A Gaming Mouse Vendor That Has Linux Drivers

[phoronix]

Phoronix: A Gaming Mouse Vendor That Has Linux Drivers

While Razer and Logitech manufacturer some terrific mice for computer gamers along with other gaming peripherals, they unfortunately do not provide any official Linux support. There have been community projects like Lomoco for supporting Logitech's extra mouse features under Linux and RazerTool for supporting some Razer mice, but without any full-featured support from the vendor. The smaller gaming peripheral vendors like Mionix are also no better at providing Linux support, but there is now at least one new vendor supporting such efforts...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=ODY1Mw

[GoremanX]

I would love to know more about these products. I wish they were available somewhere in North America. I have a Saitek Cyborg keyboard with custom-programmable keys that I can't make any use of under Linux, and a Razer Mamba which looks really sweet but is limited to basic functionality (and doesn't have a 4-way scroll wheel). I'd trade both of them immediately for some Roccat versions if I could.

[FunkyRider]

I see they named their product Kone and Kova... Are they from the KDE team?

[insanemal]

@phoronix

You say the dumbest shit sometimes.
Have you actually used their hardware?
If not what do you base your claims about their hardware quality on?
Reading your article the only thing you appear to base it on is the fact you have never heard of them before.

Your starting to sound more and more like some kind of cheep tabloid. LEAP FIRST GET FACTS LATER!

[Lukian]

@insanemal, nothing new then?

Pity I didn't know about the Roccat Kone two weeks ago when I had to replace my Razer Diamondback.
On the upside, I purchased a Razer Lachesis. The DPI buttons, and profile changing buttons work under Linux. Configuration however, is performed under Windows.
This is certainly a step up from fixed resolution on the (early) Diamondback and the appeal of the advertised "on the fly" feature.

[meklu]

Yay, Roccat is Finnish and better yet provides drivers for its penguin customers. Awesome. *Puts a Roccat mouse on his TODO-list*

[Detructor]

wtf? on their website only windows is mentioned...nothing about linux or a penguin... *confused*

[Gymmarn]

@phoronix

You say the dumbest shit sometimes.
Have you actually used their hardware?
If not what do you base your claims about their hardware quality on?
Reading your article the only thing you appear to base it on is the fact you have never heard of them before.

Your starting to sound more and more like some kind of cheep tabloid. LEAP FIRST GET FACTS LATER!

Sadly it seems he's right, the quality is poor:
http://www.prisjakt.nu/produkt.php?o=489819

Seems like the mouse keeps double-klicking on single-klick and when the mouse is laying still on a flat surface the mouse pointer on the screen jumps around on the screen like it's crazy.

Still it's nice to see more hardware vendors taking Linux seriously!

[Zhick]

Yeah here in Germany Roccat is actually a quite well known name. At least I've heard about it several times, and I'm not very much into gaming-peripherals so I guess that's saying something.

Oh, and I agree that Michaels remarks on Roccats quality are pretty inappropriate, considering he's obviously never held one in his hands. I for one have only heard good things about them.
And as a long time Razer-user I've to say their build-quality is mediocre at best. I've got a Razer Krait, admittedly not their high-end product, but still quite an expensive mouse considering it has basically zero features (which is exactly what I wanted, a simple no-bullshit mouse with a good sensor).
After only two years of medium use the mouse-buttons became imprecise (often it would interpret a single-click for a double-click) and the rubbery coating started going off. I fixed the mouse-buttons by soldering in new triggers from a cheap old PS/2 mouse I still had lying around in to it, and these felt much better than the Razer's original ones ever did, which makes me suspect that Razer uses quite cheap parts in their products. Also the optical sensor of the mouse is not what I hoped for. Sometimes the mouse-cursor even starts moving when the mouse is sitting on my desk and not moving at all!
A friend of mine who also owns a Razer Krait has made exactly the same experiences, so I'm not the only one who's got problems with Razers products.

The Roccat Pyra or the Kova seem like decent replacements for my Krait, I think I'm going to get one of those soon.

[dm0rais]

I see they named their product Kone and Kova... Are they from the KDE team?

I was just looking at the naming scheme and could not find a pattern besides Kova, from Kovalainen and Kone from Haikkonen maybe?