What do you think are the best mice for use with linux?
What factors do you think are most important in selecting a mouse? (eg precision, build quality, comfort, other)
Price is optional
This is a wild question. Can somebody find me a mouse that doesn’t have Linux support? I’ve never seen one in my life.
You just caught him on an off day.
Tons of brands use Windows-only software to control button mapping, lighting, etc.
Anything outside basic movement, scrolling, and the first three buttons will need additional software.
It’s been a while since I looked. Anyone know a good universal mouse config tool for linux that would let me map all buttons on a per-app basis?
Fortunately most have been ported to Linux via an open source revserse engineered community project or run well ish under wine! :)
Piper is a GUI wrapper for libratbag which supports a bunch of gaming mice that is great for customizing button mapping. It doesn’t do per-app basis but once you map the mouse buttons to regular keys/commands you could use another application to do the mapping per application.
Thanks! That’ll be my homework for this weekend! :)
My Logitec MX Master devices can be configured on Linux via Piper. Logitech Options (the official software) is for Windows and I’ve never messed with it, even on my Windows devices. The two MX Master devices I have work plug and play and having 2 Bluetooth connections and a dongle channel lets me easily switch between my computers without swapping mice. Apparently with the official software, I could drag the mouse from one computer’s desktop to another, but I’m happy to mash the little button on the bottom to tab between devices if it saves me having to interact with another hardware manufacturer’s half advertisement/half utility app.
i havent found a mouse that doesnt work at all, but my side buttons arent working (probably my issue, but still). it more about a mouse manufacturer who treats linux users as first class citizens.
I think you can try to check arch wiki for known mouse problem and their solution
Not a mosie, but ny Logitech KB doest work properly on #LMDE no PrntScr etc.
I most logitech mice soley because you can unlock the scroll wheel and it can go brrrrrrrrr
yeah i love that too
Are there mice which are not supported in Linux? Everything I have used from a junky unbranded wireless mouse to a high end Logitech gaming mouse have all been plug and play for me. Even the RGB settings can be configured in openRGB.
Comfort should always be an important factor in a mouse for any OS, I would think. In terms of build quality, I have had the rubber on some mice start to degrade over time, but that is about it. Even the cheapest mice that are hard plastic can last for decades with no problem.
I would say that switchable DPI would be a must-have feature for me with modern displays. As someone with a 4k monitor, some junky office mice do not have enough sensitivity for me on high resolution monitors even with the setting cranked to max in the settings menu.
For wireless mice, I prefer AA battery mice over USB rechargeable mice, but that is a matter of personal preference. If my mouse battery dies in a AA mouse, I can swap the rechargeable NiMH battery in a minute and continue using it. However, if a USB rechargeable mouse is dead, I either have to use it on a tether for a while or remember to constantly keep recharging it. Also, having an integrated li-ion battery will give any mouse a limited lifespan unless you are willing to open up and solder in a new battery when it wears out, whereas I have some AA-powered mice which are going strong probably a decade later, so long I have had to open them up and re-solder them with new microswitches instead of new batteries.
Logitch mice work on Linux but additional mouse buttons are not supported for some reason
yes . that is my experience also
I have CoolerMaster MM712. If I use the USB dongle the mouse goes to sleep after a while even when I am using it. So yeah, there are some quirky ones
Interesting. Do you use Powertop or TLP, by any chance? Some power utilities will turn on USB power saving if there is no activity on a USB port for a while, which can cause issues with USB mice. Generally I turn off that specific setting, or I believe there might be some way to whitelist certain USB devices to not have this sleep behavior.
No. I have a bog standard ASUS UX325UA_UM325UA laptop running arch+kde. I have not tweaked with power saving at all (only adding hibernate)
I am not sure, then. If you are on a laptop, you might try one or the other of those utilities regardless simply because they can improve battery life, but that is a separate issue.
Yeah, I am not having issues with battery life so I do not tweak my power settings. The mouse works in wired or bluetooth too, just the dongle is a bit problematic
Another reason to use Logitech mice: ease of repair. Apart from skates covering the screws on the underside, Logitech does not use glue to keep it’s mice together. And due to their popularity, replacement parts (including the battery btw) are widely available even for older models.
