Re: Mouse event problems

[Joshua Judson Rosen]

On 03/30/2016 12:25 PM, Charlie Goodwin wrote:
> Had a desktop computer with bizarre pointer behavior.  The pointer would 
> jiggle at a frantic rate and would keep returning to the same place - off 
> center - on the screen.  The computer was utterly unmanageable.  After heroic 
> efforts I got a reasonably clean shutdown.
> 
> Dual boot, Mint and W8.
> 
> Being a newbie at the moment I brought it to a repair shop who told
> me that Linux had attacked the Windows partition. I paid them for
> their "diagnosis" and called another shop who were similarly baffled,
> but asked one crucial question. "Are there any other USB devices
> attached normally?" I started laughing, because I remembered that I
> had - but had not been using - a touchscreen. The connector must have
> been loose, producing a spurious signal, causing the manic pointer.
> 
> I was considerably happier paying the second fellow.

I do like the idea of the OSes *attacking* each other, though.

"Oh, I thought it was the Windows 8 *beta*--turns out I was
 running the *betta* releases of both OSes, and so trying
 to keep two of them in the same fishbowl proved fatal"

(Interestingly, a web-search for "siamese fighting linux"
 yields *no hits*! Maybe I'll start a project and call it that...)

-- 
"Don't be afraid to ask (λf.((λx.xx) (λr.f(rr."


> -- Forwarded message --
> From: Joshua Judson Rosen <roz...@hackerposse.com 
> <mailto:roz...@hackerposse.com>>
> To: "Ken D'Ambrosio" <k...@jots.org <mailto:k...@jots.org>>, Tyson Sawyer 
> <ty...@j3.org <mailto:ty...@j3.org>>
> Cc: Greater NH Linux User Group <gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org 
> <mailto:gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org>>, tyson.saw...@gmail.com 
> <mailto:tyson.saw...@gmail.com>
> Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2016 18:51:01 -0400
> Subject: Re: Mouse event problems
> On 03/29/2016 05:08 PM, Ken D'Ambrosio wrote:
> > I've been bitten by bad mouse problems enough times that when I see
> > symptoms like yours, it's pretty much my go-to.  I had someone in
> > England call me some time back, and could *NOT* figure out her problem.
> > Finally had her wipe her machine and start over... and it was still
> > there.  Which is when I realized she was using an external, wireless
> > mouse, and had her replace her batteries.
> >
> > D'oh.
> 
> *D'oh*:
> 
> http://thedailywtf.com/articles/Coffee-Beats-Wireless
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Re: Mouse event problems

[Richard Kolb II]

I've heard a few stories of people putting their wireless mice in their
pockets/bags and then trying to figure out their weird windows behavior.
Fun times.

Rich


Richard Kolb II

On Tue, Mar 29, 2016 at 8:16 PM, Tyson Sawyer  wrote:

>
> On Mar 29, 2016 18:51, "Joshua Judson Rosen" 
> wrote:
> >
> > *D'oh*:
> >
> > http://thedailywtf.com/articles/Coffee-Beats-Wireless
>
> Ha! :-)
>
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>
>
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Re: Mouse event problems

[Tyson Sawyer]

On Mar 29, 2016 18:51, "Joshua Judson Rosen"  wrote:
>
> *D'oh*:
>
> http://thedailywtf.com/articles/Coffee-Beats-Wireless

Ha! :-)
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Re: Mouse event problems

[Joshua Judson Rosen]

On 03/29/2016 05:08 PM, Ken D'Ambrosio wrote:
> I've been bitten by bad mouse problems enough times that when I see 
> symptoms like yours, it's pretty much my go-to.  I had someone in 
> England call me some time back, and could *NOT* figure out her problem.  
> Finally had her wipe her machine and start over... and it was still 
> there.  Which is when I realized she was using an external, wireless 
> mouse, and had her replace her batteries.
> 
> D'oh.

