurd.

If you don't know, you can simply say that without making it a pissing contest, but this is a logical place for me to pose the OP question.

[stevepusser]

You also might try on the Ubuntu forums, since it's also derived from Debian testing and has a very large user base. The package versions would be closer to Kali than what Jessie has.

[dasein]

...once I figure out what the issue IS, I will happily test it in a vanilla Debian VM.

Thanks for the tacit confirmation that you can't reproduce the issue in a stock Debian install. Next stop: Kali forums.

[Hagbard23]

@ Stevepusser

I have tried that avenue already and met with a lot of smug 'you are in the wrong place' covering up a lack of knowledge.
Tech forums are notoriously spergy as I'm sure you all know. Anyway, I'm just going to backup and nuke the user account and add my configs to a fresh account piece by piece until it breaks.

Thanks to those of you who tried to help!!

...once I figure out what the issue IS, I will happily test it in a vanilla Debian VM.

Thanks for the tacit confirmation that you can't reproduce the issue in a stock Debian install. Next stop: Kali forums.

WTF is wrong with you?

[Head_on_a_Stick]

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-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1753 May  3  2015 50-synaptics.conf

I think this is (was) the problem -- Debian testing/unstable have switched to libinput

[debiman]

notoriously spergy

i had to look that one up...
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/spergy
wow. thanks a lot.
i heard firstgraders calling each other similar things.
in my childhood, it was "spasti".
talk about fashionable diseases.
really it reflects on the fears of the one using that term.
just like "sociopath" and "get a life". the ones shouting it are the ones afraid of being it.

it also reflects on the typical (clueless) kali linux user.