Mouse lagging when dragging things

asportking · 2014-08-04 01:43:00

My mouse experiences a really strange kind of lag, and I'm not quite sure how to describe it. On it's own, it moves around just fine. However, if I drag things with it, whatever I'm dragging will sort of lag behind it. Two examples of this are GIMP and Youtube. When using GIMP, the mouse itself moves perfectly normal, but the brush under the mouse trails behind it. Likewise, if I hover my mouse over a Youtube progress bar and move it to the side, the little preview thing that pops up will lag behind. It doesn't stay at a consistent speed either - it's as if the mouse and the item in question are connected by a rubber band. I've had this problem for as long as I can remember, so presumably it's not a problem with a specific version of some package. Is this just a weird option I have enabled, and if not, how can I fix it? Thanks.

thiagowfx · 2014-08-04 03:20:56

Not sure if I can help, but I would recommend you to give more information to other people help you, such as:

- which desktop environment / window manager you are running when the lag occurs?
- is this a desktop computer or a laptop?

emeres · 2014-08-04 07:38:13

- What composition manager is being used?
- Is dri active?
- What hardware (gpu and mouse) and drivers are being used?

asportking · 2014-08-04 11:46:51

emeres wrote:

- What composition manager is being used?
- Is dri active?
- What hardware (gpu and mouse) and drivers are being used?

- None, as far as I know.

- I don't believe so? It's installed, but I checked lsmod and I didn't see it. That could be the entirely wrong command for this situation though.

- AMD Radeon HD 6550D using the open-source ATI driver, and a Logitech G500 using evdev.

thiagowfx wrote:

Not sure if I can help, but I would recommend you to give more information to other people help you, such as:
- which desktop environment / window manager you are running when the lag occurs?
- is this a desktop computer or a laptop?

Desktop computer, running awesome wm.

Last edited by asportking (2014-08-04 11:52:04)

emeres · 2014-08-04 12:02:48

Is anything using cpu heavily during dragging? 'glxinfo | grep deri' to check dri.

ooo · 2014-08-04 14:00:08

Do you mean the window follows a little behind the mouse cursor, or is there some kind of 'jittery' lag?

If the first, this has always been normal behavior on X.
the 'lag' isn't huge but you should notice it easily when dragging things fast.

wayland finally fixes this among other things.

asportking · 2014-08-05 01:13:37

ooo wrote:

Do you mean the window follows a little behind the mouse cursor, or is there some kind of 'jittery' lag?
If the first, this has always been normal behavior on X.
the 'lag' isn't huge but you should notice it easily when dragging things fast.
wayland finally fixes this among other things.

It's closer to the first than the second in the sense that it's smooth and not jittery, but it's a lot more than just a little. I can't imagine it's normal X behavior, as it's pracitcally impossible to do anything in gimp with it. And it doesn't happen with windows. If I have a terminal on my screen and I drag it around the desktop, it moves completely fine. I'm not sure what you'd call the things that are lagging - the best I can do is give examples.

emeres wrote:

Is anything using cpu heavily during dragging? 'glxinfo | grep deri' to check dri.

That gives me

direct rendering: Yes
    GL_OES_rgb8_rgba8, GL_OES_standard_derivatives, GL_OES_stencil8,

Although that's regardless of whether or not it's dragging.

ooo · 2014-08-05 06:52:03

Whenever you drag something on X, it will never follow mouse cursor exactly, but lags behind with slight delay. To me what you're describing sounds like exactly this kind of behaviour.
It's the same thing with application windows, gimp brushes and whatnot.

Again, it shouldn't be hugely noticeable normally, so if the lag is really bad for you, maybe there's something that slows X down in your system.

You could try a few things to see it they make any difference:
- enable glamor acceleration
- disable vsync
- try some other window manager
none of these may not solve anything but could could be worth the shot.

also check 'top' when dragging to see if some application is heavily utilizing your cpu, as emeres suggested.

Arch Linux

#1 2014-08-04 01:43:00

Mouse lagging when dragging things

#2 2014-08-04 03:20:56

Re: Mouse lagging when dragging things

#3 2014-08-04 07:38:13

Re: Mouse lagging when dragging things

#4 2014-08-04 11:46:51

Re: Mouse lagging when dragging things

#5 2014-08-04 12:02:48

Re: Mouse lagging when dragging things

#6 2014-08-04 14:00:08

Re: Mouse lagging when dragging things

#7 2014-08-05 01:13:37

Re: Mouse lagging when dragging things

#8 2014-08-05 06:52:03

Re: Mouse lagging when dragging things

Board footer