lightdm touchpad tapping (to click) support

malm · 2018-10-03 21:09:36

With a default BL installation, touchpad tapping does not work in lightdm on my machine. Does it for anyone?

When in openbox, touchpad tapping works because synclient is started in ~/.config/openbox/autostart

If I add the following code to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf, the touchpad tapping works in lightdm too.

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "libinput touchpad catchall"
        MatchIsTouchpad "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "libinput"
        Option "Tapping" "on"
EndSection

See https://wiki.debian.org/SynapticsTouchpad

Is this something we wish to add to the default setup?

On BL, both xserver-xorg-input-libinput and xserver-xorg-input-synaptics are installed by default.

On my laptop, I appear to get full touchpad support with xserver-xorg-input-libinput alone, but understand that some hardware need xserver-xorg-input-synaptics, so I guess it is better to leave both installed by default. See this thread for reference:
https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic.php?id=3639

Last edited by malm (2018-10-03 21:11:35)

hhh · 2018-10-04 00:44:14

With a default BL installation, touchpad tapping does not work in lightdm on my machine. Does it for anyone?

No.

This is true for all of Debian's live-builds too, though. I'm hesitant to offer a custom xorg.conf and would suggest creating a tutorial walk-through instead for creating one.

johnraff · 2018-10-04 01:10:59

For Lithium... might the evolution of libinput allow us to drop synaptics?

Above forum discussion also links to these about libinput vs synaptics:
https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic … 135#p45135
https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic … 836#p46836

malm · 2018-10-04 05:06:33

Just to clarify, my suggestion was meant for Lithium.

earlybird · 2018-10-04 10:44:08

johnraff wrote:

For Lithium... might the evolution of libinput allow us to drop synaptics?
Above forum discussion also links to these about libinput vs synaptics:
https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic … 135#p45135
https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic … 836#p46836

Since we don't go Wayland, we don't have to use libinput.

This guy https://who-t.blogspot.com/ is doing all the work and he wrote very detailed articles of how difficult it is to make libinput feel like synaptics; they're worth reading.

Personally, I still think that the 'feeling' and behaviour of the synaptics driver is more pleasant and desirable than whatever libinput has. libinput feels abrupt and choppy (on top of being less configurable). We could make a poll for the default and provide an easy method of switching between the two? Like update-alternatives --config touchpad-driver, or something.

Re. OP: It is possible to include all configuration that synclient does in a static Xorg configuration file so synaptics should work on the logon screen too.

hhh · 2018-10-04 22:22:50

earlybird wrote:

Personally, I still think that the 'feeling' and behaviour of the synaptics driver is more pleasant and desirable than whatever libinput has. libinput feels abrupt and choppy (on top of being less configurable).

libinput sucks on my 10+ year-old Inspiron, a computer that there are still thousands of out there and tens-of-thousands similar.

We could make a poll for the default and provide an easy method of switching between the two? Like update-alternatives --config touchpad-driver, or something.

I like it!

Re. OP: It is possible to include all configuration that synclient does in a static Xorg configuration file so synaptics should work on the logon screen too.

This is how I have configured it in the past (via https://wiki.debian.org/SynapticsTouchpad ).

johnraff · 2018-10-05 04:15:37

earlybird wrote:

Re. OP: It is possible to include all configuration that synclient does in a static Xorg configuration file so synaptics should work on the logon screen too.

Would there be any potential problems with adding both synaptics and libinput config files to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d ?

BTW with both installed, and in the absence of such system-wide config, where is the choice made which one to use?

Last edited by johnraff (2018-10-05 04:18:22)

johnraff · 2018-10-05 04:21:32

@earlybird and @hhh is libinput no better on Buster than Stretch? Still rough?

ralf.kaa · 2020-03-09 01:28:47

This discussion helped me configure the touchpad on a chromebook (Braswell RELM, aka Acer Chromebook 11 N7 C731-C118) running BL Hellium (i.e., Debian Stretch), so I thought I would share it here:

The file referred to in the first post by @malm is (on my installation) at:

/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf

I edited the above file as instructed by @malm, adding:

Option "Tapping" "on"

where @malm instructed.

For reference, I ended up here because synaptics was making the touchpad (Elan Touch) VERY sticky (if that's the term), so I resorted to libinput instead.

On my system libinput is proving much more useful, and the tapping (with the extra line above) is now working flawlessly (or as well as it was working under chromeos...).

Thank you all for the helping hands and the hard work! I'm excited to have chosen BL Hellium for this machine (the lack of audio notwithstanding).

Last edited by ralf.kaa (2020-03-09 01:32:48)

ohnonot · 2020-03-13 07:44:32

I also had to add these options to make tapping work:

Option          "TapButton1"            "1"
Option          "TapButton2"            "2"     # multitouch
Option          "TapButton3"            "3"     # multitouch

synaptics driver, not libinput. Those were all set to 0 by default sad

hhh · 2020-03-13 13:25:44

ohnonot wrote:

I also had to add these options to make tapping work:
Option          "TapButton1"            "1"
Option          "TapButton2"            "2"     # multitouch
Option          "TapButton3"            "3"     # multitouch
synaptics driver, not libinput. Those were all set to 0 by default

As we're specifically discussing lightdm touchpad tapping, and not desktop settings, can confirm for my synaptics setup. Create /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-synaptics.conf, save and logout with the following file (from the Debian wiki), single tap on the log-in screen works for me immediately...

