Hi,
I would like to buy a 3dconnexion spacemouse wireless.
Can I be sure that it will work with KiCad 8+?
From my experience, I have the exact 3D SpaceMouse model you shared, and it works on KiCad without problems (under Windows).
Right now this functionality is disabled for Linux because a driver topic 
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Hi,
ordered from the manufacturer yesterday, delivered today. 
About a year ago I was really interested in buying a spacemouse for use with FreeCAD. In the end, I did not buy one because they do not have current Linux drivers. The thing probably works with Linux anyway, but if the manufacturer can’t be bothered to update their drivers after 2014, then I’m not going to invest EUR140 in their hardware.
I’ve seen tear-downs of these things, and there is maybe EUR5 worth of electronics inside. Add in the plastic for the shell, cables, cardboard box and shipping and there is still plenty of margin left to write and maintain some decent drivers.
I may someday build one myself with a 3D printer and some hackaday example. Sort of fun project.
Hi,
I have tried it under Fedora with the spacenavd driver. Nothing happens. Either the driver is not running or something else is wrong.
Like he mentioned in his last sentence of his reply, space mouse support does not exist on Linux. 3dconnexion contributed the spacemouse support to kicad and they only officially support windows and macos
Indeed, no Linux support at all (from 3dconnexion) Apparently it works in FreeCAD with some open source driver
More about the “donation” of code for the space mouse to KiCad in the thread below (It also has a link to the code merge request on gitlab).
Had one for a while (borrowed from work) and the only use case i liked it for was docking control in kerbal space program 
At work we had tens of them (and the wired ones in different versions) and they where bought for cad use, but after a while they just piled up in the cupboard and nobody was using them.
Only really nice if the program doesn’t use keyboard shortcuts. So like in fusion its okay, in blender its a nuisance. And in general I’m always faster and more precise with the mouse. (turntable nav).
Always keep in mind that those things are basically joysticks. You convert time into on screen movement, not position (like in a mouse) as its a relative input, not a absolute one. So its always a struggle to keep them fast enough and still precise enough. A good mouse, 0 mouse acceleration, a fast screen and you run circles around those things.
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Yeah, its better in some software than others mainly because their mouse moves suck or they are designed for one hand operation (Catia). But it is also a question of practice, so you need to use the space mouse for a long time for it to feel natural. But you have already been using mouse for s lot of things so you already know how to use it. So your comparing good skill with poor skill.
Similar problem happens with a digitizer tablet that is on the side of your monitor. You need to practice a lot before it starts to become useful. Now for reasons you don’t really become good at drawing with the digitizer at first. Instead you notice that painting or filling areas is easier with the digitizer because it has better feedback than mouse. After a lot of this you learn to draw but the amount of time investment is really high.
So the space mouse is okay after a long time investment but nearly nobody makes the investment
Going totally off-topic… Speak up if you have something to say about that device working with kicad.
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