*D'oh*:

http://thedailywtf.com/articles/Coffee-Beats-Wireless

-- 
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Re: Mouse event problems

[Ken D'Ambrosio]

I've been bitten by bad mouse problems enough times that when I see 
symptoms like yours, it's pretty much my go-to.  I had someone in 
England call me some time back, and could *NOT* figure out her problem.  
Finally had her wipe her machine and start over... and it was still 
there.  Which is when I realized she was using an external, wireless 
mouse, and had her replace her batteries.

D'oh.

-Ken


On 2016-03-29 15:25, Tyson Sawyer wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 28, 2016 at 2:00 PM, Tyson Sawyer  wrote:
>> On Fri, Mar 25, 2016 at 1:44 PM, Ken D'Ambrosio  wrote:
>>> That *VERY* much sounds like hardware.  Like, a lot.
>>> 
>>> 1) If it's a wireless mouse, change the batteries.
>>> 
>>> If it's *not* wireless, disable the trackpad and switch to a 
>>> different
>>> external mouse.  Assuming the issue goes away (which I bet it will),
>>> re-enable one, then the other, and see who's at fault.
>> 
>> This is looking like the cause.
> 
> I had originally considered and rejected that the problem was
> hardware, and I think with good reason.
> 
> ...the problem was hardware.  I have replaced the track ball and the
> problem is gone.
> 
> Thanks!
> Ty

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Re: Mouse event problems

[Tyson Sawyer]

On Mon, Mar 28, 2016 at 2:00 PM, Tyson Sawyer  wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 25, 2016 at 1:44 PM, Ken D'Ambrosio  wrote:
>> That *VERY* much sounds like hardware.  Like, a lot.
>>
>> 1) If it's a wireless mouse, change the batteries.
>>
>> If it's *not* wireless, disable the trackpad and switch to a different
>> external mouse.  Assuming the issue goes away (which I bet it will),
>> re-enable one, then the other, and see who's at fault.
>
> This is looking like the cause.

I had originally considered and rejected that the problem was
hardware, and I think with good reason.

...the problem was hardware.  I have replaced the track ball and the
problem is gone.

Thanks!
Ty



-- 
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A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent
of many bad measures.   - Daniel Webster
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Re: Mouse event problems

[Tyson Sawyer]

On Fri, Mar 25, 2016 at 1:44 PM, Ken D'Ambrosio  wrote:
> That *VERY* much sounds like hardware.  Like, a lot.
>
> 1) If it's a wireless mouse, change the batteries.
>
> If it's *not* wireless, disable the trackpad and switch to a different
> external mouse.  Assuming the issue goes away (which I bet it will),
> re-enable one, then the other, and see who's at fault.

This is looking like the cause.  I haven't had a chance to use a
different mouse (track ball), but:

- Changed the batteries: no improvement.
- Unplug it or turn it off when problems arise and use the track pad:
much improvement.

It appears to be a problem with the buttons.  I'm not sure exactly
what is going on, but the ability to "clear" the problem by switching
to a VC and back (and other behavior apparently more complex than a
pointer device can "know about") may be something along the lines of
causing the UI to "forget" that a button down event had been inflicted
on some widget on the screen.

Thanks!

-- 
Tyson D Sawyer

A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent
of many bad measures.   - Daniel Webster
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Re: Mouse event problems

[Tyson Sawyer]

On Fri, Mar 25, 2016 at 4:04 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen
 wrote:
> It's an option that could be explicitly disabled or enabled via xorg.conf;
> it or another similar sort of option could be enabled by default and in
> effect even if you don't actually have a config file (most people don't have
> an actual xorg.conf at this point at this point--everything just gets
> autoprobed/auto configured every time, and that *normally* works but
> sometimes doesn't work right...). I *think* you can find the evidence in the
> *logfiles*


I'll take a look.



