Ubuntu – Making custom synaptics touchpad config persistent not working

synapticstouchpadxorg

I'm struggling to make my custom touchpad persistent.

I very well know the config I want.
Here's the command, using synclient:

synclient RightButtonAreaLeft=0 RightButtonAreaTop=0 ClickTime=20 AccelFactor=0.3 MaxSpeed=2.5 PalmDetect=1 VertTwoFingerScroll=1 HorizTwoFingerScroll=1 VertEdgeScroll=0 HorizEdgeScroll=0

As explained here and there I created /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf instead of editing /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf with the following content:

Section "InputClass"
  Identifier "touchpad catchall"
  Driver "synaptics"
  MatchIsTouchpad "on"
  MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
  Option "RightButtonAreaLeft" "0"
  Option "RightButtonAreaTop" "0"
  Option "ClickTime" "20"
  Option "AccelFactor" "0.3"
  Option "MaxSpeed" "2.5"
  Option "PalmDetect" "1"
  Option "VertTwoFingerScroll" "1"
  Option "HorizTwoFingerScroll" "1"
  Option "VertEdgeScroll" "0"
  Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "0"
EndSection

Surprisingly, it does change something, as my mouse goes faster, but doesn't apply all options, as HorizTwoFingerScroll isn't available.

Since /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf is still there, I'm wondering if it isn't interfering. Here's what's in there:

# Example xorg.conf.d snippet that assigns the touchpad driver
# to all touchpads. See xorg.conf.d(5) for more information on
# InputClass.
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE, your distribution will likely overwrite
# it when updating. Copy (and rename) this file into
# /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d first.
# Additional options may be added in the form of
#   Option "OptionName" "value"
#
Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "touchpad catchall"
        Driver "synaptics"
        MatchIsTouchpad "on"
# This option is recommend on all Linux systems using evdev, but cannot be
# enabled by default. See the following link for details:
# http://who-t.blogspot.com/2010/11/how-to-ignore-configuration-errors.html
#       MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
EndSection

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "touchpad ignore duplicates"
        MatchIsTouchpad "on"
        MatchOS "Linux"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/mouse*"
        Option "Ignore" "on"
EndSection

# This option enables the bottom right corner to be a right button on clickpads
# and the right and middle top areas to be right / middle buttons on clickpads
# with a top button area.
# This option is only interpreted by clickpads.
Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "Default clickpad buttons"
        MatchDriver "synaptics"
        Option "SoftButtonAreas" "50% 0 82% 0 0 0 0 0"
        Option "SecondarySoftButtonAreas" "58% 0 0 15% 42% 58% 0 15%"
EndSection

# This option disables software buttons on Apple touchpads.
# This option is only interpreted by clickpads.
Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "Disable clickpad buttons on Apple touchpads"
        MatchProduct "Apple|bcm5974"
        MatchDriver "synaptics"
        Option "SoftButtonAreas" "0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0"
EndSection

Why are there several ones? How can I disable them (considering I'm not allowed to edit the file)? Did I miss something?

Best Answer

I tried all from above, /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/60-synaptics.conf, just /etc/X11/xorg.conf, startup-command in either xfce or mate and even startup-script with 10 seconds delay and then execute synclient-commands in a loop or without a loop. Nothing worked. Only thing I couldn't try was to set it via gsettings because I didn't find any touchpad settings there.

Working Solution for me was: Just adding the synclient command at the end of ~/.bashrc So in your case, just add:

synclient RightButtonAreaLeft=0 RightButtonAreaTop=0 ClickTime=20 AccelFactor=0.3 MaxSpeed=2.5 PalmDetect=1 VertTwoFingerScroll=1 HorizTwoFingerScroll=1 VertEdgeScroll=0 HorizEdgeScroll=0

Probably, adding it to ~/.xinit will do the same :) (adding it to .bashrc won't make an effect before you either re-login or execute source ~/.bashrc)

I know, bashrc is not the place where synclient settings should be stored, but after spending hours on this issue it is the only working solution for me and I'm not having any side effects.

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