[08:26] <leagris> Hello!
[08:26] <AlanBell> hi leagris 
[09:12] <leagris> I feel concerned and worried about current and upcomming changes in Ubuntu that affect accessibility.
[09:13] <leagris> As a visually impaired, I strongly rely on compiz with enhanced zoom ezoom feature controlable with mous wheel and <super> modifier.
[09:14] <leagris> Since natty, the default controls for ezoom where reset to a disabled default.
[09:14] <leagris> The needed mouse tracking was default to 40ms which is way too jercky
[09:15] <leagris> I partly solved the above issues with ccsm, re-establishiing the controls with mouse and keyboard and lowering the mouse tracking to 2ms
[09:16] <leagris> But the Unity desktop still steal the <super> modifier key so I can not control ezoom zooming level while holding <super> and wheel <button4/5>
[09:16] <AlanBell> leagris: yeah totally agree, a load of the useful keybindings have just been turned off
[09:17] <leagris> The Unity thing is advertised as a replacment for classic desktop in next upcoming ubuntu releases
[09:17] <leagris> I feel very worried about that.
[09:17] <AlanBell> yes, the idea is to have unity 3d and unity 2d
[09:20] <AlanBell> where is the mouse tracking setting leagris? I can't see it in ccsm
[09:20] <leagris> that and the advertised removal of synaptic in favour of the less controllable software-manager are major worrying changes.
[09:21] <leagris> AlanBell, Utility → Mouse Position Polling
[09:22] <leagris> Third row in first column of the Utility section inside CCSM
[09:23] <leagris> the setting is Mouse poll interval
[09:23] <leagris> currently at 8 with acceptable low jitter
[09:23] <leagris> the default 40 is way too long
[09:23] <AlanBell> yeah that does make things smoother
[09:24] <leagris> Before natty the default was 10
[09:24] <leagris> someone decided that change for some unknown reason
[09:25] <AlanBell> yeah, I was meaning to find out how these settings are decided
[09:26] <AlanBell> I think the mouse poll interval should probably relate to the screen refresh rate
[09:27] <leagris> AlanBell, yes it should, or to save some CPU cycles it should be put at a reasonable frequency
[09:28] <AlanBell> gah, thanks to the Americans laptop screens have a 60Hz tick
[09:28] <leagris> 40ms in an ezoomed environment makes it difficult tu track anything on screen due to the jumpy effect.
[09:28] <leagris> s/tu/to
[09:29] <AlanBell> I actually found 40ms to be OK, I thought it was just my graphics card and big screen causing a slight lack of smoothness
[09:29] <AlanBell> but having turned it to 2ms I can see that is smoother
[09:29] <AlanBell> I expect 2ms is going to be a performance problem on some hardware though
[09:30] <leagris> the smoothing is much noticeable on a CRT that has no delay
[09:31] <leagris> Vsyked changes on a CRT is the most smooth setting available :)
[09:31] <leagris> VSynked
[09:31] <AlanBell> yeah
[09:31] <AlanBell> 10ms wasn't chosen by accident
[09:31] <AlanBell> it is 6 frames at 60hz and 5 frames at 50hz
[09:32] <leagris> Sure, and why has it changed to default 40 in Natty. I really wonder.
[09:32] <AlanBell> conspiracy or cockup is the question
[09:33] <leagris> lol, 
[09:33] <AlanBell> it might be in response to a performance issue on weak hardware, in which case it probably stays there by default
[09:33] <AlanBell> or it could have been done by accident
[09:34] <leagris> My guess this is a red light on the need for disabled user to  voice louder about their needs at Ubuntu :)
[09:35] <AlanBell> to be fair though, the mouse polling setting isn't really an accessibility specific thing, it probably makes all sorts of plugins less smooth
[09:35] <leagris> I fear compiz is seen as some gimmick for most healthy geeks and CEO there
[09:36] <AlanBell> not really, aesthetic design is considered important these days, thanks in part to Apple
[09:36] <AlanBell> and unity is built on compiz
[09:37] <AlanBell> and yeah, they broke it quite a bit when putting it together
[09:38] <leagris> The poor zooming tool in Windows7 is what took me away from it even when pressured to that environment du to job requirements
[09:39] <AlanBell> do you want text cursor tracking in ezoom?
[09:40] <leagris> I dream of that feature AlanBell with some options to enable disable, track timing and panning speed
[09:40] <AlanBell> it is on my todo list
[09:40] <leagris> as for example I wouldn't want my screen panning abruptly while typing and the cursor reaching end of a line
[09:42] <leagris> Currently I disable zoom panning/tracking of active window as it is an annoyance having the pointer and zoom area changing because of some modal or other popup thing
[09:43] <AlanBell> what should it do at the end of a line?
[09:43] <leagris> this is Focus Tracking in ezoom. I find it quite inconvenient
[09:43] <leagris> at least I disable fitting zoom level at focus change
[09:45] <leagris> AlanBell, at a guess if the cursor jump whatever direction some small amount, the zoom area should follow instantly and conveniently with some tunable smoothness
[09:46] <leagris> if the cursor move some more than limit, a short delay then an accelerating move would be nice.
[09:48] <leagris> This would let eyes accomodate the fact, that the cursor moved far away, (let si it has moved out of here), then the accelerateing panning would help the eyes guess the direction and no relative position.
[09:48] <AlanBell> ok
[09:49] <leagris> I guess these should be a settable preference as needs may vary between users
[09:50] <leagris> someone may prefer instant position change, someone else may like some more delay or some other limit on defining small/big position change
[09:51] <leagris> this probably needs some try/error/tune before having proper settings
[09:52] <AlanBell> I think that should be do-able
[09:52] <leagris> AlanBell, if you can develop this you are my divinity :)
[09:55] <leagris> AlanBell, seriously, if ou take time and work for this. It is so important I'd happily contribute testing and sponsor your work with real funds. Not so much sure but hope to cover some hard developer work hours.
[09:57] <leagris> AlanBell send me an email lea dot gris at noiraude dot net or a message via launchpad
[09:58] <leagris> https://launchpad.net/~lea-gris
[10:00]  * leagris take a break
[15:03] <leagris> I got to go, thanks all especially AlanBell