touchpad.md

Touchpad

Important

This guide focuses on a specific system comprised of an Arch Linux based PC using KDE Plasma on X11, and the Apple Magic Trackpad 2.

Description

This details how we could configure and setup a touchpad for use on desktop Linux.

Directory

• Touchpad
  • Description
  • Directory
  • Touchpad Configuration
    • Description
    • Steps
  • macOS-like Gestures
    • Description
    • References
    • Steps
  • Smooth Scrolling in Mozilla Applications
    • Description
    • References
    • Firefox
    • Thunderbird

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Touchpad Configuration

Description

This details optional configurations for the trackpad.

Steps

1. Launch the System Settings application.

2. Under Hardware, expand the Input Devices section.

3. Select the Touchpad menu item.

4. Configure the touchpad like so (make changes to your liking):

   • Device enabled: Enabled
   • Pointer acceleration: 0.10
   • Acceleration profile: Adaptive
   • Tapping: Tap-to-click and Tap-and-drag
   • Two-finger tap: Right-click
   • Scrolling: Two fingers and Invert scroll direction (Natural scrolling)
   • Right click: Press anywhere with two fingers

5. Click Apply.

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macOS-like Gestures

Description

This details how we could configure our trackpad to behave more like it would on macOS, on X11.

References

• Touchégg
• Touché
• ToucheggKDE

Steps

1. Install the touchegg package using yay.

2. Start and Enable the touchegg.service service.

3. Restart the system or run the touchegg command manually i.e. through KRunner for the first time.

4. Configure Touchégg:

   • Edit the Touchégg configuration file:

     nano ~/.config/touchegg/touchegg.conf

   • Copy the content of the sample touchegg.conf file and paste it into the configuration file.

   • Make your own modifications and add in your own values to the configuration file as you see fit, then save the file.

5. Install the Touché (com.github.joseexposito.touche) app as a Flatpak.

6. To further configure the Touchégg gestures, you can do so graphically through the Touché app.

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Smooth Scrolling in Mozilla Applications

Note

This has been tested with the Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird Flatpak running on the X11 graphics platform.

Description

This details how to enable smooth scrolling in Mozilla applications including Firefox and Thunderbird on X11.

References

• Kinetic Scrolling on Linux?
• PSA for Firefox users: set MOZ_USE_XINPUT2=1 to enable macOS-like smooth scrolling

Firefox

1. Add the following Environment Variable to the Firefox Flatpak app using Flatseal:

   MOZ_USE_XINPUT2=1

2. In the General tab, under the Browsing section, update the following Firefox setting:

   • Use smooth scrolling: Enabled

3. Restart the Firefox application.

Thunderbird

1. Add the following Environment Variable to the Thunderbird Flatpak app using Flatseal:

   MOZ_USE_XINPUT2=1

2. In the General tab, under the Language & Appearance section, update the following Thunderbird setting:

   • Use smooth scrolling: Enabled

3. Restart the Thunderbird application.