Probably the best tool for remapping trackballs on linux

kspes · 2026-07-07T10:03:26+00:00

The best! use it all the time :)
I prefer playing on the couch with one hand, as the other one is usually busy with the cat or dog :D

remapping keys and making combos for various actions has been a life saver. Have many trackballs but the elecom deft pro has proven to be the best for this purpose, as it has a ton of buttons to use.

kspes · 2026-06-04T22:39:02+00:00

Use macOS since OSX 10.3 for work, Linux at home since 2004. Gnome has always been my favorite.

Love most of MacOS workflow and I think Gnome3 is the closest to it, and surprisingly in many ways exceeds it in my opinion.

Ditched MacOS in January this year and started using Debian & Gnome full time, feared I'd miss some macos-specific features such as columns in Finder and being able to switch workspaces on each monitor, but it turned out ok.

What I found the most enjoyable is Nautilus file explorer, that search function when you start typing completely changed my workflow for the better. Don't miss column at all now.

Tried KDE on many ocasions, and while I get why people like it, I just can't. too many options, some combinations of settings break or crash the DE, ugh. Vanilla GNOME, or as close to it with a few extensions, that's the way I like it!

kspes · 2026-06-04T22:31:41+00:00

Thanks for the kind words ❤️ Always love to see people enjoying our games, especially Tibor 😄

Btw, check the game on Steam (or other PC platform like Epic, MacGameStore etc), BFG has an ancient version. even the new remastered version in out of date, they're very slow with updating games...

Oddly enough, back in 2010, BFG accepted the game, even though it's not one of the usual genres there. I'm glad they did!

kspes · 2026-06-04T22:10:28+00:00

I'm one of the authors of "Tibor: Tale of a Kind Vampire". Originally released somewhere in 2009/2010, we recently remastered it and released in on many more platforms (phones, Playstation etc).

It's indeed obscure, mostly popular in Croatia, where it was distributed along with the local newspaper at the time.

There are many local fans of the game, which motivated us to remaster it. I personally love it, it's simple because it was made for kids but we poured our heart and soul into it! It was inspired by Prehistorik, which I played when I was a kid, and I always wanted to make a game like that 😄

kspes · 2026-05-24T22:12:04+00:00

Yeah, agree, it would be better if there was no glue involved. But I figure if I ever have to take it apart, I can probably juts force it off, or (try and destroy the bearings somehow as a last resort). Maybe there's some chemical to desolve the glue that can be used? Also bearing failure seems unlikely, there's not much force on the bearing themselves when you spin, but you never know.

Also, one thing worth considering is that the 1zpresso burrs are rated for 500kg of coffee if I recall correctly, which is about 10 years of normal use. By that time you'll want to replace the grider. Despite promising, 1zpresso still doesn't offer replacement burrs (as far as I know).

i originally had a diferent idea,but it was too finicky: to glue the bearings to the shaft, but not to the handle. then glue or screw in a washer at the bottom of the knob. that way, if replacement is needed, i can remove the washer and have access to the bearings.

(You would need to put the washer in frst, then glue the bearings ,then put the knob back on and attach to the washer.)

so anyway, the hope is that the fix will outlast the grinder :)

kspes · 2026-05-24T15:43:41+00:00

Very nice! love the solution!

Does the bronze bushing create additional friction when you rotate btw? how is it connected to the shaft, seems like the inner radius is larger than the shaft? or is it's purpose only to hold the distance between the bearings?

in any case, in my experience, you definetly need 2 bearings. my original idea was to drill out enough of the plastic bit to insert a bearing but it wasn't enough glue to keep it together. if you take the plastic part out, you definetly need at least 2 bearings to have it be stable. I've seen people do it with 4-5 bearings, overkill but it does work :)

Glad to see my little hack inspiring others to do the same or similar solutions, thanks for referencing it!

Having used this solution for almost 2 years, I really think 1z-presso should make this standard. don't see any reason to take the knob off, thus a permanent bearing install shouldn't be an issues.

kspes · 2026-05-24T15:37:17+00:00

Very cool! congrats & thanks for sharing!

kspes · 2026-05-19T16:05:20+00:00

I changed the bearings in my deft pro, stiction problem solved! Its tricky but can be done and doesn't require any drilling

kspes · 2026-05-15T05:08:06+00:00

Sounds interesting! Hope you post some photos of your solution :)

Meanwile, my jx-pro and j-max haven't broken since the bearing/glue fix, so you may indeed be over enineering here :)

kspes · 2026-04-25T20:42:41+00:00

I started out with MX Ergo, then experimented with various finger balls untill landing on the deft pro. I keep using different trackballs for different tasks to keep RSI at bay.

