9

I added this script to my startup programs to change my touchpad settings on startup:

synclient TapButton2=2 TapButton3=3

But this settings don't stay this way after startup.

I changed my script to watch the results:

synclient TapButton2=2 TapButton3=3
synclient | grep TapButton > $HOME/tmp/touchpad.txt

Results were confusing, touchpad still didn't work the way I want:

$ cat ~/tmp/touchpad.txt
TapButton1              = 1
TapButton2              = 2
TapButton3              = 3

But when I ran synclient | grep TapButton in gnome-terminal after startup the output was:

$ synclient | grep TapButton
TapButton1              = 1
TapButton2              = 3
TapButton3              = 0

I tried adding delays (sleep 10s) to my script before and/or after every line, but this didn't help too.

Therefore I assume that there is another program, script or daemon that changes touchpad settings, but I couldn't find which one.

Two questions:

  • Which program, script or daemon can change touchpad settings?
  • Is there another way to permanently change your touchpad settings? Maybe adding such script to startup is not supposed to be working.

Update

I tried putting

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "touchpad my settings"
    MatchIsTouchpad "on"
    MatchOS "Linux"
    MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/mouse*"
    Option "TapButton1" "1"
    Option "TapButton2" "2"
    Option "TapButton3" "3"
    Option "PalmDetect" "on"
EndSection

into file /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-my.conf. It didn't help as well.

4 Answers 4

3

I've got a simple solution...

Just press the windows key and type 'startup'. You will see 'Startup applications'

  • click this and then click [ADD]
  • give it a name (like mousetap2)
  • enter the command in the box... i.e.

    synclient TapButton2=2 TapButton3=3
    

and that's it...

It will run on startup and configure the trackpad all without pissing about with configuration files.

4
  • This answer is the same as another one.
    – andrybak
    Feb 28, 2014 at 19:56
  • if one needs only 1 command, this is the easiest way to go!
    – avidenic
    Dec 6, 2015 at 13:32
  • @avidenic this answer only copying the first sentence of the question, and as mentioned in the question, it did not help.
    – andrybak
    Mar 6, 2016 at 17:58
  • @avidenic, I had multiple commands to run, so I created multiple entries.
    – salsbury
    Feb 2, 2018 at 17:01
0

Very bad, but working solution to my problem:

Adding this script to startup programs:

#!/bin/bash

while true;
do
    synclient TapButton2=2 TapButton3=3
    synclient | grep Tap > $HOME/tmp/touchpad.txt
    sleep 20s
done
1
  • Sympathy: I've been fighting with my touchpads for years on and off. Where did you put your synclient statement? I put mine in KDE's Autostart folder so it gets set when the desktop starts. (gnome has an almost identical feature.) I think that works better than putting it in $HOME/.profile. If you put it in your init scripts somewhere, then something in the desktop could easily override it later. If you haven't used it yet, gsynaptics is handy for examining and fixing things during testing.
    – Joe
    Nov 28, 2013 at 12:49
0

The best method that have worked for me is to add your changes into Xsession.d, so it will load automatically for all users when you log into X:

(the file doesn't exists, so you can name it whatever you want. The numbers on the left means the order in which it will be executed in comparison with the other files.)

sudo nano /etc/X11/Xsession.d/80synaptics

Add just the synclient commands in that file:

synclient TapButton2=2 TapButton3=3

(should be owned by root, with permissions 644)

chmod 644 /etc/X11/Xsession.d/80synaptics
0

Option "VertScrollDelta" "-71"

Option "HorizScrollDelta" "-71"

Put these lines in to /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf file and match section MatchIsTouchpad "on"

1

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .