How to change mouse DPI?
I am unable to test the mouse itself as I do not own the hardware but it looks like there is a nice command line utility called rivalcfg available for Linux to manipulate many of the settings including DPI.
To install rivalcfg run the following:
sudo apt-get install python-pip
sudo pip install rivalcfg
Test your installation of rivalcfg and make sure that your copy covers your mouse (which I have arrowed in!):
andrew@ilium:~$ rivalcfg -l
SteelSeries Rival 1038:1384
SteelSeries Rival 100 1038:1702 <-------
SteelSeries Rival 300 1038:1710
SteelSeries Rival 300 CS:GO Fade Edition 1038:1394
SteelSeries Rival 300 CS:GO Hyperbeast Edition 1038:171a
andrew@ilium:~$
Then you should have access to two preset DPI options from the command line:
-s SENSITIVITY1, --sensitivity1=SENSITIVITY1
Set sensitivity preset 1 (values: 250, 500, 1000,
1250, 1500, 1750, 2000, 4000, default: 1000)
-S SENSITIVITY2, --sensitivity2=SENSITIVITY2
Set sensitivity preset 2 (values: 250, 500, 1000,
1250, 1500, 1750, 2000, 4000, default: 2000)
The usage is simply:
Usage: rivalcfg [options]
and the complete command line options can be seen here...
KISS - Keeping It Simple Solution
My wireless Logitech MX Performance mouse has DPI of 400 to 1600. To set the speed in Ubuntu I go to System Settings -> Mouse & Touchpad which brings up this display:
Sliding the "Mouse pointer speed" changes the DPI rate for comfortable use. In Windows Logitech also recommends setting the DPI by sliding the Mouse Pointer Speed. Specifically it says:
- Under Pointer speed, adjust the slider to your preferred DPI value. The minimum value is 400 DPI. The speed can be increased in increments of 200, up to a maximum of 1600 DPI.
The more complicated solution
Some report that for gaming mice the slowest pointer speed setting (above) is still too "insanely fast". In this situation you need to find the xinput name for your mouse using xinput --list --short:
rick@dell:~$ xinput --list --short
⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Logitech Performance MX id=11 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ Logitech K800 id=12 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint id=15 [slave pointer (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard id=3 [master keyboard (2)]
↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard id=5 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=6 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Video Bus id=7 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Video Bus id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=9 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Sleep Button id=10 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Laptop_Integrated_Webcam_HD id=13 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Dell WMI hotkeys id=16 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard id=14 [slave keyboard (3)]
From the list we see the mouse is named "Logitech Performance MX".
Next we need the details of the mouse using xinput --list-props "Logitech Performance MX":
Device 'Logitech Performance MX':
Device Enabled (139): 1
Coordinate Transformation Matrix (141): 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000
Device Accel Profile (268): 0
Device Accel Constant Deceleration (269): 1.000000
Device Accel Adaptive Deceleration (270): 1.000000
Device Accel Velocity Scaling (271): 10.000000
Device Product ID (257): 1133, 4122
Device Node (258): "/dev/input/event8"
Evdev Axis Inversion (272): 0, 0
Evdev Axes Swap (274): 0
Axis Labels (275): "Rel X" (149), "Rel Y" (150), "Rel Horiz Wheel" (266), "Rel Vert Wheel" (267)
Button Labels (276): "Button Left" (142), "Button Middle" (143), "Button Right" (144), "Button Wheel Up" (145), "Button Wheel Down" (146), "Button Horiz Wheel Left" (147), "Button Horiz Wheel Right" (148), "Button Side" (261), "Button Extra" (262), "Button Forward" (263), "Button Back" (264), "Button Task" (265), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260)
Evdev Scrolling Distance (277): 1, 1, 1
Evdev Middle Button Emulation (278): 0
Evdev Middle Button Timeout (279): 50
Evdev Third Button Emulation (280): 0
Evdev Third Button Emulation Timeout (281): 1000
Evdev Third Button Emulation Button (282): 3
Evdev Third Button Emulation Threshold (283): 20
Evdev Wheel Emulation (284): 0
Evdev Wheel Emulation Axes (285): 0, 0, 4, 5
Evdev Wheel Emulation Inertia (286): 10
Evdev Wheel Emulation Timeout (287): 200
Evdev Wheel Emulation Button (288): 4
Evdev Drag Lock Buttons (289): 0
We need to multiply the constant deceleration above by 5 (recommended for gaming mice) using:
xinput --set-prop "Logitech Performance MX" "Device Accel Constant Deceleration" 5
Again 5 is recommended. On my platform (1600 DPI mouse) I used 2 (double slow) and had to increase the Ubuntu Mouse Pointer Speed slider bar from 1/3 to about 7/8.
If the above doesn't work, other recommended settings for gaming mice are:
xinput --set-prop "Logitech Performance MX" "Device Accel Velocity Scaling" 1
xinput --set-prop "Logitech Performance MX" "Device Accel Profile" -1
NOTE: Replace "Logitech Performance MX" above with the mouse name your xinput reports.
NOTE: The above changes are for Ubuntu 10.04 - 16.10. For Ubuntu 17.04 see Lowering Mouse Sensitivity in Ubuntu and Fedora where the bulk of this information comes from.
Special thanks to Q&A that popped up this afternoon: Corsair M95 Gaming Mouse too sensitive / speed too fast. How to reduce speed?