Thinkpad – Increase Trackpoint Sensitivity with SystemD on Ubuntu 15.04 or Later

systemdthinkpadtrackpoint

My upstart job which configured my trackpoint sensitivity (Values 255, 255) does not work anymore. How can I get equivalent behaviour with systemd?

Best Answer

  1. Ctrl + Alt + T (Opens Terminal)
  2. sudo -i gedit /etc/tmpfiles.d/tpoint.conf

  3. Add the following lines (*):

    w /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/speed - - - - 255
w /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/sensitivity - - - - 255
w /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/inertia - - - - 6
w /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/press_to_select - - - - 0

  4. Adjust the numbers to your liking. Higher = More Fast/Sensitive -- press_to_select is for tapping on the trackpoint to simulate a click. 1 to enable.

  5. Save, Exit.

  6. For these changes to take effect before next reboot (see), run

sudo systemd-tmpfiles --prefix=/sys --create

(*) Thinkpad X1 Yoga Or Thinkpad W530 users will need to modify slightly:

w /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/...

You can find out the exact path on your device via:

find /sys/devices/platform/i8042 -name name | xargs grep -Fl TrackPoint | sed 's/\/input\/input[0-9]*\/name$//'

Personal Recommendation

  • Use the highest settings (255,255)
  • Go into Mouse and Touchpad settings and set that bar value to the lowest value.

After you get used to it, your finger will have to do much less effort into moving the cursor and will greatly reduce any strains or pains in your finger.

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