Ubuntu – Ubuntu 18.04LTS – mouse scroll is just wrong

18.04mousemouse scrollxinput

I can't believe I've spent almost 2 hours looking for an answer to work for me – but I couln't find oune. I know this has been asked before numerous times – but no solution seems to work for my mouse (wireless Mouse + Keyboard (single dongle) by Microsoft).

The problem is that the scroll is way too fast, but when I remove and insert the dongle back, now the scroll is way too slow :(.

here's an input of xinput list short:

⎡ Virtual core pointer                      id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Microsoft Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v7.0  id=9    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Microsoft Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v7.0  id=11   [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)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                              id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Jabra Jabra UC VOICE 150a MS              id=12   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Eee PC WMI hotkeys                        id=13   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Microsoft Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v7.0  id=10   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Microsoft Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v7.0  id=14   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Microsoft Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v7.0  id=15   [slave  keyboard (3)]

and here's the input for:
xinput list-props 11:

Device 'Microsoft Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v7.0':
    Device Enabled (152):   1
    Coordinate Transformation Matrix (154): 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000
    libinput Natural Scrolling Enabled (288):   0
    libinput Natural Scrolling Enabled Default (289):   0
    libinput Scroll Methods Available (290):    0, 0, 1
    libinput Scroll Method Enabled (291):   0, 0, 1
    libinput Scroll Method Enabled Default (292):   0, 0, 0
    libinput Button Scrolling Button (293): 2
    libinput Button Scrolling Button Default (294): 2
    libinput Middle Emulation Enabled (295):    0
    libinput Middle Emulation Enabled Default (296):    0
    libinput Accel Speed (297): -0.007194
    libinput Accel Speed Default (298): 0.000000
    libinput Accel Profiles Available (299):    1, 1
    libinput Accel Profile Enabled (300):   1, 0
    libinput Accel Profile Enabled Default (301):   1, 0
    libinput Left Handed Enabled (302): 0
    libinput Left Handed Enabled Default (303): 0
    libinput Send Events Modes Available (273): 1, 0
    libinput Send Events Mode Enabled (274):    0, 0
    libinput Send Events Mode Enabled Default (275):    0, 0
    Device Node (276):  "/dev/input/event4"
    Device Product ID (277):    1118, 1861
    libinput Drag Lock Buttons (304):   <no items>
    libinput Horizontal Scroll Enabled (305):   1

now, as you can't see, there no:
'Device Accel Constant Deceleration', and also no
"Evdev Scrolling Distance"
which are some properties I've read that I should change in order to get what I wan't.

Needless to say that when I do as suggested in other answers I get:

$ xinput set-prop 11 "Evdev Scrolling Distance" 8 1 1

property 'Evdev Scrolling Distance' doesn't exist, you need to specify its type and forma

$xinput set-prop 11 'Device Accel Constant Deceleration' 3

property 'Device Accel Constant Deceleration' doesn't exist, you need
to specify its type and format.

I also tried to define these properties – but with no success. Please help me – this is driving me crazy.

Thanks.

Best Answer

I'm also having this problem. So far, this doesn't throw an error:

$ xinput --set-prop 17 --type=float --format=32 "Evdev Scrolling Distance" 1

But it doesn't actually change anything, at least for me. I'll keep trying...

Edit: I found the manpage for evdev here. I didn't glean enough from it to solve it. I'm sure it would be interesting to figure out another time, though.

In continuing to read, I found a little program called imwheel that works.

sudo apt install imwheel

Then create an rc file:

vim ~/.imwheelrc

".*"
None,      Up,   Button4, 7
None,      Down, Button5, 7
Control_L, Up,   Control_L|Button4
Control_L, Down, Control_L|Button5
Shift_L,   Up,   Shift_L|Button4
Shift_L,   Down, Shift_L|Button5

Where lines 2 and 3 end with '7', which is the scroll distance (default '3'). Try playing with it, just do imwheel --kill then imwheel to reload changes. The last four lines introduce standard behavior between shift/control and scrolling.

The full guide is here and has more info.

Won't Fix, at least, this is current status with `libinput`

Upstream bug report: freedesktop - libinput - Support setting scroll speed #185
1. Mice manufacturer uses different high-resolution scroll implementations
2. Scroll speed need to be variable and controlled by applications depending on context
Old solution were working with evdev
Setting method: xinput, xorg.conf.d

Workaround, using Udev HWDB (Low level fix)

(1) HWDB setting within udev for specific mouse model.

