Solving problems with non-uniform scaling of mouse X and Y axes under X11

Some mouse models (in particular some of Logitech's S-48 mice, but not all) exhibit a strange behavior under X11 — the X and Y axes of mouse movement seem to be scaled differently. In these mice, movement along the Y axis seems to be "normal", while movement along the X axis is much slower, requiring the user to drag the mouse much longer distances horizontally then vertically to achieve the same distance of mouse cursor movement on screen. Standard ways of setting mouse speed (e.g. through KDE's or Gnome's control panels or using xset) only allow uniform scaling of mouse speed along both axes, so they can't help much with this problem. While it is not clear why some mice behave in this particular way (this sort of behavior is very rare), it is possible to make the mouse behave the expected way by adding the following line to your mouse's Section "InputDevice" in /etc/X11/xorg.conf (/etc/X11/XF86Config or /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 if you use XFree86, not X.org X server):

Option "Resolution" "300"

Any number comparable to 300 (e.g. 400) will also do. After restarting X, the mouse should behave normally.


From the homepage of Michał Kosmulski, https://michal.kosmulski.org/
Unless indicated otherwise, all content © 2004-2020 Michał Kosmulski. All rights reserved.