Difference Between Mouse Sensitivity and Acceleration Controls

• Microsoft Mouse Driver for MS-DOS, versions 7.x and 8.x

SUMMARY

The following is more information on the sensitivity and acceleration of the Microsoft Mouse.

Sensitivity

Sensitivity controls the mouse-to-cursor motion. There are 20 possible settings, from 5 to 100, in steps of 5. The numbers of the settings do not relate to any actual PPI values; they are reference points only (like the numbers on the volume knob of a radio).

A setting number of 50 means that the ratio of mouse motion to cursor motion is unchanged -- a movement of one inch moves the cursor 400 pixels (points). The following table describes each of the settings:

Sensitivity

Number in              Effective              Mouse-to-Cursor
Control Panel          PPI                    Movement Ratio
-------------          ---------              --------------

     5                   12                       .031 : 1
    10                   25                       .062 : 1
    15                   50                       .125 : 1
    20                  100                       .25  : 1
    25                  150                       .375 : 1
    30                  200                       .5   : 1
    35                  250                       .625 : 1
    40                  300                       .75  : 1
    45                  350                       .875 : 1
    50                  400                      1.0   : 1
    55                  500                      1.25  : 1
    60                  600                      1.5   : 1
    65                  700                      1.75  : 1
    70                  800                      2.00  : 1
    75                  900                      2.25  : 1
    80                 1000                      2.5   : 1
    85                 1100                      2.75  : 1
    90                 1200                      3.0   : 1
    95                 1300                      3.25  : 1
   100                 1400                      3.5   : 1

Acceleration

Acceleration controls the SPEED of mouse motion to cursor motion. As the mouse moves, the driver sees how fast the mouse is moving and applies a scaling factor, either slowing it down (typically used for slow movements), leaving it unchanged, or speeding it up (for fast motions). The range of acceleration is from 1/16 actual speed (de-acceleration) to 16, in steps of 1/16.

The acceleration is applied on top of the sensitivity, thus the effective PPI range is from 3/4 PPI (1/16 of 12 PPI) to 22,400 PPI (16 X 1400 PPI).