# The &kmousetool; Handbook

Jeff Roush

    jeff@kmousetool.com

2002 Jeff Roush
&FDLNotice;
2003-09-16
1.12

&kmousetool; clicks the mouse whenever the mouse cursor pauses briefly. It was designed to help those with repetitive strain injuries, for whom pressing buttons hurts.

KDE kdeutils KMouseTool ergonomic tendonitis carpal tunnel syndrome

## Introduction

&kmousetool; clicks the mouse whenever the mouse cursor pauses briefly. It was designed to help those with repetitive strain injuries, for whom pressing buttons hurts. It can also drag the mouse, although this takes a bit more practice.

&kmousetool; can eliminate the pain caused by clicking the mouse, and helps many people to use the computer without pain. Unfortunately, some pain can also be caused by simply moving the mouse around the table. If you are experiencing computer-related pain and haven't yet seen a doctor, please do so.

Just to make it absolutely clear: while &kmousetool; can help reduce the pain caused by clicking the mouse, it can not help any pain caused by moving the mouse. And, like all ergonomic tools, your mileage may vary.

## Using &kmousetool;

Using &kmousetool; is simple: &kmousetool; watches as you move the mouse, and when you pause briefly, it clicks.

&kmousetool;'s Smart Drag mode allows you to drag the mouse.

When Smart Drag is enabled, &kmousetool; pauses after it clicks down; if you move the mouse, it waits until you stop moving before it clicks up. This way, you can both click and drag the mouse. Smart Drag takes a bit more practice, but becomes natural once you get used to it.

## Command Reference

### The main &kmousetool; window

&kmousetool;'s options are accessed mostly via the mouse.

Start Button

  Starts (or stops) &kmousetool;.

Minimum movement:

  The minimum movement in pixels before &kmousetool; will attempt to click the mouse.

Dwell Time (1/10 sec):

  The time the mouse has to pause before &kmousetool; clicks. Try increasing this time if it is hard getting used to &kmousetool;

Smart Drag

  Enables or disables Smart Drag. Disabled use is easier, so this is the default.

  If you enable Smart Drag the Drag time (1/10 sec): field becomes available. This is the time &kmousetool; waits, after it clicks down, before it clicks back up if you don't move the mouse.

Enable Strokes

  &kmousetool; now supports strokes. When you enable strokes, a slow move to the right and back, followed by a pause, will generate a right click. A slow move left and back will generate a double click. (Strokes are specified in `$`KDEHOME`/share/config/kmousetool_strokes.txt`. This file is generated by &kmousetool; the first time it is run, but can be modified afterwards.)

Audible Click

  Plays a sound when &kmousetool; clicks down. This helps, especially with Smart Drag.

  If the sound seems delayed, you can have &kde; speed it up. To do this open the &kcontrolcenter;, click on Sound, then on Sound Server, and then select the Sound I/O tab. At the bottom of the tab, there is an Audio buffer size (response time) adjustment; slide this towards the lower number to speed up the audio response time.

Start with KDE

  When this is enabled, &kmousetool; will start each time &kde; starts. At the moment, this only works under &kde;. Under GNOME or other Window Managers, see the documentation for the Window Manager itself to see how to start a program automatically when you start the windowing system.

Defaults

  Reset all settings to their defaults.

Reset

  Reset all settings to their state when you opened the dialog, or, if you have already saved a setting with the Apply button, reset all settings to the state when you last pressed Apply

Apply

  After changing any settings, you must click this button.

Help

  Opens the User manual (this document).

Close

  Close the dialog without saving any settings.

Quit

  Quit &kmousetool;

## Tips

These tips can help shorten &kmousetool;'s learning curve a bit.

- You can modify the time delays &kmousetool; waits, for both clicking and for dragging.

- It's best to practice clicking with &kmousetool; using its defaults first. You may especially want to leave Smart Drag disabled at first. Then, once you are comfortable clicking, move on to practicing Smart Drag.