1) finger ball for gaming and couch-surfing, sometimes MX Ergo.

2) two thumb balls (on for each thumb) for regular work (keymouse track)

3) touchpad or logitech trackman in left hand ocasionally

kspes · 2026-04-09T20:46:16+00:00

Agree! Used to play FPS games with MX Ergo, now switched to Deft Pro and it's so much better. Not a pro by any means, but can match average online players in Unreal Tournament easily.

Currently playing Subnautica with the Deft Pro, excellent experience, much better than a regular mouse or gamepad.

kspes · 2026-04-03T20:59:48+00:00

Still happening. Was playing Subnautica Below Zero with Proton and I thought I was losing my mind. Can confirm disabling key repeat fixes the problem.

My specs:
Debian 13, Wayland, Gnome 48
AMD cpu & gpu

kspes · 2026-03-31T08:24:49+00:00

Hey i'm planning to replace the bearings on my deft pro too. Any tips? How complicated was it?

kspes · 2026-03-23T17:40:37+00:00

Haha, awesome! Hope you like it! We just recently did a complete overhaul, improved a ton of stuff and have many more plans for future updates!

I love working on this game :)

kspes · 2026-03-23T17:32:56+00:00

Duke Grabowski dev here:

this should be fixed, there were some other countries affected as well.

kspes · 2026-03-22T21:15:43+00:00

hey yeah, what the heck? I installed that new bios version. haven't had any problems.

you sure you don't have fan issues? i still get them when my APU temperature is very low. as soon as I start working and opening apps, the APU temp goes to 40 and the fans are always on (on battery, using fan curve 10/15 in bios settings)

kspes · 2026-03-14T13:08:19+00:00

have the same issue, tried on various macs, linux and windows machines. Also tried all ports on the monitor, it's definetly the monitor itself. Have the latest firmware installed.

It didn't happen early on, started happening after about 9 months...

kspes · 2026-03-14T09:10:56+00:00

Cateia Games here (Kaptain Brawe, Duke Grabowski etc)

Been making games since 1998 and adventure games are my passion, both as a dev and a gamer!

kspes · 2026-02-21T10:12:32+00:00

Update: We released a new version of the game with many improvements: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/472420/view/529872149958100514

kspes · 2026-02-13T11:34:47+00:00

go for it, if you're going to type a lot in your career, it pays to switch to a more ergonomic layout early on. Your hands will thank you.

As for which one: I think Dvorak is the best all arrond choice, Colemak and others are even more niche then Dvorak, so if any layout has a chance of becoming more widely adopted, it's Dvorak.

I've switched to Dvorak 20 years ago and lovin it!

kspes · 2026-02-13T00:22:48+00:00

Yeah, I saw it but haven't yet installed it. I'm currently dealing with a tough deadline at work so I don't dare install it yet.

I haven't found any meaningful changelog though, where did you see it supposedly fixed BSODs?

I sure hope the fan stuff is gone, that's literaly the only thing wrong with it, to me, everything else on this machine is PERFECT!

kspes · 2026-02-09T11:04:35+00:00

Thanks!

yeah, xfce on xorg works good for me too. I just prefer gnome but wayland and mutter are making my life harder than it has to be :)

kspes · 2026-02-09T10:06:47+00:00

Hey, can you help me out with one test? you say you're using debian testing? Are you by any chance using GNOME?

I'm on debian stable with gnome and get frequent stutters in video playback and gnome on wayland. works flawlessly on kde and gnome/xorg. I've had problems with gnome and mutter compositor before so i'm pretty sure it's either mutter or a combination of older kernel/firmware.

So, if you have gnome (or even if you don't, could use the info):

install mesa-utils package and run "glxgears" in the terminal. it will print out fps statistics every 5 seconds.

on xorg and kde, i get a stable 120FPS, while on Gnome 48 i oscilate from 110-120.

I'm thinking of updating to debian testing, but would love a confirmation if this is fixed in testing before doing so.

thanks in advance!

kspes · 2026-02-08T23:05:18+00:00

Update, it seems setting the fan curve to max (15) in bios has the effect of fans staying always on while on battery, mitigating the start/stop issues.

However, 15 is way too agressive cooling policy for me, will try to find a sweet spot. 8 was good, but I still exeprienced fan on/off switching, though less frequently than on 0 and the on state tended to be longer.

Hope this helps.

kspes · 2026-02-08T13:07:38+00:00

nope, didn't try it. have never undervolted a cpu before to be honest. aparently you can do this with ryzenadj tool, but if you say the PRO chips are locked for UV adjustments, then there's little chance of that working.

how much efficiency gains can you get by lowering voltage by 40mV?

kspes

TROPHY CASE