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of many bad measures.   - Daniel Webster
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Re: Mouse event problems

[Joshua Judson Rosen]

It's an option that could be explicitly disabled or enabled via xorg.conf; it 
or another similar sort of option could be enabled by default and in effect 
even if you don't actually have a config file (most people don't have an actual 
xorg.conf at this point at this point--everything just gets autoprobed/auto 
configured every time, and that *normally* works but sometimes doesn't work 
right...). I *think* you can find the evidence in the *logfiles*
-- 
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

On March 25, 2016 2:56:23 PM EDT, Tyson Sawyer  wrote:
>Would HWCursor an option in /etc/X11?
>
>On Fri, Mar 25, 2016 at 2:37 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen
> wrote:
>> Alternately, maybe a problem due to the use of "HWCursor" option in
>Xorg? I
>> somewhat doubt that's something that can actually mess w/ behaviour
>other
>> than rendering, but maybe?
>
>Is HWCursor an option in an /etc/X11 file? I don't seem to be using it.
>
>tyson@STOL:X11$ pwd
>/etc/X11
>tyson@STOL:X11$ ls
>app-defaults rgb.txt  xkb   Xresources 
>Xsession.options
>default-display-manager  XXresetXsessionxsm
>fontsxinitXreset.d  Xsession.d  Xwrapper.config
>tyson@STOL:X11$ grep -r HWCursor
>tyson@STOL:X11$
>
>I'm not as close to this stuff as I used to be.  ...I don't see an
>XF86Config or xorg.conf file there.
>
>-- 
>Tyson D Sawyer
>
>A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent
>of many bad measures.   - Daniel Webster
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Re: Mouse event problems

[Tyson Sawyer]

Would HWCursor an option in /etc/X11?

On Fri, Mar 25, 2016 at 2:37 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen
 wrote:
> Alternately, maybe a problem due to the use of "HWCursor" option in Xorg? I
> somewhat doubt that's something that can actually mess w/ behaviour other
> than rendering, but maybe?

Is HWCursor an option in an /etc/X11 file? I don't seem to be using it.

tyson@STOL:X11$ pwd
/etc/X11
tyson@STOL:X11$ ls
app-defaults rgb.txt  xkb   Xresources  Xsession.options
default-display-manager  XXresetXsessionxsm
fontsxinitXreset.d  Xsession.d  Xwrapper.config
tyson@STOL:X11$ grep -r HWCursor
tyson@STOL:X11$

I'm not as close to this stuff as I used to be.  ...I don't see an
XF86Config or xorg.conf file there.

-- 
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A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent
of many bad measures.   - Daniel Webster
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Re: Mouse event problems

[Tyson Sawyer]

I would have thought hardware if the bad behavior wasn't temporarily
cleared by switching consoles and I didn't get different (good vs.
bad) behavior in different windows and different widgets within a
window.

...still worth trying because it is easy to try.



On Fri, Mar 25, 2016 at 1:44 PM, Ken D'Ambrosio  wrote:
> That *VERY* much sounds like hardware.  Like, a lot.
>
> 1) If it's a wireless mouse, change the batteries.
>
> If it's *not* wireless, disable the trackpad and switch to a different
> external mouse.  Assuming the issue goes away (which I bet it will),
> re-enable one, then the other, and see who's at fault.
>
> -Ken
>
>
> On 2016-03-25 11:37, Tyson Sawyer wrote:
>>
>> I can't figure out what regexp to apply to the internet to find an
>> answer to this.  I am running Mint Xfce 7.3 and it has been solid.
>> But the past few weeks I've run into a few problems that seemed to
>> come from nowhere.
>>
>> I'm finding that mouse events are getting messed up.  The mouse
>> pointer and keyboard seem to always work.  The mouse events do not.
>> Sometimes widgets do not respond to mouse-over or clicks.  I've seen
>> occasional phantom responses in when I didn't click.  I've seen
>> buttons "depress" when clicked, but there is no other response.  It
>> will often start as specific windows or specific regions of windows
>> and or system menus.  It quickly degrades to no mouse functionality
>> other than the pointer moving.   I haven't seen that the track pad
>> behaves any different from the mouse.
>>
>> I can temporarily clear the problem by switching to a text console and
>> then back to X.
>>
>> I have tried different kernel versions, older and newer.  The older
>> and current had been working fine.  None of them work now.  I've tried
>> a few varying from ~3.13 through 4.4.0.
>>
>> I tried installing Cinnamon to see if it was an Xfce thing, but the
>> behavior remained.
>>
>> I haven't found a error log that provides any hints.
>>
>> Any suggestions?  If I can't clear this up, I'm going to have to try a
>> clean re-install which would be a major downer.
>>
>> Thanks!
>> Ty
>
>



-- 
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of many bad measures.   - Daniel Webster
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Re: Mouse event problems

[Joshua Judson Rosen]

Alternately, maybe a problem due to the use of "HWCursor" option in Xorg? I 
somewhat doubt that's something that can actually mess w/ behaviour other than 
rendering, but maybe?
-- 
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.

