Linux Mint: How to Adjust Mouse Sensitivity
The two main ways of controlling a computer are the keyboard and the mouse. A variety of other control devices are available, many designed for users with disabilities that make it difficult or impossible to use traditional input devices. When using a computer mouse, you want the movement of the mouse cursor to be natural. The settings needed for this natural feel vary from person to person.
The basic setting for natural mouse movement is sensitivity. Mouse sensitivity is a measure of how far the mouse cursor moves on the screen compared to how far you move your hand holding the mouse. This is typically measured in DPI or “Dots Per Inch”, with high DPI being more sensitive than low DPI. DPI is meant to be a measure of how many pixels the mouse cursor moves for every inch the mouse moves, but it’s not a strict one-to-one measurement.
Tip: There is no strict definition for high or low DPI values. Most users are usually comfortable with a range of 1000 to 3500 DPI for normal use.
While some mice come with settings that allow you to configure the DPI of the mouse, either with a physical switch or through software, many offer only one sensitivity setting, especially on the budget market. To allow all users to configure the mouse sensitivity, Linux Mint allows you to adjust the mouse sensitivity in the operating system, essentially applying a multiplier to the mouse input.
To adjust mouse sensitivity, press the Super key, type “Mouse and Touchpad” and press Enter.
Tip: The “Super” key is the name many Linux distributions use to refer to the Windows key or the Apple “Command” key, avoiding any risk of trademark issues.
Press the Super key, type “Mouse and touchpad” and press Enter.
In the mouse and touchpad settings, click the “Custom sensitivity” slider at the bottom of the “Pointer size and speed” section to the “On” position. Once you’ve done this, you’ll see a sensitivity slider that allows you to decrease the sensitivity of the mouse.
Click “Custom Sensitivity” to “On” and then adjust the “Sensitivity” slider that appears.
By default, the sensitivity slider is set to the maximum value, which makes it difficult to increase the sensitivity of the mouse if you want it higher. If you want to increase the sensitivity of the mouse, you can also try clicking the “Custom Acceleration” slider to the “On” position. You can further adjust the sensitivity of the mouse by adjusting the new “Acceleration” slider.
You can also configure the mouse acceleration by enabling the “Custom Acceleration” slider and then setting the “Acceleration” slider.
“Mouse Acceleration” works by interpreting faster mouse movements as moving further than slower movements. This can be useful if you want to make large quick movements and small gentle movements. However, some users, especially gamers, tend to leave mouse acceleration disabled as it can be more difficult to estimate exactly how far a certain mouse movement will move the cursor as it varies depending on how fast you move the mouse.
Note: None of these settings will have any effect on the virtual machine, as mouse sensitivity settings will be primarily controlled by the host operating system.