Arch Linux

new2arch

Member

Registered: 2008-02-25

Posts: 235

Scrolling & selecting texts in XFCE

Hello,

Anyone else experienced lately how the scrolling (e.g. web pages) with the mouse loses its "grip" on the scrolling tab and often isn't smooth when the grip is there?
Also, when selecting text (e.g. in a web page) the selection often disappears... have to re-select several times to get it right.
Using latest xfce 4.6.1 with a common two button mouse with scroll wheel.

The mouse properties shows a pre-selected Macintosh mouse and when I try to select my generic model, changes aren't persistent.

Thanks.

Last edited by new2arch (2009-08-10 15:34:05)

Arisna

Member

Registered: 2009-02-13

Posts: 81

Re: Scrolling & selecting texts in XFCE

Did this start right after the 4.4 to 4.6 update?  You might be able to fix it by purging your Xfce configuration under .config.  I had unrelated problems that involved things not persisting correctly across sessions when I updated, and I did this to solve it.  Other good troubleshooting steps here might be creating a new user account on your computer and logging into Xfce as a test, or trying a different mouse if possible.

Last edited by Arisna (2009-08-10 21:22:47)

thisoldman

Member

From: Pittsburgh

Registered: 2009-04-25

Posts: 1,172

Re: Scrolling & selecting texts in XFCE

People in other distros with other DEs are seeing this too. We are not alone.

I have this problem with a Logitech MX700 wireless/USB mouse in Arch/Openbox, the same mouse on a dual boot Opensuse 11.0/KDE 3.5 and Gentoo terminal with gpm machine. In all cases, the error messages that I can track down indicate that the USB connection is being lost randomly and then quickly reconnecting. It does not matter which USB port I use.

At first I thought the Macintosh Mouse emulation might be part of the difficulty. I modified my policy kit to eliminate that with the instructions given in this Arch forum posting.

It didn't help.

After looking all over for information, I finally bought a USB wired mouse and am using it through a PS/2 adaptor.  I occasionally try the wireless mouse after kernel updates but the problem continues.

new2arch

Member

Registered: 2008-02-25

Posts: 235

Re: Scrolling & selecting texts in XFCE

Did this start right after the 4.4 to 4.6 update?  You might be able to fix it by purging your Xfce configuration under .config.  I had unrelated problems that involved things not persisting correctly across sessions when I updated, and I did this to solve it.  Other good troubleshooting steps here might be creating a new user account on your computer and logging into Xfce as a test, or trying a different mouse if possible.

Thanks for reply. Yes, I think it was the last upgrade that led to these problems. How do you purge the Xfce configuration?

new2arch

Member

Registered: 2008-02-25

Posts: 235

Re: Scrolling & selecting texts in XFCE

People in other distros with other DEs are seeing this too. We are not alone.

I have this problem with a Logitech MX700 wireless/USB mouse in Arch/Openbox, the same mouse on a dual boot Opensuse 11.0/KDE 3.5 and Gentoo terminal with gpm machine. In all cases, the error messages that I can track down indicate that the USB connection is being lost randomly and then quickly reconnecting. It does not matter which USB port I use.

At first I thought the Macintosh Mouse emulation might be part of the difficulty. I modified my policy kit to eliminate that with the instructions given in this Arch forum posting.

It didn't help.

After looking all over for information, I finally bought a USB wired mouse and am using it through a PS/2 adaptor.  I occasionally try the wireless mouse after kernel updates but the problem continues.

Hello,

Oh, so this might not be a DE specific problem?
I have a laptop at work with both Gnome and XFCE installed; I'll check if Gnome exhibits the same problems.
I forgot to add - I'm using a plain corded USB mouse.

How did you track down the error messages?

Thanks for the link...It could be a HAL issue? I think I recall I only put my keyboard setting in /etc/hal/fdi/policy.
Perhaps few lines could remedy the problems. I will study it closer.

And - thanks for the PS/2 adaptor tip - I have one lying around.

Added: Just want to add that the PS/2 adapter doesn't help.

Last edited by new2arch (2009-08-11 20:02:38)

thisoldman

Member

From: Pittsburgh

Registered: 2009-04-25

Posts: 1,172

Re: Scrolling & selecting texts in XFCE

I even took the mouse apart and blew the dust out of it and that didn't help either. And the wireless mouse doesn't work through a PS/2 adaptor.

I have seen this problem come up on Ubuntu forums.  I'm convinced it's not the mouse hardware because I can use it without a hiccup at work on the XP machines there.

Gentoo gave me the hint of the USB problem. Alerts kept popping up and creating breaks in the normal terminal output. I then found USB messages written in plainer English in the Opensuse logs. They stated a new USB device had been found, many times, again and again. I never bothered to find theArch log messages.  I just borrowed a mouse from work and found that it worked without the scrolling problem.

You sound like your on the way to narrowing down the problem to hardware or software. Or like I did, never really find the exact problem but come up with a solution that works.

renners1

Member

From: Thailand

Registered: 2004-11-03

Posts: 71

Re: Scrolling & selecting texts in XFCE

Hello,

Anyone else experienced lately how the scrolling (e.g. web pages) with the mouse loses its "grip" on the scrolling tab and often isn't smooth when the grip is there?
Also, when selecting text (e.g. in a web page) the selection often disappears... have to re-select several times to get it right.

Thanks.

I had these problems recently, turned out to be just a faulty mouse button.

---

Microsoft stole my computer, Linux gave it back.

new2arch

Member

Registered: 2008-02-25

Posts: 235

Re: Scrolling & selecting texts in XFCE

I even took the mouse apart and blew the dust out of it and that didn't help either. And the wireless mouse doesn't work through a PS/2 adaptor.

I have seen this problem come up on Ubuntu forums.  I'm convinced it's not the mouse hardware because I can use it without a hiccup at work on the XP machines there.

Gentoo gave me the hint of the USB problem. Alerts kept popping up and creating breaks in the normal terminal output. I then found USB messages written in plainer English in the Opensuse logs. They stated a new USB device had been found, many times, again and again. I never bothered to find theArch log messages.  I just borrowed a mouse from work and found that it worked without the scrolling problem.

You sound like your on the way to narrowing down the problem to hardware or software. Or like I did, never really find the exact problem but come up with a solution that works.

I'm not convinced it's the hardware either. On my laptop I use the mousepad and it exhibits the same problems.
Well, while it's annoying the system as whole works. I guess I might wait and see if the next hal upgrade remedies the problem.