6 ms·

I use the Logitech M510 on my Mac, and love it. Bought it in 2012 or 2013. The form factor of the Mac mouse is just a deal-breaker for me. Its beautiful, but ma

I use the Logitech M510 on my Mac, and love it. Bought it in 2012 or 2013. The form factor of the Mac mouse is just a deal-breaker for me. Its beautiful, but makes my hand hurt. I never installed drivers for the mouse. Its just a mouse; I shouldn't need them. I recently bought their updated version of that mouse for our Windows machine, and tested it on my iMac; no drivers required. Maybe there are fancier mice that require special software, but I hardly use the fancier scroll functions of the mouse I have, so I have a hard time believing there'd be other controls that I'd be willing to install new software for.

silisili 5y ago
I've been using Linux for 2 decades now, and cannot remember a time a mouse didn't just work. Mostly Logitech, from PS2 to USB to wireless.
- yurishimo 5y ago
  I've felt the same way, even on a Mac, but I don't really care about how my mouse "feels" compared to some people. Does the cursor move? Good enough for me. That said, I'm all in on trackpads 24/7 now and have been for years. Nobody does trackpads better than Apple and using a giant external one while my laptop is docked helps me to remain productive when I need to undock. So much of your productivity is muscle memory and by using a trackpad full time, I'm also flexing those muscles.
  - jonnycomputer 5y ago
    I agree that Apple's track pad is the best out there. I find something are just not done well on track pads though. Certain games, certainly. Also things that require long click and drags.
    - pdpi 5y ago
      > Certain games, certainly. An acquaintance mentioned that her daughter damaged the trackpad on her MacBook. She was making do with a regular mouse, but apparently hated it horrendously for Minecraft and desperately wanted to get the trackpad fixed. I can't even wrap my head around the idea of Minecraft on a trackpad.
- zsmi 5y ago
  It depends. I'm always on the lookout for a better mouse for use in CAD on Linux. I've mostly settled on the Logitech Anywhere 2S, because it does "just work", but this is hardly a universal opinion. At least within my workplace. I've found basically all mice will work if all you want is scroll and left, center, right buttons. But if you want all the extra stuff, like the various wheels and side buttons etc., and especially if you want to customize the response, which CAD people often do, then one often needs the driver.
  - franga2000 5y ago
    Out of curiosty, which CAD software do you use on Linux? While I don't use CAD very often, all the software my engineer friends swear by only runs on Windows so any Linux recommendations would be appreciated.
    - programmer_dude 5y ago
      FreeCAD?
    - horsawlarway 5y ago
      Not OP, but I finally switched away from Fusion 360 to FreeCAD - https://www.freecadweb.org/ https://www.freecadweb.org/ I'll be honest, Fusion 360 is still a lot better in a lot of ways (advanced feature set, ease of use, layout and hotkeys, etc), and if I were employed to do CAD full time, I'd still be using it (helps that the company would be buying the license). FreeCAD is workable, though. And since I'm mostly just making parts to 3d print, it gets the job done nicely. TinkerCAD is another option (https://www.tinkercad.com/ https://www.tinkercad.com/) and it's honestly the easiest CAD tool I've ever used. But it's not really comparable to the real parametric CAD tools.
    - zsmi 5y ago
      I'm an EE so most of my work, that requires a lot of mousing, is layout which involves various Cadence/MentorGraphics tools. I think most of the mechanical engineers here use NX. It's industrial grade, very expensive, and not open-source, etc. The mechanical engineers used to use windows too and moved off it a couple of years ago. No idea why.
- neltnerb 5y ago
  Huh, my wireless mouse does all kinds of weird stuff. The oddest is that sometimes Linux decides that two mice are attached despite there being only one USB dongle plugged in, and the only solution is to turn off the mouse, unplug the wireless receiver dongle, plug it back in, and hope it worked. Otherwise it's either reboot or rmmod/modprobe. Of course, the mouse is a Razer...
  - fanick 5y ago
    Can confirm. Have been using wireless Logitech MX master 3. There is like 1 in 10 chance that my Linux machine hangs when putting it into sleep and I touch the mouse. Also it is almost guaranteed the machine freezes when i turn the mouse off with the switch on its belly while putting the computer to sleep. It taught me to always save my work at least:)
    - jamessb 5y ago
      Interesting - I also have a wireless logitech mouse connected to a ubuntu machine that intermittently crashes when going to sleep. It hadn't occurred to me that the crashes might be linked to the mouse.
- hparadiz 5y ago
  I've been using the Logitech G502. While the mouse does work using standard USB drivers all the extra features require an open source program to manipulate.
- clomond 5y ago
  External mouse - agreed. Trackpad support though has had many issues over the years in my experience across devices & distros.
- khedoros1 5y ago
  I've used Linux over a similar time period. I remember plenty of times when the scrollwheel wasn't mapped to anything, and I needed to stick a value for ZAxisMapping into the X configuration. At this point, it's been a number of years since I needed to do that manually, but it used to be a pretty regular thing for me.
robohoe 5y ago
I agree - it's a simple mouse and it works well on Windows and Mac without any additional drivers. If I needed more, I'd just get an Apple trackpad.
thewebcount 5y ago
I came here to post the same thing. I've been using Logitech mice for something like 20 years on my Mac and have never once installed a driver. I recently learned the some Wacom tablets drivers request network access. WTF? There's no legit reason for a driver to need network access. There could be a separate program that checks for updates and prompts the user to install them if desired. It shouldn't be part of the driver, though.
- MaxBarraclough 5y ago
  Wacom drivers are known to be problematic. Wacom tablets track every app you open, last year: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22247292 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22247292

silisili 5y ago

I've been using Linux for 2 decades now, and cannot remember a time a mouse didn't just work. Mostly Logitech, from PS2 to USB to wireless.