On March 25, 2016 1:44:57 PM EDT, Ken D'Ambrosio  wrote:
>That *VERY* much sounds like hardware.  Like, a lot.
>
>1) If it's a wireless mouse, change the batteries.
>
>If it's *not* wireless, disable the trackpad and switch to a different 
>external mouse.  Assuming the issue goes away (which I bet it will), 
>re-enable one, then the other, and see who's at fault.
>
>-Ken
>
>On 2016-03-25 11:37, Tyson Sawyer wrote:
>> I can't figure out what regexp to apply to the internet to find an
>> answer to this.  I am running Mint Xfce 7.3 and it has been solid.
>> But the past few weeks I've run into a few problems that seemed to
>> come from nowhere.
>> 
>> I'm finding that mouse events are getting messed up.  The mouse
>> pointer and keyboard seem to always work.  The mouse events do not.
>> Sometimes widgets do not respond to mouse-over or clicks.  I've seen
>> occasional phantom responses in when I didn't click.  I've seen
>> buttons "depress" when clicked, but there is no other response.  It
>> will often start as specific windows or specific regions of windows
>> and or system menus.  It quickly degrades to no mouse functionality
>> other than the pointer moving.   I haven't seen that the track pad
>> behaves any different from the mouse.
>> 
>> I can temporarily clear the problem by switching to a text console
>and
>> then back to X.
>> 
>> I have tried different kernel versions, older and newer.  The older
>> and current had been working fine.  None of them work now.  I've
>tried
>> a few varying from ~3.13 through 4.4.0.
>> 
>> I tried installing Cinnamon to see if it was an Xfce thing, but the
>> behavior remained.
>> 
>> I haven't found a error log that provides any hints.
>> 
>> Any suggestions?  If I can't clear this up, I'm going to have to try
>a
>> clean re-install which would be a major downer.
>> 
>> Thanks!
>> Ty
>
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Re: Mouse event problems

[Ken D'Ambrosio]

That *VERY* much sounds like hardware.  Like, a lot.

1) If it's a wireless mouse, change the batteries.

If it's *not* wireless, disable the trackpad and switch to a different 
external mouse.  Assuming the issue goes away (which I bet it will), 
re-enable one, then the other, and see who's at fault.

-Ken

On 2016-03-25 11:37, Tyson Sawyer wrote:
> I can't figure out what regexp to apply to the internet to find an
> answer to this.  I am running Mint Xfce 7.3 and it has been solid.
> But the past few weeks I've run into a few problems that seemed to
> come from nowhere.
> 
> I'm finding that mouse events are getting messed up.  The mouse
> pointer and keyboard seem to always work.  The mouse events do not.
> Sometimes widgets do not respond to mouse-over or clicks.  I've seen
> occasional phantom responses in when I didn't click.  I've seen
> buttons "depress" when clicked, but there is no other response.  It
> will often start as specific windows or specific regions of windows
> and or system menus.  It quickly degrades to no mouse functionality
> other than the pointer moving.   I haven't seen that the track pad
> behaves any different from the mouse.
> 
> I can temporarily clear the problem by switching to a text console and
> then back to X.
> 
> I have tried different kernel versions, older and newer.  The older
> and current had been working fine.  None of them work now.  I've tried
> a few varying from ~3.13 through 4.4.0.
> 
> I tried installing Cinnamon to see if it was an Xfce thing, but the
> behavior remained.
> 
> I haven't found a error log that provides any hints.
> 
> Any suggestions?  If I can't clear this up, I'm going to have to try a
> clean re-install which would be a major downer.
> 
> Thanks!
> Ty

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