Can't simulate middle click with my trackpad ASUS Zenbook UX305UA-FC057T

Question

When I try to simulate middle click with right+left click of the trackpad, even after ran

synclient TapButton3=2

I can't be able to paste what I had selected previously, like the known behavior of a Linux box.

Any idea ?

Ubuntu 16.04
kernel 4.4.0-15-generic
Elan touchpad

EDIT:

I put this in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/52-elan.conf :

# This option disables software buttons on Elan touchpads.
# This option is only interpreted by clickpads.
Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "Disable clickpad buttons on Elan touchpads"
    MatchProduct "Elan"
    MatchDriver "synaptics"
    Option "TapButton1" "1"
    Option "TapButton2" "3"
    Option "TapButton3" "2"
    Option "ClickFinger1" "1"
    Option "ClickFinger2" "3"
    Option "ClickFinger3" "2"
EndSection

I get in xorg log what I expect :

[     3.121] (II) config/udev: Adding input device Elan Touchpad (/dev/input/event6)
[     3.121] (**) Elan Touchpad: Applying InputClass "evdev touchpad catchall"
[     3.121] (**) Elan Touchpad: Applying InputClass "evdev touchscreen catchall"
[     3.121] (**) Elan Touchpad: Applying InputClass "touchpad catchall"
[     3.121] (**) Elan Touchpad: Applying InputClass "Default clickpad buttons"
[     3.121] (**) Elan Touchpad: Applying InputClass "Disable clickpad buttons on Elan touchpads"
[     3.121] (II) LoadModule: "synaptics"
[     3.121] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input/synaptics_drv.so
[     3.121] (II) Module synaptics: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[     3.121]    compiled for 1.18.1, module version = 1.8.2
[     3.121]    Module class: X.Org XInput Driver
[     3.121]    ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 22.1
[     3.121] (II) Using input driver 'synaptics' for 'Elan Touchpad'
[     3.121] (**) Elan Touchpad: always reports core events
[     3.121] (**) Option "Device" "/dev/input/event6"
[     3.204] (II) synaptics: Elan Touchpad: found clickpad property
[     3.204] (--) synaptics: Elan Touchpad: x-axis range 0 - 3097 (res 32)
[     3.204] (--) synaptics: Elan Touchpad: y-axis range 0 - 2119 (res 33)
[     3.204] (--) synaptics: Elan Touchpad: pressure range 0 - 255
[     3.204] (--) synaptics: Elan Touchpad: finger width range 0 - 15
[     3.204] (--) synaptics: Elan Touchpad: buttons: left double triple
[     3.204] (--) synaptics: Elan Touchpad: Vendor 0x4f3 Product 0x5
[     3.204] (**) Option "TapButton1" "1"
[     3.204] (**) Option "TapButton2" "3"
[     3.204] (**) Option "TapButton3" "2"
[     3.204] (**) Option "ClickFinger1" "1"
[     3.204] (**) Option "ClickFinger2" "3"
[     3.204] (**) Option "ClickFinger3" "2"
[     3.204] (**) Option "SoftButtonAreas" "50% 0 82% 0 0 0 0 0"
[     3.204] (--) synaptics: Elan Touchpad: touchpad found
[     3.204] (**) Elan Touchpad: always reports core events
[     3.240] (**) Option "config_info" "udev:/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:15.1/i2c_designware.1/i2c-5/i2c-ELAN0100:00/input/input6/event6"
[     3.240] (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Elan Touchpad" (type: TOUCHPAD, id 10)
[     3.240] (**) synaptics: Elan Touchpad: (accel) MinSpeed is now constant deceleration 2.5
[     3.240] (**) synaptics: Elan Touchpad: (accel) MaxSpeed is now 1.75
[     3.240] (**) synaptics: Elan Touchpad: (accel) AccelFactor is now 0.053
[     3.240] (**) Elan Touchpad: (accel) keeping acceleration scheme 1
[     3.240] (**) Elan Touchpad: (accel) acceleration profile 1
[     3.240] (**) Elan Touchpad: (accel) acceleration factor: 2.000
[     3.240] (**) Elan Touchpad: (accel) acceleration threshold: 4
[     3.240] (--) synaptics: Elan Touchpad: touchpad found
[     3.241] (II) config/udev: Adding input device Elan Touchpad (/dev/input/mouse0)
[     3.241] (**) Elan Touchpad: Ignoring device from InputClass "touchpad ignore duplicates"

but I still can't middle paste with pushing both left+right buttons.

Answer 1

I have a UX303UA, which has a FocalTech touchpad, rather than the Elan your Zenbook has.

I solved this problem by adding a conf file to /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d called 52-focaltech.conf. You would probably want to call yours 52-elan.conf or such. The 52 at the start is important because that way it runs after the system-supplied conf files for the touchpad, so it will override any settings there.

This file restores the normal unix meaning of the middle button and also disables all the weird 3 finger gestures. The ClickFinger option fixes the middle button and the TapButton option makes the 3 finger gestures go away. I stumbled onto this on my path to fixing the middle button and I kept it because I hate the 3 finger gestures. You can probably leave it out and still fix the middle button. I didn't try it because its getting late.

The content of my file is:

# This option disables software buttons on FocalTech touchpads.
# This option is only interpreted by clickpads.
Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "Disable clickpad buttons on FocalTech touchpads"
    MatchProduct "FocalTech"
    MatchDriver "synaptics"
    Option "TapButton1" "1"
    Option "TapButton2" "3"
    Option "TapButton3" "2"
    Option "ClickFinger1" "1"
    Option "ClickFinger2" "3"
    Option "ClickFinger3" "2"
EndSection

You will have to change all the instances of "FocalTech" to "Elan" in this file in order for this to work on your system.

The exact spelling used by the software for your Elan touchpad may be different than what the marketing material or documentation call it. To find out exactly what the software calls your device you can look at /var/log/Xorg.0.log. Search for "Adding input device". You can also use the xinput command to find it like this:

buddyp@UX303UA:/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d$ xinput
⎡ Virtual core pointer                      id=2    [master pointer  \(3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Atmel                                     id=10   [slave pointer (2)]
⎜   ↳ FocalTechPS/2 FocalTech FocalTech Touchpad    id=13   [slave pointer  (2)]

Instead of FocalTech, you should see your Elan in your output.

After you add your conf file to /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/ you will have to log out and back in again for it to take effect

BTW, the key to solving this problem was 'man synaptics'