ROCCAT LUA: A Linux-Friendly Gaming Mouse

[rohcQaH]

Meh. "Gaming mouse" and "three buttons" don't mix. Colored LEDs don't really help me game better, so the only actual gaming feature they have is the DPI switch. No thanks.

I like my logitech G600. A fourth large button on top is more useful than one might think, and all the side buttons are useful in RPGs. Not sure if there's a linux configuration utility, but since the configuration is stored on the mouse, you can just configure it once on windows and use it anywhere without special drivers.

[Ardje]

I have a roccat kone+ and I am very happy with it.
I can switch back from 1000 reports to 100 reports per second.
Because there are a lot of games that "hang" when using 1000 reports/second.
Kentucky route zero for instance.
I think about all major FPS work flawles, but it is the interactive "non violent" games that have problems with it.

[brosis]

Hmm... I have a Razer DeathAdder, pretty old by now (bought in 2009), and unfortunately the mousewheel is starting to act up. When it moves by one notch, it sometimes acts as if it moved two or one down and one up. Not an issue in regular work, but for FPS games where the scrollwheel controls weapon switching (Unreal Tournament 4 ) it's really unfortunate. So I'm not sure what to do. Maybe there's a way to clean it somehow, hmm... Otherwise it works well, even at this age, whereas my parents went through around four mice in the same timespan.

Hair and dirt in the wheel sensor. Open the mouse and clean it.

[erazor]

So the author of the article complains "but its GTK user-interface is far from being competitive with the ROCCAT Windows software (or any other Windows gaming mouse software for that matter)"

What would make it more "competitive"? Inventing a unique theme like most cheesy Windows softwares and a groupware I know that still tries to imitate Apples ugly steel design? Inventing stupid controls like the speedometer inspired slider I saw in another gaming device software?

Windows users only see their hip Aero design when they open Notepad. All other software invents it's own look and feel regardless of how stupid it might be. Roccats GUI might seem sexy on the surface, but for example RyosMK configuration software is a 60MB blob consisting of around 4000 bitmaps. That's maybe the way on Windows: Circumvent the built in functions and invent the wheel the hundreth time.

I tried to make an easy GUI that doesn't eat up much resources, that fits nicely into anyones GUI-theme and conforms to a few guidelines of GUI design to provide a look and feel matching to other GTK programs.

It's sad to see that even Linux users seem to demand this behaviour. Nonetheless, roccat-tools was, is and will be no fluff, just stuff.
Live with it or fork it.

PS: For most devices the kernel modules are not needed anymore. Except for the first Kone all devices are handled in userspace.

[storma]

I tried to make an easy GUI that doesn't eat up much resources, that fits nicely into anyones GUI-theme and conforms to a few guidelines of GUI design to provide a look and feel matching to other GTK programs.

It's sad to see that even Linux users seem to demand this behaviour. Nonetheless, roccat-tools was, is and will be no fluff, just stuff.
Live with it or fork it.

I for one thank you. I appreciate your decision and stand by it. If I wanted fluff, I would go outside.

[V10lator]

I got a Roccat LUA and for me (YMMV) it's a great mouse.

Anyway, as we're on a OS that allows us to tweak I wrote a bash script (and a few other things, like a steam game wrapper) to control the LED from a FIFO. That allows concurrent apps/scripts/whatever access to the LED, the bash script will handle everything automagically.
Here's a link: http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-p-7668850.html

I guess it would be easy to extend that script to work with other Roccat devices, but I don't own anything other from that company.

[erazor]

I guess it would be easy to extend that script to work with other Roccat devices, but I don't own anything other from that company.

The Lua is Roccats mouse with the least features. Other devices don't need this workaround as they can store 5 complete profiles that can be switched manually and automatically depending on the active window.

[V10lator]

The Lua is Roccats mouse with the least features.

I wanted a precise mouse with a low delay, exactly what it gave me (coupled with libinput, systemd-218 and a tweaked udev hwdb). I don't need a mouse with thousand buttons lighting the room like there would be a houseparty.

Other devices don't need this workaround as they can store 5 complete profiles that can be switched manually and automatically depending on the active window.

What happens when there is concurrent access? Also my script emulates a profile the hardware can't do itself (and it can be extended to emulate more, that's on my todo list ).

[V10lator]

Damn edit limit...

The Lua is Roccats mouse with the least features.

The more I think about it, the more it sounds like software features to me. The LUA also has "profiles", stored in RMP files. These can be uploaded to the mouse either with a GUI or (like my script handles it) with a CLI tool. All that's missing is the automated switch based on the active window but other than that... My script brings the LUA feature wise to the level of better mices by adding the missing software components...

BTW: Just uploaded v2.2 which has endless profiles... But only because it gives you endless freedom it doesn't mean everything makes sense...