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier      "Touchpad"                      # required
        MatchIsTouchpad "yes"                           # required
        Driver          "synaptics"                     # required
        Option          "MinSpeed"              "0.5"
        Option          "MaxSpeed"              "1.0"
        Option          "AccelFactor"           "0.075"
        Option          "TapButton1"            "1"
        Option          "TapButton2"            "2"     # multitouch
        Option          "TapButton3"            "3"     # multitouch
        Option          "VertTwoFingerScroll"   "1"     # multitouch
        Option          "HorizTwoFingerScroll"  "1"     # multitouch
        Option          "VertEdgeScroll"        "1"
        Option          "CoastingSpeed"         "8"
        Option          "CornerCoasting"        "1"
        Option          "CircularScrolling"     "1"
        Option          "CircScrollTrigger"     "7"
        Option          "EdgeMotionUseAlways"   "1"
        Option          "LBCornerButton"        "8"     # browser "back" btn
        Option          "RBCornerButton"        "9"     # browser "forward" btn
EndSection

hhh · 2020-03-13 13:46:59

Again, the setup for either libinput or synaptics is possible, but maybe easier for the user to implement?

Also, lightdm has keyboard shortcuts which should work regardless of the driver used. Fn+F10 brings up the shutdown/logout menu, arrow keys will navigate to menu items or the few other menus from there. Alt+Fn+F4 opens a minimal shutdown dialog.

And if you're just logging in, the password field is already highlighted, so type and hit Enter.

hhh · 2020-03-13 15:59:42

malm wrote:

With a default BL installation, touchpad tapping does not work in lightdm on my machine. Does it for anyone?
When in openbox, touchpad tapping works because synclient is started in ~/.config/openbox/autostart
If I add the following code to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf, the touchpad tapping works in lightdm too.
Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "libinput touchpad catchall"
        MatchIsTouchpad "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Driver "libinput"
        Option "Tapping" "on"
EndSection
See https://wiki.debian.org/SynapticsTouchpad
Is this something we wish to add to the default setup?
On BL, both xserver-xorg-input-libinput and xserver-xorg-input-synaptics are installed by default.
On my laptop, I appear to get full touchpad support with xserver-xorg-input-libinput alone, but understand that some hardware need xserver-xorg-input-synaptics, so I guess it is better to leave both installed by default. See this thread for reference:
https://forums.bunsenlabs.org/viewtopic.php?id=3639

That code WFM on a default Lithium install. Same as with the synaptic file... create 40-libinput.conf (and the folder /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d), paste the code, logout, profit.

So if we have both installed by default, we certainly need a dialog window if we're offering a choice of default settings. The xorg file(s) will define the input, one way or the other. Frankly, this sounds very tricky for us to implement. xorg settings override autostart settings, etc...

ohnonot · 2020-03-14 09:19:11

The distro maintainers have to make the initial choice whether libinput or synaptics is preferred, afaics.
Sorry for butting im with synaptics, nevertheless I think libinput has matured to a level that that should be the default choice, no?
Once that decision is made it makes sense to have config files with sane defaults in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d.

hhh · 2020-03-17 01:10:05

ohnonot wrote:

Sorry for butting in with synaptics, nevertheless I think libinput has matured to a level that that should be the default choice, no?

I assume so on modern hardware, but I've never used modern hardware because I use Linux (Save the laptops whales!). On older hardware, libinput in Debian Buster can get really choppy/insensitive/sluggish/erratic.

ohnonot · 2020-03-17 08:39:32

^ I had similar thoughts when deciding on synaptics for my ~5y old laptop.

#1 2018-10-03 21:09:36

lightdm touchpad tapping (to click) support

#2 2018-10-04 00:44:14

Re: lightdm touchpad tapping (to click) support

#3 2018-10-04 01:10:59

Re: lightdm touchpad tapping (to click) support

#4 2018-10-04 05:06:33

Re: lightdm touchpad tapping (to click) support

#5 2018-10-04 10:44:08

Re: lightdm touchpad tapping (to click) support

#6 2018-10-04 22:22:50

Re: lightdm touchpad tapping (to click) support

#7 2018-10-05 04:15:37

Re: lightdm touchpad tapping (to click) support

#8 2018-10-05 04:21:32

Re: lightdm touchpad tapping (to click) support

#9 2020-03-09 01:28:47

Re: lightdm touchpad tapping (to click) support

#10 2020-03-13 07:44:32

Re: lightdm touchpad tapping (to click) support

#11 2020-03-13 13:25:44

Re: lightdm touchpad tapping (to click) support

#12 2020-03-13 13:46:59

Re: lightdm touchpad tapping (to click) support

#13 2020-03-13 15:59:42

Re: lightdm touchpad tapping (to click) support

#14 2020-03-14 09:19:11

Re: lightdm touchpad tapping (to click) support

#15 2020-03-17 01:10:05

Re: lightdm touchpad tapping (to click) support

#16 2020-03-17 08:39:32

Re: lightdm touchpad tapping (to click) support

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