My Steelseries Prime Wireless only has basic functionality working. I could run the software via Wine or VM (don’t remember) but it didn’t remember the settings after a power cycle of the mouse or the PC (also don’t remember).
Have a ZOWIE EC2 for quite a while now:
- gaming mouse, 5 buttons
- USB compliant
- no special vendor drivers needed to use all mouse features (has buttons on bottom side for settings)
Works well on all OS.
nice. thanks
To me Logitech mice are usually so much better than others that I wouldn’t even look at other brands unless I was looking for an ultra specific feature. The cons are the pricing and I think modern Logitech mice use less durable switches than a few years ago.
They would need special vendor software nog available on Linux, but solaar is pretty good and for my logi keyboard it even offers features that Logitech’s software doesn’t (swap function and fn keys, map fn+right/left as Home and End).
Specifically, to me they are better because I still enjoy the build quality and because I need a feature that only pricey Logitech mice (and my out-of-production cheaper mouse) have. Which is connecting with both Bluetooth and an HID compatible dongle, and switch between devices with a button. Some other mice have the switching functionality, but they only have Bluetooth, and I also need the dongle.
The wheel that goes brrrr is also cool, but I don’t have that.
Beware of rubber coated mice, the rubber will eventually come off. You can try to super glue it back on. You might need to get a new device, but mine is out of production, and the cheapest mouse with the feature I need now costs like 60€ which I’m not going to spend.
yes i have a logitech. i really like it - other than the side button issue mentioned elsewhere (probably my fault as others has noted). they seem to be often recommended - including in this thread - but i was wondering if there were other high quality mice i hadnt heard of.
also i didn’t know about solaar. thanks
I was looking for a mouse recently. My priorities were:
- Comfortable (i.e. vertical; after getting used to it I’m not looking back)
- Standard format replaceable battery, since built-ins always end up depleting or swelling and being hard to replace
- Nice scroll wheel (highly subjective though)
- Easy switching between Linux and Windows systems
- Small-ish, portable
I got the Logitech Lift. I am pleasantly surprised by how nice it is.
Granted I mostly use my mouse for browsing, scrolling and navigating UIs. The rest is all keyboard. For games I prefer controllers and game pads so precision/high performance wasn’t an issue for me at all.
Any Logitech hid+ device. Bolt or… Whatever the other one is called
Quite recently I moved to my first trackball (Elecom Deft Pro) and that was a life changer. I’ve shared my experience here.
thanks. i am mildly curious about trackballs. good write up
I also switched to a trackball, The Kensington Expert.
I have also heard good things about the L-Trac.
https://www.amazon.com/X-keys-L-Trac-Red-Trackball-Mouse/dp/B06XWLCLGB?ref_=ast_sto_dp
thanks . very interesting
I personally would make sure to choose a mouse with on-board storage. E.g. most (all?) Logitech mice store DPI and RGB on the mouse, which means it works independent of the OS. At least some other manufacturers require a Windows “driver” to disable RGB and configure DPI, which is annoying as those aren’t available on Linux, and have to be constantly run in the background.
Basic configuration of Logitech mice can be done through Piper on Linux.
Edit: Precision shouldn’t be an issue with any decent mouse sensor. The PixArt PMW 3310 or later is good enough for even gaming and can be found in 20$ mice. Comfort is subjective, but I prefer larger mice where I can put most of my hand on top.
Edit 2: I’ve now read you’re already using a Logitech mouse and are having issue with the the side buttons. What issues do you have with them? My G Pro Wireless side buttons work for going a website back/forward in the web browser, but I don’t use them much.
I’ll second the onboard storage, and add that any >3-button mouse should have buttons that map to actual key/character presses. I got a Razer Basilisk Pro on clearance, and it does have onboard storage, so once I turned off the RGB in the windows software on an old laptop, I could get rid of it. What I didn’t realize til later is that the nice little thumb lever can’t be remapped by anything but the Razer software (which has to be running all the time) because it doesnt register as any key combo, it had to be processed through their app to be used. Damn it.
