Ubuntu – Simulate a middle-click on Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro Synaptics touchpad

lenovomousetouchpad

I Am writing a Guide How to install Ubuntu on Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro

To get a middle Mousebutton, I tried this:

I edited the file /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf.
There I edited the "touchpad catchall" section, so it will look like this:

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*"

    Option "FingerLow"              "46"
    Option "FingerHigh"             "46"
    Option "ClickFinger1"           "1"
    Option "ClickFinger2"           "2"
    Option "ClickFinger3"           "3"
    Option "TapButton1"             "1"
    Option "TapButton2"             "2"
    Option "TapButton3"             "3"
    Option "AreaBottomEdge"         "85%"
    Option "SoftButtonAreas"        "60% 0 85% 0 40% 60% 85% 0" # Btn2 LRTB - Btn3 LRTB
    Option "EmulateMidButtonTime"   "75"
EndSection

(source: http://memobadz.wordpress.com/2014/02/16/lenovo-yoga-pro-2-on-ubuntu/ )

But this didn't enable a simulated Middle click as mentioned in memobadz' wordpress Blog (although it still helped a lot in other aspects).

How do I simulate a Middle mouse-button by tapping three Fingers?

I couldn't manage it with that help so far.

Best Answer

Below is what I have in the file /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf and works as intended.

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "touchpad catchall"
    Driver "synaptics"
    MatchIsTouchpad "on"
    MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
    Option "TapButton2" "3"
    Option "TapButton3" "2"
EndSection

Alternatively, you can create a script as described in

Execute a command 20 seconds after the desktop is booted

or include the commands below in $HOME/.xprofile

sleep 20
synclient TapButton2=3
synclient TapButton3=2

Related Solutions

Ubuntu – Enable two-finger scrolling on ALPS touchpad

First of all, to identify which touchpad you have, run

xinput list

If it shows something like

...
↳ AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint                  id=14   [slave  pointer  (2)]
...

then you most probably do not have multitouch support. The Alps touchpads tend not to have multitouch, while they use the same driver as the Synaptic touchpads.

You can use synclient -l to obtain information on your touchpad.

Still, the definitive way to see how many fingers are supported on your touchpad, is to

Enable SHMConfig in your xorg.conf file
Run synclient -m 100, which will show in real time the status of your touchpad. The fifth column labeled f is for fingers, therefore you can see up to how many fingers you can tap at the same time.

To enable SHMConfig in xorg.conf, see http://mjg59.livejournal.com/118588.html and then add

Section "InputClass"
   Identifier "enable synaptics SHMConfig"
   MatchIsTouchpad "on"
   MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
   Option "SHMConfig" "on"
EndSection

to your xorg.conf. You can remove the above snippet once you performed your testing.

Ubuntu – 50-synaptics.conf options not working

Ok, let's try to dive into

Xorg custom configuration:

With deprecation of HAL Xorg uses udev for device detection. Therefore any udev rules defined will be taken into account when it comes to configure XServer. However there is no need to define udev rules as Xorg supports configuration files, in fact defining udev rules is disouraged.

Custom configuration files follow this priority:

settings from /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/
udev rules (I'm not quite sure about udev priority, maybe less)
settings from /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/
settings in /etc/X11/xorg.conf

where the good old, still supported xorg.conf has highest priority. Therefore any rules you put in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/ loose validity when other rules with a higher priority are found.

To define a custom configuration without xorg.conf file you need to create a folder /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ where you put your custom device configuration files in (here your 50-synaptics.conf). However any other definitions in an existing xorg.conf file will override these, therefore you need to remove your xorg.conf file.

Unfortunately I have no access to a Synaptics Touchpad and cannot test if it really works. A very good tutorial on how to configure X can be found (though alien) in the Fedora Project Wiki.

Good luck.