6 ms·

I just booted a MacBook Air into Mint recently and I think I finally figured out what the difference is: Mac allows the cursor to move quickly, but where it di

I just booted a MacBook Air into Mint recently and I think I finally figured out what the difference is: Mac allows the cursor to move quickly, but where it differs & excels is how fast it decelerates or stops the cursor. On Linux, I am always overshooting what I'm trying to click on even when I make the mouse tracking speed very very slow. On Mac I can keep the tracking speed high and jump around quickly but still manage to stop right where I need to every time. So either, it's faster to register you're slowing down/stopping OR it slows down at a faster rate than your finger is slowing down (vs faithfully tracking your finger)... or both? Edit: This is true for the handling of external mice too, it's not just the trackpad. The difference is night and day, and overshooting things is frustrating with a normal mouse as well as the touchpad.

rconti 6y ago
Interesting. Lower latency? Or maybe doing some predictive slowing by over-accelerating the slowing as soon as it detects a change in speed or pressure?
- skrtskrt 6y ago
  I'm thinking either sensitivity is lowered as deceleration begins, or deceleration is over-emphasized as you say. I can move really fast then stop completely dead even as I'm sure my by-no-means-steady hands are not that precise and are probably still very slightly moving as I'm "stopped".
  - Aeolos 6y ago
    This is a perfect description of input latency. You stop moving your finger over the target, but the cursor keeps moving for another 33-50ms, causing you to overshoot.
    - skrtskrt 6y ago
      Very interesting, TIL. That's certainly a simpler explanation
- Aeolos 6y ago
  You've hit the nail on the head. The real difference is input latency. Tweaking acceleration curves will not help overcome latency of 2-3 frames which is common on Linux compositors (33-50 ms of delay, causing target overshoots).
lsbussell 6y ago
The acceleration curve on the Mac trackpad is unparalleled. I wonder if it’s possible to reverse engineer it using a mouse (or a “fake” mouse via a teensy or something). That being said, I can’t stand using a mouse with the same acceleration, I have to install an app to disable it.

rconti 6y ago

Interesting. Lower latency? Or maybe doing some predictive slowing by over-accelerating the slowing as soon as it detects a change in speed or pressure?

skrtskrt 6y ago
I'm thinking either sensitivity is lowered as deceleration begins, or deceleration is over-emphasized as you say. I can move really fast then stop completely dead even as I'm sure my by-no-means-steady hands are not that precise and are probably still very slightly moving as I'm "stopped".
- Aeolos 6y ago
  This is a perfect description of input latency. You stop moving your finger over the target, but the cursor keeps moving for another 33-50ms, causing you to overshoot.
  - skrtskrt 6y ago
    Very interesting, TIL. That's certainly a simpler explanation
Aeolos 6y ago
You've hit the nail on the head. The real difference is input latency. Tweaking acceleration curves will not help overcome latency of 2-3 frames which is common on Linux compositors (33-50 ms of delay, causing target overshoots).

lsbussell 6y ago

The acceleration curve on the Mac trackpad is unparalleled. I wonder if it’s possible to reverse engineer it using a mouse (or a “fake” mouse via a teensy or something). That being said, I can’t stand using a mouse with the same acceleration, I have to install an app to disable it.