Source: U&L: Change scroll speed with libinput

I confirm, it is current solution from Upstream code repository of udev
1. Check your mouse identification: Vendor ID, Product ID, Device Name
  
  While mouse plugged in
```
sudo lsusb
```
  Run one of commands below then reconnect the mouse
```
sudo udevadm monitor -u
sudo journalctl -k -b -f
```
  And check systemd/hwdb.d/70-mouse.hwdb or look for local file /lib/udev/hwdb.d/70-mouse.hwdb in your system. Search for same or similar device.
2. Open terminal, create the 71-mouse-local.hwdb file
```
sudo nano /etc/udev/hwdb.d/71-mouse-local.hwdb
```
3. Copy from step (1) these lines and append them to the new file, Add wheel click angle entry and set angle as you want (default=15 degree/click, as integer value), as bellow:
```
# Microsoft Comfort Mouse 4500
mouse:usb:v045ep076c:name:Microsoft Microsoft® Comfort Mouse 4500:
 MOUSE_DPI=1000@125
 MOUSE_WHEEL_CLICK_ANGLE=15
```
  If you can't find your device in 70-mouse.hwdb, create it in this format with information collected in step (1)
```
mouse:usb:v <VendorID> p <ProductID> :name: <DeviceName> :
```
4. Save and close
  
  Ctrl+O , Ctrl+X
5. Update udev hardware database, trigger the change for corresponding event node
```
sudo systemd-hwdb update
sudo udevadm trigger /dev/input/event16
```
  event16 as reported in xinput output.
Note

This answer is customized for the OP case but can be tuned for another model. Already expended it to be more generic.
- Full upstream instructions are here: systemd/hwdb.d/70-mouse.hwdb or look for local file 70-mouse.hwdb in your system. Also you may look other advanced feature in there.
- There is MOUSE_WHEEL_CLICK_COUNT which overrides MOUSE_WHEEL_CLICK_ANGLE, use it when angle parameter is not precise enough.
  
  MOUSE_WHEEL_CLICK_COUNT default=24 click/rotation or click/360deg, accepts integer value
  
  Example:
```
# Microsoft Comfort Mouse 4500
mouse:usb:v045ep076c:name:Microsoft Microsoft® Comfort Mouse 4500:
 MOUSE_DPI=1000@125
 MOUSE_WHEEL_CLICK_ANGLE=15
 MOUSE_WHEEL_CLICK_COUNT=24
```
  MOUSE_WHEEL_CLICK_ANGLE is a must for compatibility reasons even its value is not effective with declared MOUSE_WHEEL_CLICK_COUNT.

Future, GUI tool kits (High level fix)

(2) Probably get implemented at the level of GUI tool kits. Fair hopes when it comes to collaboration between large free community projects, like it is the case for arbitrary Unicode input, it got implemented only in GTK.

Some apps won't wait for that, like some browsers and games (Firefox, Chromium, SDL games, ..).

There is a list of bug report from GUI kits in the linked bug report above.

Ubuntu – Mouse wheel doesn’t scroll after update

I did not find another progressive solution yet and kernel version 5.0.0-27 solved my mouse scrolling problem (until now without any side effects).

I have an A4Tech X6-80D mouse and the 4.15.0-62 kernel contained this bug, so I installed kernel 5.0 on my Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS with the commands below (kernel 5.0 is not automatically installed if you have initially an Ubuntu version lower than 18.04.2).

Desktop edition:

sudo apt install --install-recommends linux-generic-hwe-18.04 xserver-xorg-hwe-18.04

I did not try the Server edition, for which xorg is not needed:

sudo apt-get install --install-recommends linux-generic-hwe-18.04

Original source to install kernel 5.0 can be found via How to Get Linux Kernel 5.0 in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – Why is there nothing related to scrolling speed in xinput for Microsoft Comfort Mouse 4500

Won't Fix, at least, this is current status with libinput

Workaround, using Udev HWDB (Low level fix)

Note

Future, GUI tool kits (High level fix)

Ubuntu – Mouse wheel doesn’t scroll after update

Related Question

Won't Fix, at least, this is current status with `libinput`