Piper: GTK application to configure gaming mice
github.com
github.com
On the other hand, Ubuntu 20.04 reports mouse and keyboard battery levels quite reliably and that's all I need software-wise.
I buy alienware hardware but avoid their software when I can, it looks cool but barely functions.
Also it's a 32 bit app even though the drivers for the house it supports don't have 32 bit versions anymore. And it doesn't have a "apply OC and close" ability built in... Actually anyone know of an Nvidia OC tool for Windows these days that isn't so crap?
Like you say, it completely beats out the official Windows drivers in terms of flexibility, not to mention it worked right out of the box and doesn’t force telemetry on the user.
Anyway fastforward many years to a few months ago. I am now full on Linux user and haven'r used my mouse in a long time. The configuration has reset and I needed a way to configure it again. Piper to the rescue. Super simple set up. It still had a few quirks for my mouse at the time, but it was actually easy to use and understand.
This seems like the kind of thing an app like this would deal with no?
Sounds very confusing, cryptic and user / gamer unfriendly.
It looks like libratbag is a CLI only back end that does all of the heavy lifting and then abstracts everything into an API (which Piper uses).
This is actually pretty nice, as it allows any other desktop environment to use libratbag and then put their own GUI overtop of it (I do the same thing with a couple of apps).
I'm struggling to think of a reason why that isn't a good thing. God forbid an error message gives you something googleable and actionable rather than something cutesy and meaningless.
Well it should 'just work', Hit the download button, install, plug it in and forget it. Even for a gaming mouse, the manufacturer gives you the official software for it to work. As long as it doesn't get in the way and it just works after installation, I do not care.
No terminal command copy pasting or config editing like this user. [0]
If the OS you're using is unsupported, 'but libratbagd exists though' well I'm sure using it wasn't any easier before 'Piper' so the user would already have given up and switched back to Windows instead.
Again the reason why people continue to use Windows.
That's exactly what it does. When software like this is packaged, the maintainer will normally place a dependency on any other software that's required for it to work, like ratbagd. ratbagd is a D-Bus activated service, so it will be started automatically if any program tries to use it. The result is that a normal user should never see the error message.
> No terminal command copy pasting or config editing like this user. [0]
Unfortunate for that user, but I can report it works fine for my (wired) Logitech G303. The comment said he couldn't get it to work back in [the] day, so it might have already been fixed.
> Again the reason why people continue to use Windows.
Please don't bait OS flame wars. I doubt anyone chooses their OS based on its ability to change the DPI of their gamer mouse, but this seems to be a nice piece of software for those of us who have a reason to choose Linux. It's hardly the fault of Linux or libratbag that the manufacturers of these mice have chosen to use proprietary protocols and non-cross-platform software for configuration.
It's possible that the driver software works in Wine, but I'm not about to test. I don't even like installing horrid gamer drivers on Windows.
In this instance, you just get to see behind the curtain because it is open source (rather than some obscure "PC load letter" error one would get on the official windows program), and I think you are extrapolating wayyyy too much based on one error screen.
> No terminal command copy pasting or config editing like this user.
Unfortunately, a lot of the "official" clients do a lot of hard coding of magic values, and will change their API on a whim. For the folks to make an unofficial API, they are now put in the precarious position of either hard coding themselves (and risk it breaking at any time), or adding a bit of flexibility at the cost of ease.
If the official vendors were so kind to not hard code these values (or tell third party vendors they were changing it), this would be much easier.
Rat -> Mouse
Bag -> Because it works with all mice ie. its a catch-all.
d -> daemon
lib -> library
There's also a mouse brand (Madcatz) who have are known for their gaming mouse, Rat (stylished R.A.T.). To gamers, they're known for their quality mice.
That should tell you enough, and if it doesn't you're free to embrace curiosity to figure it out on your own.