Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Motion-Blurred Mouse Pointers?

Posted by Cliff on from the forget-the-trails-use-the-blur dept.

Dean Siren asks: "Now that GUIs are getting prettier, will they also motion blur the mouse cursor? With most monitors running at 70-90 Hz, the mouse looks a tad jumpy if you follow it with your eyes. Such a feature would make the mouse appear smooth even below 70 Hz, and with all the CPU and GPU clock cycles to spare on most PCs, should not slow the system much. Does such a feature exist in any GUI?" I doubt such a feature exists currently, but do you think something like this would be useful?

2 of 30 comments (clear)

  1. Serial vs anything else by david.given · · Score: 3

    I bet you're using a serial mouse, right? Serial mice only sample at about 10Hz. This means they look dreadful. Try moving the mouse in small circles; on a serial mouse you'll only get about four pointer images on the entire circle.

    If you switch to using a PS/2 or USB mouse, you'll be far, far better off. They sample at 25Hz or up (and I gather you can configure the rate, too). The first time you try one you'll be astounded at how smooth it is, and shortly after you'll never be able to use a serial mouse again without wincing.

  2. Just increase the sample rate... by Kris_J · · Score: 3

    Look for something called "ps2rate" and crank up the sample rate for the mouse, then it looks much smoother. Some "gaming mice" come with such utilities...