yurishimo 5y ago
I've felt the same way, even on a Mac, but I don't really care about how my mouse "feels" compared to some people. Does the cursor move? Good enough for me. That said, I'm all in on trackpads 24/7 now and have been for years. Nobody does trackpads better than Apple and using a giant external one while my laptop is docked helps me to remain productive when I need to undock. So much of your productivity is muscle memory and by using a trackpad full time, I'm also flexing those muscles.
- jonnycomputer 5y ago
  I agree that Apple's track pad is the best out there. I find something are just not done well on track pads though. Certain games, certainly. Also things that require long click and drags.
  - pdpi 5y ago
    > Certain games, certainly. An acquaintance mentioned that her daughter damaged the trackpad on her MacBook. She was making do with a regular mouse, but apparently hated it horrendously for Minecraft and desperately wanted to get the trackpad fixed. I can't even wrap my head around the idea of Minecraft on a trackpad.
zsmi 5y ago
It depends. I'm always on the lookout for a better mouse for use in CAD on Linux. I've mostly settled on the Logitech Anywhere 2S, because it does "just work", but this is hardly a universal opinion. At least within my workplace. I've found basically all mice will work if all you want is scroll and left, center, right buttons. But if you want all the extra stuff, like the various wheels and side buttons etc., and especially if you want to customize the response, which CAD people often do, then one often needs the driver.
- franga2000 5y ago
  Out of curiosty, which CAD software do you use on Linux? While I don't use CAD very often, all the software my engineer friends swear by only runs on Windows so any Linux recommendations would be appreciated.
  - programmer_dude 5y ago
    FreeCAD?
  - horsawlarway 5y ago
    Not OP, but I finally switched away from Fusion 360 to FreeCAD - https://www.freecadweb.org/ https://www.freecadweb.org/ I'll be honest, Fusion 360 is still a lot better in a lot of ways (advanced feature set, ease of use, layout and hotkeys, etc), and if I were employed to do CAD full time, I'd still be using it (helps that the company would be buying the license). FreeCAD is workable, though. And since I'm mostly just making parts to 3d print, it gets the job done nicely. TinkerCAD is another option (https://www.tinkercad.com/ https://www.tinkercad.com/) and it's honestly the easiest CAD tool I've ever used. But it's not really comparable to the real parametric CAD tools.
  - zsmi 5y ago
    I'm an EE so most of my work, that requires a lot of mousing, is layout which involves various Cadence/MentorGraphics tools. I think most of the mechanical engineers here use NX. It's industrial grade, very expensive, and not open-source, etc. The mechanical engineers used to use windows too and moved off it a couple of years ago. No idea why.
neltnerb 5y ago
Huh, my wireless mouse does all kinds of weird stuff. The oddest is that sometimes Linux decides that two mice are attached despite there being only one USB dongle plugged in, and the only solution is to turn off the mouse, unplug the wireless receiver dongle, plug it back in, and hope it worked. Otherwise it's either reboot or rmmod/modprobe. Of course, the mouse is a Razer...
- fanick 5y ago
  Can confirm. Have been using wireless Logitech MX master 3. There is like 1 in 10 chance that my Linux machine hangs when putting it into sleep and I touch the mouse. Also it is almost guaranteed the machine freezes when i turn the mouse off with the switch on its belly while putting the computer to sleep. It taught me to always save my work at least:)
  - jamessb 5y ago
    Interesting - I also have a wireless logitech mouse connected to a ubuntu machine that intermittently crashes when going to sleep. It hadn't occurred to me that the crashes might be linked to the mouse.
hparadiz 5y ago
I've been using the Logitech G502. While the mouse does work using standard USB drivers all the extra features require an open source program to manipulate.
clomond 5y ago
External mouse - agreed. Trackpad support though has had many issues over the years in my experience across devices & distros.
khedoros1 5y ago
I've used Linux over a similar time period. I remember plenty of times when the scrollwheel wasn't mapped to anything, and I needed to stick a value for ZAxisMapping into the X configuration. At this point, it's been a number of years since I needed to do that manually, but it used to be a pretty regular thing for me.

robohoe 5y ago

I agree - it's a simple mouse and it works well on Windows and Mac without any additional drivers. If I needed more, I'd just get an Apple trackpad.

thewebcount 5y ago

I came here to post the same thing. I've been using Logitech mice for something like 20 years on my Mac and have never once installed a driver. I recently learned the some Wacom tablets drivers request network access. WTF? There's no legit reason for a driver to need network access. There could be a separate program that checks for updates and prompts the user to install them if desired. It shouldn't be part of the driver, though.

MaxBarraclough 5y ago
Wacom drivers are known to be problematic. Wacom tablets track every app you open, last year: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22247292 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22247292