synaptics click both buttons to get middle?

Peter Hutterer peter.hutterer at who-t.net
Mon Aug 14 23:22:32 UTC 2017


sorry about the late reply, I was on holidays.

On Thu, Aug 03, 2017 at 03:31:56PM -0500, Jeremy C. Reed wrote:
> This is on Ubuntu 16.04 with xserver-xorg-input-synaptics          
> 1.8.2-1ubuntu3 package (and xserver-xorg 1:7.7+13ubuntu3).
> 
> synclient does nothing for me. I can set things and see them with 
> xinput (or vice versa). Then I realized that it worked when using 
> my Dell device:
> 
>     DELL0742:00 06CB:7E92 Touchpad            id=13   [slave  pointer  
> (2)]
>     SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad                id=17   [slave  pointer  
> (2)]
> 
> I turned off my two finger scrolling and sensitive touchpad from 
> changing my window focus frequently.
> 
> xinput --set-prop "DELL0742:00 06CB:7E92 Touchpad" "Synaptics Tap Action" 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
> xinput --set-prop "DELL0742:00 06CB:7E92 Touchpad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling"  0 0
> xinput --set-prop "DELL0742:00 06CB:7E92 Touchpad" "Synaptics Edge Scrolling" 0 0 0
> 
> But I also want to click the left button and right button simultaneously 
> to emulate my middle button to get my X11 paste to work (and xev never 
> shows the button 2). (I have 
> used this for maybe 20 years on different X11 systems and want to 
> continue to use it.)
> 
> I set various "Synaptics Middle Button Timeout" values, but can never 
> get any paste to work. (For example in xterm, I highlight text then 
> press both at same time. In other clients, pressing both at same time 
> acts as if just the right button was clicked showing a right-click menu 
> for example.)  I also tried setting the Tap Action for the lower left 
> and lower right but I think that is about higher on the touchpad and not 
> the buttons at the bottom.
> 
> Note that this Dell Inspiron 5000 buttons are part of the same touchpad, 
> no separate hardware to the user. Underneath it appears to have switch 
> on bottom left and right since it depresses and clicks on bottom but 
> never on top. (The depress and click starts at about half way down the 
> touchpad.)
> 
> I wonder if this is the problem:
> 
> reed at work2:~/tmp$ xinput --list-props "DELL0742:00 06CB:7E92 Touchpad" | grep Capab
>         Synaptics Capabilities (331):   1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0
> 
> See how it shows I have no right button. I definitely do as I use it 
> with xterm (ctrl-right click) and in firefox and other apps.

judging by pictures for the Inspiron 5000, you do *not* have a physical
right button, the device only has a left button and the right button is
emulated based on the device being detected as clickpad (most likely anyway,
check the log for SoftButtonAreas settings).  That also limits the middle
button emulation, synaptics does not have two-finger middle button emulation
on clickpads. And ad-hoc I'm not even sure it could easily do that, the
whole multitouch implementation in synaptics is a tad messy. But the default
config should give you a  middle button area anyway in the center of the
touchpad - don't you have that?

Cheers,
   Peter


> 
> Some logging:
> 
> [ 52820.192] (II) synaptics: DELL0742:00 06CB:7E92 Touchpad: device does 
> not report pressure, will use touch data.
> 
> i[ 52820.192] (--) synaptics: DELL0742:00 06CB:7E92 Touchpad: buttons: 
> left double triple
> 
> I used xev. Left button is "button 1," and right button is "button 3," 
> but middle click almost always shows "button 3," and sometimes "button 
> 1".  Interestingly if I pressed the touchpad (as far up as it will click 
> (starting at about 3/4 inch from bottom up until about 3/4 inch from 
> top) it always is "button 1" even on the right side. If I go low enough 
> on the right side it will be button 3 again. Note this is not a 
> touchpad tap which is disabled, but a physical depression of the 
> touchpad until it clicks.
> 
> Any hints would be appreciated.
> _______________________________________________
> xorg at lists.x.org: X.Org support
> Archives: http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/xorg
> Info: https://lists.x.org/mailman/listinfo/xorg
> Your subscription address: %(user_address)s
> 


More information about the xorg mailing list