Trackball skipping/acceleration - is it normal?

[obfuscated]

I'm playing with a Logitech Cordless Trackman Fx (http://support.logitech.com/en_za/produ ... rackman-fx#).
There is one pretty big problem with this trackball - there is pretty bad acceleration (high resolution vs speed error to be precise). What I mean by acceleration is this: When I move the ball slowly the cursor travels distance x. When I move the ball faster, but cover the same distance, the ball travels distance x/2 for the same movement of the ball. And when I spin the ball the cursor stays stationary or even oscillates at the beginning and then stars moving.

My question is - Is this normal/expected for this old trackball (the device is in pretty good condition, it looks almost unused)? Does this same problem happen with modern hi-dpi trackballs? Is this problem connected with the price range of the trackball? Any experience you can share will be welcome.

[ohaimark]

If you're using Windows it's likely the operating system's mouse acceleration, not the hardware itself.

Google "markc mouse fix" if you want to fully disable acceleration.

[obfuscated]

I'm on linux and my normal logitech m500 mouse is working just fine.
Also isn't acceleration expected to cause larger distance when moving the device faster?

[ohaimark]

When I move the ball faster, but cover the same distance, the ball travels distance x/2 for the same movement of the ball.

By x/2 do you mean 1/2 the distance when moving faster? That's more commonly known as deceleration, though it still is acceleration if we're talking physics.

And when I spin the ball the cursor stays stationary or even oscillates at the beginning and then stars moving.

Sounds like you're spinning it so fast that the sensor loses tracking data.

[obfuscated]

By x/2 do you mean 1/2 the distance when moving faster? That's more commonly known as deceleration, though it still is acceleration if we're talking physics.

Yes, if I move the ball faster the cursor travels half the distance on screen compared when I move the ball slow.

Sounds like you're spinning it so fast that the sensor loses tracking data.

Yes, I think this is what happens. The question is does this same thing happen with modern sensors used by current trackballs on the market and especially with the Pixart ADNS-9800 in a custom built trackball?

[ohaimark]

It probably doesn't happen with modern sensors. They've improved immensely in terms of tracking capabilities; some modern mice can track well on glass, for example. Older optical/laser mice tend to struggle under those circumstances.