VirtualBox

Opened 12 years ago

Closed 8 years ago

#10914 closed defect (obsolete)

Wrong mouse position in console

Reported by: ASchaefer Owned by:
Component: guest additions Version: VirtualBox 4.1.22
Keywords: linux console gpm mouse Cc:
Guest type: Linux Host type: other

Description

This bug is related to the 'absolute pointing' feature on a Linux (console only) guest system.

The setup does work basically. That means, I can use the select, copy and paste features from GPM. But it seems, that there is a kind of resolution mismatch with the mouse data.

  • I am unable so access the whole screen with the mouse.
  • If I move out of the VM-Window, the GPM cursor stays somewhere inside (see screenshot)
  • It seems, that something (VBox, VM, GPM, ...? ) does use the initial VGA-mode
  • There are some weird results, when moving the mouse in and out of the VM-window

To be honestly, I don't know if it's an VirtualBox, GRUB2 or GPM Bug (misconfiguration?) but any kind of help is welcome...

Current workaround

Disable absolute pointing

Setup

  • Host
  • Guest
    • Debian Squeeze (stable)
    • Bootmanager GRUB2
    • VBoxAdditions 4.1.22 (Custom, not from dpkg)
    • Pure console (no X-Server)
      • Custom videomode enabled
        • <ExtraDataItem name="CustomVideoMode1" value="1280x800x32"/>
      • Absolute Positioning enabled
        • <HID Pointing="USBTablet" Keyboard="PS2Keyboard"/>
      • Initial videoresolution set by (in /etc/default/grub):
        • GRUB_VIDEO_BACKEND=vbe
        • GRUB_GFX_MODE=1280x800
        • GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep
        • Setup works
      • GPM console mouse service is running
        • cmdline gpm -m /dev/input/mice -t ps2'
        • works bsically (see Description)

Attachments (5)

VM01.PNG (78.4 KB ) - added by ASchaefer 12 years ago.
Screenshot
pic1.png (284.6 KB ) - added by ThetaPhi 10 years ago.
Picture 1 (Host mouse is white, guest mouse is black): Almost matches in center of guest viewport
pic2.png (281.1 KB ) - added by ThetaPhi 10 years ago.
Picture 2 (Host mouse is white, guest mouse is black): Guest mouse is closer to border of viewport than host
pic3.png (283.5 KB ) - added by ThetaPhi 10 years ago.
Picture 3 (Host mouse is white, guest mouse is black): Similar in other direction
pic4.png (276.4 KB ) - added by ThetaPhi 10 years ago.
Picture 4 (Host mouse is white, guest mouse is black): Similar in other direction

Download all attachments as: .zip

Change History (9)

by ASchaefer, 12 years ago

Attachment: VM01.PNG added

Screenshot

comment:1 by efferre, 11 years ago

I confirm this problem also on my system where I'm running a Linux guest (only terminal, no X) on a Linux host. I'm using Virtualbox 4.1.26 on both the guest and the host.

Version 0, edited 11 years ago by efferre (next)

comment:2 by Michael Thayer, 11 years ago

It seems to me that GPM only understands about relative, not absolute pointing devices. If this is correct then when you move the mouse it will only see how far it has moved and not the exact position it has moved to, which can result in a position mis-match between the host and the guest cursor. This can usually be worked around by "calibrating" the guest pointer by moving it as close to all of the four corners of the guest screen as you can get, each in turn.

comment:3 by ThetaPhi, 10 years ago

Hi, a similar issue happens on MacOSX guests. As there is no "Guest Additions" available for OSX guests, you have to rely on the absolute pointing device. Unfortunately, the coordinates reported by the absolute pointing device to the OS are not the same like the ones on the Host OS (with the window offset, of course). In general the following happens:

In the center of the Vbox window, the coordinates match perfectly. As soon as you move the mouse more to the borders of the VM window, the guest mouse gets faster and the host pointer is still more towards the center. Once the guest pointer reaches the border the host pointer is still approx 15% away from the border. So you have to move the mouse more.

As the host pointer is switched off for the VBox GUI, you cannot see this effect easily, you just notice some "lag" when you try to move the mouse out of the windows. But you can actually see both mouse pointers in the Remote Desktop (I run OSX as VM on a server, so i rely on RDP). This makes using it more confusing, because you see 2 mouse pointers, one slower and one faster if outside of guest screen center.

I tried this with any other guest operating system, there is almost always a difference in both mouse cursors, if you don't install the guest additions.

If anybody has an idea how to fix this, e.g. by a special setting to "accelerate" the absolute pointing device, I am glad to listen! :-)

by ThetaPhi, 10 years ago

Attachment: pic1.png added

Picture 1 (Host mouse is white, guest mouse is black): Almost matches in center of guest viewport

by ThetaPhi, 10 years ago

Attachment: pic2.png added

Picture 2 (Host mouse is white, guest mouse is black): Guest mouse is closer to border of viewport than host

by ThetaPhi, 10 years ago

Attachment: pic3.png added

Picture 3 (Host mouse is white, guest mouse is black): Similar in other direction

by ThetaPhi, 10 years ago

Attachment: pic4.png added

Picture 4 (Host mouse is white, guest mouse is black): Similar in other direction

comment:4 by aeichner, 8 years ago

Resolution: obsolete
Status: newclosed

Please reopen if still relevant with a recent VirtualBox release.

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