
Ask HN: Mouse Cursor Dynamics - _acme
How is the motion of the cursor calculated on various operating systems (are different X window managers different)? I&#x27;m curious how the original Alto dealt with the mouse movements compared to the Lisa, Macintosh System 6, macOS Sierra, Windows or Plan 9&#x27;s rio. What is the difference in acceleration, etc.?<p>Also, is there any impact caused by using a third-party mouse? Would an Apple mouse provide different dynamics than a Logitech (accounting for the differences in the hardware of the two devices)? One step further, if there&#x27;s a difference between first– and third–party mice, are there differences among third–party mice?—i.e., does the manufacturer matter at all or are the cursor dynamics all calculated by the operating system—e.g., would a Logitech mouse connected to a MacBook behave the same as a Microsoft mouse (or an Apple mouse) would behave from a cursor movement dynamics perspective? If so, what calculations determine the result? If not, what are the differing algorithms?<p>Has anyone done a study to determine what dynamic users prefer and&#x2F;or are most efficient at using?
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Retr0spectrum
This is a rather obscure question. I'm curious, why do you want to know?

I assume the smoothing/acceleration etc. that is applied at the OS level is
independent of differing mouse models. However, different mice may have
different onboard sensitivity and preprocessing configurations.

With regards to specific details for various obscure operating systems, I'm
pretty sure you're going to have to research that yourself.