- When using Smart Drag, it may help to enable the Audible Click

- When using the Audible Click, you may need to speed up &kde;'s audio response.

## Questions and Answers

&reporting.bugs; &updating.documentation;

Help! &kmousetool; keeps dropping spurious clicks all over the screen!

When you are using &kmousetool;, you do have to learn new mousing habits.

First, keep in mind where it's safe to click — clicking on gray parts of windows or non-link areas of web browsers won't hurt anything, so you can safely rest the mouse over those areas until you need it.

Second, you need to know where you're going to click before you move the mouse. Most of the time, when we know we're going to use the mouse, most of us grab the mouse and start moving it around randomly until we figure out where we want to click. With &kmousetool;, you need to know where you're going to click before you move the mouse in the first place. It is also a good idea to keep your hands off the mouse when you're not using it.

My mouse sticks when I move it. Can I still use &kmousetool;?

Yes. If your mouse sticks, it means you need to clean your mouse. This is usually easy to do; the trick is that you have to clean not just the mouse's ball, but the rollers that the ball rolls against inside the mouse.

First, you have to remove the ball. The method for doing this varies from mouse to mouse, but it's usually pretty clear how to do this if you look at the bottom of the mouse.

Once you've removed the ball, you should be able to see the rollers on the sides of the hole that contained the ball. The dirt and grime on them can be easily scraped off with a flat blade or with a fingernail.

&kmousetool; clicks down and never clicks up. What's happening?

In some rare situations, the system suspends &kmousetool; when a drag starts; if you are using Smart Drag, this means thar &kmousetool; can never finish the drag by clicking up.

The solution is to simply click manually; this resets &kmousetool;, and you can then continue to work normally again.

This happens when you use &kmousetool; under a non &kde; window manager and then use it to move a window.

&kmousetool; moves the cursor when I'm trying to type.

Problem: When you're typing text, &kmousetool; keeps dropping clicks and moving the cursor away from where you want to type.

Solution: Use the mouse to place the cursor where you want it, but when you're ready to type, park the mouse on a neutral area on the screen. Then, if you bump the mouse, or if it moves a few pixels, any random clicks that it sends won't matter. Safe places to park the mouse include the gray areas around toolbars and menus, and on the title bars of windows.

I'm trying to use Smart Drag, but I can't get the hang of using it to edit text.

Smart Drag is an advanced feature of &kmousetool;, and takes some getting used to. It is very possible to use it to select text, to cut and paste, and use it in almost any situation where you would normally want to drag the mouse. But you probably won't be able to do this at first. Here are some suggestions:

- Don't use Smart Drag while you are first learning to use &kmousetool;. Instead, to select text, click at one end of the text, and hold down the shift key while you click at the other end of the text.

- Use the Audible Click. This will play a click sound when &kmousetool; clicks down, and this will tell you when the Smart Drag delay is beginning. With practice, you can use Smart Drag without the Audible Click, but it does take a fair amount of practice.

- Know where you're going to click the mouse before you begin moving it.

## Credits and License

&kmousetool;

Program copyright 2002 Jeff Roush jeff@mousetool.com and 2003 Gunnar Schmi Dt gunnar@schmi-dt.de

Contributors:

- Jeff Roush jeff@mousetool.com

- Gunnar Schmi Dtgunnar@schmi-dt.de

- Olaf Schmidt ojschmidt@kde.org

Documentation copyright 2002 Jeff Roushjeff@mousetool.com

&underFDL; &underGPL;

## Installation

### How to obtain &kmousetool;

&install.intro.documentation;

### Requirements

In order to successfully use &kappname;, you need the XTest extension compiled as part of your &X-Window;. This should already be installed on your system; very few systems won't have it.

In order to use the Audible Click feature, you will have to have a sound card and speakers, and you will have to have configured the sound card correctly.

### Compilation and Installation

&install.compile.documentation;
&documentation.index;