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Mathew Chateau
Asked: 2020-05-21 12:37:23 +0800 CST

TPPS/2 Elan Trackpoint on Thinkpad T495 with Kubuntu 20.04

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I use Kubuntu 20.04 on my Thinkpad T495 with a trackpoint. The trackpoint is not working smooth even if I set the highest speed in the settings. I investigated it and tried this commands:

x@mx-ThinkPad-T495:~$ xinput --list-props 14
Device 'TPPS/2 Elan TrackPoint':
        Device Enabled (149):   1
        Coordinate Transformation Matrix (151): 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000
        libinput Natural Scrolling Enabled (295):       0
        libinput Natural Scrolling Enabled Default (296):       0
        libinput Scroll Methods Available (299):        0, 0, 1
        libinput Scroll Method Enabled (300):   0, 0, 1
        libinput Scroll Method Enabled Default (301):   0, 0, 1
        libinput Button Scrolling Button (313): 2
        libinput Button Scrolling Button Default (314): 2
        libinput Middle Emulation Enabled (305):        0
        libinput Middle Emulation Enabled Default (306):        0
        libinput Accel Speed (307):     1.000000
        libinput Accel Speed Default (308):     0.000000
        libinput Accel Profiles Available (315):        1, 1
        libinput Accel Profile Enabled (316):   1, 0
        libinput Accel Profile Enabled Default (317):   1, 0
        libinput Left Handed Enabled (309):     0
        libinput Left Handed Enabled Default (310):     0
        libinput Send Events Modes Available (272):     1, 0
        libinput Send Events Mode Enabled (273):        0, 0
        libinput Send Events Mode Enabled Default (274):        0, 0
        Device Node (275):      "/dev/input/event12"
        Device Product ID (276):        2, 10
        libinput Drag Lock Buttons (311):       <no items>
        libinput Horizontal Scroll Enabled (312):       1
mx@mx-ThinkPad-T495:~$ sudo xinput --set-prop 14 'libinput Accel Speed' 1,99

Acceleration is better but the sensitivity is still low, the TP is too slow then too fast and my finger top hurts. I looked at many hints but can't find the right way to configure the trackpoint. I would really appreciate some hints how to do it so that it works the same smooth way as in windows. Are there no tools out the box for it?

kde lenovo kubuntu trackpoint

2 Answers

  1. I use Ubuntu 20.04 on ThinkPad X1 Carbon gen6.

    Installing temporary local device quirks which spinxz mentioned worked for me.

    This is my procedure.

    xinput list-props 'TPPS/2 Elan TrackPoint' | grep 'Device Node'
# Device Node (295):    "/dev/input/event17"

sudo apt install libinput-tools
libinput quirks list /dev/input/event17
# AttrTrackpointMultiplier=0.40

sudo nano /usr/share/libinput/local-overrides.quirks

    [Trackpoint Override]
MatchUdevType=pointingstick
MatchName=*TPPS/2 Elan TrackPoint*
AttrTrackpointMultiplier=4.0  # Higher is Faster

    libinput quirks list /dev/input/event17
# AttrTrackpointMultiplier=4.00

    logout & login

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  2. With a recent libinput release this works with the magic trackpoint multiplier, called AttrTrackpointMultiplier and not with udev rules anymore. See the libinput documentation on trackpoint configuration.

    Libinput maintains hardware specific customizations, so called quirks, in /usr/share/libinput. See e.g. 50-system-lenovo.quirks. Do not edit these files, they might get overwritten during the next update of the libinput packages.

    To configure your overrides according to the libinput device quirks documentation you have to create a file /etc/libinput/local-overrides.quirks and adjust the parameters accordingly. (For some distros this file might be in a different location, e.g. in /usr/share/libinput/local-overrides.quirks).

    For instance, a local-overrides.quirks file according the example on the arch wiki for changing the magic trackpoint multiplier looks as follows:

    [Trackpoint Override]
MatchUdevType=pointingstick
AttrTrackpointMultiplier=0.75
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