Linux Mint+Virtual Box+MS Mouse

[Bozo]

I am running Linux Mint in Virtual Box. I have a MS wireless keyboard and mouse that has a USB reciever. Everything works fine except the mouse wheel. It is jumpy and sporadic.
I have installed Guest Additions twice, ran the Linux Mint update program, and installed some mouse software I found in the software packages. Still, a very choppy wheel.
Any suggestions?

>I have the same problem with the wheel when Linux Mint is installed fresh to bare metal too.

 

[ddrueding]

I have had problems with MS mouse wheels in general. With one standard Windows XP machine with no special drivers installed, the wheel would occasionally make the browser go back a page, the rest of the time working normally?

 

[LunarMist]

I am using that MS wireless mouse and there is no problem, but I have read that some people have issues. I've grabbed the mouse so much that the silver has worn off. I keep the USB receiver under the table about a foot away.

 

[Mercutio]

Is it out of bounds to suggest a different mouse to see if there's something weird about the Microsoft one?

There should be a pointer settings tool in your GUI someplace, or a way to install it if it's been overlooked.

 

[Howell]

Do you have a handy windows vm you can copy to that host for testing and compare against the Mint guest?

 

[Bozo]

Is it out of bounds to suggest a different mouse to see if there's something weird about the Microsoft one?

There should be a pointer settings tool in your GUI someplace, or a way to install it if it's been overlooked.

Don't anything handy at the moment, but I'll see what I can dig up.

 

[Bozo]

Do you have a handy windows vm you can copy to that host for testing and compare against the Mint guest?

I can install XP.

 

[Bozo]

The mouse wheel works fine in Virtual XP. I'll search the Mint site some more.

 

[Chewy509]

Are you passing the raw USB device to Mint, or are you letting VB emulate a mouse, and it in turn is just passing on the mouse events?

 

[Bozo]

Are you passing the raw USB device to Mint, or are you letting VB emulate a mouse, and it in turn is just passing on the mouse events?

I don't know. But, if I do a clean install to bare metal with Mint, the mouse does the same thing.

 

[Chewy509]

I don't know. But, if I do a clean install to bare metal with Mint, the mouse does the same thing.

Can you post your xorg.conf in particular the section related to the mouse? (Should be in /etc/X11/ ).

 

[Mercutio]

I still want to know if the problem is particular to Microsoft mice.

 

[Chewy509]

I still want to know if the problem is particular to Microsoft mice.

Some MS mice need to have a different protocol defined for them to work 100%.

http://ftp.x.org/pub/X11R6.8.1/doc/mouse.html mainly in regards to http://ftp.x.org/pub/X11R6.8.1/doc/mouse6.html#26

 

[Chewy509]

Digging through the X.org 7.6 downloads for input devices, Microsoft Mice (on USB) may be supported using the following protocol options:

"Auto" - Let X.org attempt to work it out (the default)
"usb" - X.org will just use the default/generic USB HID events. No special device handling.
"Microsoft" - Early Intellimouse versions. (fixes scroll wheel support).

For mice that can work as either USB or PS/2 (via the adapter) then the following may also be applicable:
"IntelliMouse"
"IMPS/2"
"ExplorerPS/2"

An example Mouse section would be:

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/mouse"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

And just change the Protocol option until one finds something that works.

 

[Bozo]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I look into it next week when I get back on that computer.