How do I disable mouse magnet on middle edge with multi monitors?

Question

I use Ubuntu 12.04 on a two screen setup. Multiscreen on 12.04 has generally become much better, but there is one thing that really gets on my nerves: there's a mouse magnet of sorts on the middle edge (between the two screens). It's undoubtedly there to make it easier to interact with the launcher on the right screen. But I have enough trust in my mousing skills, the magnet is more annoying than helpful in my case. Can I disable it somehow?

Answer 1

There is a setting for it in Displays:

You may still get the behaviour if you have a launcher on the right monitor, so use the "Launcher Placement" option to select having your launcher on only the left screen. The stickyness between the screens is required for it to be easy to retrieve the launcher there.

You might need to log out and back in (or restart) for the changes to take effect.

Answer 2

The "hang" is a feature to make it possible to use the launcher in multi-monitor setups when it's set to auto-hide. It can be configured using gconf-editor. The relevant keys are

/apps/compiz-1/plugins/unityshell/screen0/options/stop_velocity, and

/apps/compiz-1/plugins/unityshell/screen0/options/overcome_pressure

Recommended settings to minimize the affect are:

• overcome_pressure=1
• stop_velocity=20

This doesn't completely stop the mouse from sticking, but makes it less likely it will do so. You can reduce stop_velocity further if you want.

Possibly also /apps/compiz-1/plugins/unityshell/screen0/options/reveal_pressure. The latter can be configured more easily in System Settings > Appearance > Behavior.

• How do I use the gconf editor?

Answer 3

I personally thought it could be a wrong design in an extended desktop where in the middle of the desktop, a launcher is present. Yet, notice that the launcher has new settings :

The reveal sensitivity allows you to adjust how much the launcher is sensitive to your mouse crossing. The higher, the more you have to push the mouse against the launcher to reveal it. While auto-hide is activated, and about 27 % of reveal sensitivity, you can surf your mouse from the left external monitor to the right one or the opposite, easily without accidently revealing the launcher. Check the poll, if you want to vote for this option.

Thanks to Hanynowsky's answer http://askubuntu.com/a/111316/29209

Answer 4

You can also modify the settings inside of CCSM if you prefer a GUI option. Its under CSSM > Unity > Experimental

There are options for Launcher Edge Stop Overcome Pressure and Edge stop Velocity which you can modify.

Answer 5

For anyone elses reference. I ended up setting 'Edge Stop Velocity' to 10,
Launcher Edge Stop Overcome Pressure to 10, and Launcher Reveal Pressure to 10.

This seems to give the perfect balance for me. No lag when dragging windows between screen. Launcher is fairly easy to access on both monitors, No mis-reveals when going for the back button in the browser...

Answer 6

in CCSM there is a setting under Experimental tab called Launcher Capture Mouse. if you disable it than the effect will completely disabled

Answer 7

Also if you want to leave it the way it is I have found that moving the mouse VERY quickly past the middle will let you pass right through it without even the slightest bit of hang time. I still changed it mainly because moving the mouse that fast was a bit annoying. Maybe someone will find it useful though.

Answer 8

Bug 938448 seems to be covering the same problem - "On multi-monitor, mouse gets stuck in the middle, especially going right to left"

Edit: Nope; this one is different: the mouse get stuck in between jumping back and forth; usually after a Suspend. Actually, it's not even Unity related.

Answer 9

As another option, you can always set the following gconf values under /apps/compiz-1/plugins/unityshell/screen0/options:

• overcome_presure=1
• stop_velocity=5

These settings will basically turn off sticky edges, as well as the ability to access the launcher by using the mouse.

You can then use the "Super" (Windows/Apple) key (or Alt+F1) to access the launcher via keyboard ;)

Answer 10

There is also the "Launcher Monitors" option in CCSM under "Ubuntu Unity Plugin". Switching this to "Primary Desktop" solved the problem for me in the laptop + external monitor setup.

Answer 11

The launcher capture mouse option in ccsm and the settings>displays "Sticky edges" options didn't stop the edge capture from right to left for me. The only thing that worked was setting the "Launcher Edge Stop Velocity" to 1 and having , that solved the issue for me. No other modifications required.

I have no interest in Unity launcher menu on my secondary right hand screen, and the hastle this caused in day to day use was an unwelcome pain. I didn't realise the ccsm Unity experimental settings were there so I had to live with it for about 4 months. God that was annoying.