Edit: Have you tried looking at what keycodes the side buttons on your current mouse are mapped to? Sometimes you can intercept that input and make it perform correctly. I haven’t done it on linux yet, but I’m sure there’s an equivalent to AutoHotkey for Linux.
Using wev (wayland event viewer, which shows pressed keys) the side buttons show up as extra mouse buttons, so it should be possible to remap them.
button: 272 (left) button: 273 (right) button: 274 (middle) button: 275 (side) <- side button button: 276 (extra) <- side buttonPS: My old Logitech G710+ keyboard has some extra buttons which show up as normal numbers, which makes them pretty much useless. A while ago I found the now abandoned sidewinderd project which adds support for them. It’s sad that those manufacturers don’t create proper standards for these kind of things and instead hack it together somehow.
I’m still on an X11 session, so I used
xinput --test-xi2to look at it, and yeah. The thumb key doesn’t register any type of event. Weird, right?
Ooooo thank you! A lifesaver.
All xtrfy mice don’t have any software and ate conpletely configurable through onboard buttons.
The $15 Logitech mouse in the bargain bin at office max lasted me literally 4 years. Any mouse will work, your issue will be configuring those 18 button mmo mice
I have a Corsair Nightsword.
There’s an open source version of the software that, I don’t think, is official but works well. It can rebind, set RGB, change DPI settings, and most if not everything the official software can.
Corsair mice aren’t the best, and the problems seem to be certain versions of their mice. (M65 is garbage. I went through 6 of them in 6 months.) Nightsword has been great though. Scimitar is good as well, have one that’s 6 years old now.
looks interesting. thanks
@phoh Do you mean the device the hardware when you mention mouse. If you do I think any good mouse works in any system no linux includes. I prefer mouses like this one https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Vertical-Wireless-Mouse-Rechargeable/dp/B07FNJB8TT/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2R9E7U9BIKABA&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.NtvOFD3vflxRQmrcZbBAeTvEtZpvC6RVQJQisSWTIKtHyCAZ4djsgrCneukJb7jNaHM98rsBBSb3I5ZfLgGbMF8BKXeG05Aefe05kyLeS3E2Qa6XBbUCpCYsGPKerQn_QhphPL6XkN2Z9xbIONgDYZ5FAebyWgELT9pedbyuCLgTtZSimw2tkDNmb5-6MDu5Wqip0Mpjs8NCv8BKKcR-Dq8_lMkBUIyPTviWGoNCWFE.YOTKbFt6LE8LzckOqChnY8noQx0gRl30_WPFNbOaSkQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=ergonomic+mouse&qid=1720474137&sprefix=ergonomic+mouse%2Caps%2C135&sr=8-5
yes i mean hardware.
people i work with use and love those vertical shaped mice. i find them too weird. that is probably cause i am stuck in my ways.
i have a logitech mx anywhere which i like but the side buttons don’t work very well on linux.
i am really just interested to see what people are using. maybe there is a better one out there for me.
thanks for the recommendation.
@phoh probalby you can config the mouse in your distro, for example I’m using KDE, in the settings window I can find a section to set up the mouse
Any $5 laser mouse with a scroll wheel from ebay/amazon is fine for me. Plug it in and it just works. I prefer certain shapes for comfort but I’ve never had a mouse NOT work in linux.
Mice are so standardized that basically any problem with the basic buttons has to be a configuration issue. I have never seen a mouse not working under Linux. Unless of course you are talking about programmable and RGB stuff coming with proprietary software, but I never understood their appeal (in fact I’m also still prefering cables over batteries over recharging ones -as the internal battery is usually what fails first-).
I have Corsair Harpoon RGB Pro RGP0074. It is good and precise, except the two shoulder buttons are too high, and that’s not very comfortable for a gamer. I have to reach with my thumb very far to press the upper shoulder button and that still means that I can misclick the other one very often. Zorin OS btw.
