Ubuntu – Can’t right click on an HP Pavilion dv6

12.04dv6hp-paviliontouchpad

After installing, I initially assumed that right-clicking just wasn't a feature. I've been trying to separate myself from what I'm accustomed to in Windows, so I didn't think much of it. I've since read that right-clicking is definitely something other people are able to do.

However, right-clicks, in any context, are behaving as left-clicks. I'm using the touch-pad on an HP Pavilion dv6 laptop. Did something go wrong with my installation? Maybe a driver issue? I've tried quite a few Google searches on the issue, and I haven't come up with any results relating to a complete loss of right-mouse functionality.

I have read that Shift+F10 is the default keyboard shortcut for right-clicking. However, I am finding that it has no noticeable effect whatsoever when used.

I've checked System Settings, and I don't see anything that allows for toggling the right touch-pad button on or off. Lacking experience with the system, I don't really know where to look next.

My questions then, would be:

  • Am I crazy, or does 12.04 normally have a right-click function that brings up a menu pane?
  • Is this a problem that anyone has heard of or encountered previously?
  • If so, how has it been resolved in the past?
  • My buttons are indeed part of a click-pad.

I checked some of the "related" links that showed up with the page. I checked
synclient -l and found that quite a few parameters were questionably set at 0.

 RightButtonAreaLeft = 0
 RightButtonAreaRight = 0
 RightButtonAreaTop = 0
 RightButtonAreaBottom = 0

The same goes for the MiddleButtonX parameters, but I'm not concerned about those.

ClickPad = 1

All of the AreaXEdge parameters = 0
At the top of the list, these four parameters stand out:

LeftEdge = 1766
RightEdge = 5378
TopEdge = 1627
BottomEdge = 4331

I haven't tried to adjust these before. I imagine that it could easily vary a great deal between click-pad models, but does anyone know which of the above parameters I actually want to adjust, and to what values?

Best Answer

So, I'm not sure what the original problem was, and I'm not entirely sure how my pad is mapped.

That said, I found an interesting work-around here:

It mentioned changing some options within /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-synaptics.conf, but that directory doesn't seem to exist for me. It suggested changing certain values for the percentage of the click-pad to be dedicated to a given button, and then it suggested checking certain parameters within synclient -l. I wound up just manually editing the parameters to match. The boundaries do not seem to match perfectly with the lines marked on my click-pad, but those are completely arbitrary. The differences could be resolved by trial and error if it became an issue, I suppose.

Shift+F10 still does not work, but I have since learned that right-click was simply mapped elsewhere. I don't know where to find the default settings for that particular shortcut; it is not included in the list shown by holding down Super. However, I have learned that it was mapped by default to a button between my right alt and ctrl keys. The key resembles the usual menu, with one bar highlighted. This probably won't be relevant to many folks on non-HP machines.

Thanks, everyone, for taking the time to work with me.

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