Touchpad double tap and two finger scroll not working on Ubuntu 17.04

Question

I recently upgraded from Ubuntu 16.04 to 17.04 and noticed that I have no option in "Mouse and Touchpad" setting for a double tap for click and two finger scroll.

$ xinput list
⎡ Virtual core pointer                      id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ SIGMACHIP USB Keyboard                    id=11   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad                id=14   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                     id=3    [master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard               id=5    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=6    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                                 id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                              id=9    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ SIGMACHIP USB Keyboard                    id=10   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Logitech VGA WebCam                       id=12   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard              id=13   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ SIGMACHIP USB Keyboard                    id=15   [slave  keyboard (3)]

and

$ xinput list-props 14
Device 'SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad':
    Device Enabled (142):   1
    Coordinate Transformation Matrix (144): 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000
    libinput Tapping Enabled (284): 0
    libinput Tapping Enabled Default (285): 0
    libinput Tapping Drag Enabled (286):    1
    libinput Tapping Drag Enabled Default (287):    1
    libinput Tapping Drag Lock Enabled (288):   0
    libinput Tapping Drag Lock Enabled Default (289):   0
    libinput Tapping Button Mapping Enabled (290):  1, 0
    libinput Tapping Button Mapping Default (291):  1, 0
    libinput Accel Speed (292): 0.000000
    libinput Accel Speed Default (293): 0.000000
    libinput Natural Scrolling Enabled (280):   0
    libinput Natural Scrolling Enabled Default (281):   0
    libinput Send Events Modes Available (265): 1, 1
    libinput Send Events Mode Enabled (266):    0, 0
    libinput Send Events Mode Enabled Default (267):    0, 0
    libinput Left Handed Enabled (294): 0
    libinput Left Handed Enabled Default (295): 0
    libinput Scroll Methods Available (296):    0, 1, 0
    libinput Scroll Method Enabled (297):   0, 1, 0
    libinput Scroll Method Enabled Default (298):   0, 1, 0
    libinput Disable While Typing Enabled (299):    1
    libinput Disable While Typing Enabled Default (300):    1
    Device Node (268):  "/dev/input/event8"
    Device Product ID (269):    2, 7
    libinput Drag Lock Buttons (282):   <no items>
    libinput Horizontal Scroll Enabled (283):   1

and

$ apt list xserver-xorg-input*
Listing... Done
xserver-xorg-input-aiptek/zesty 1:1.4.1-2build1 amd64
xserver-xorg-input-all/zesty 1:7.7+16ubuntu3 amd64
xserver-xorg-input-elographics/zesty 1:1.4.1-1build6 amd64
xserver-xorg-input-evdev/zesty 1:2.10.5-1ubuntu1 amd64
xserver-xorg-input-evdev-dbg/zesty 1:2.10.5-1ubuntu1 amd64
xserver-xorg-input-evdev-dev/zesty,zesty 1:2.10.5-1ubuntu1 all
xserver-xorg-input-joystick/zesty 1:1.6.3-1build1 amd64
xserver-xorg-input-joystick-dev/zesty,zesty 1:1.6.3-1build1 all
xserver-xorg-input-libinput/zesty,now 0.25.0-0ubuntu1 amd64 [installed]
xserver-xorg-input-libinput-dev/zesty,zesty 0.25.0-0ubuntu1 all
xserver-xorg-input-mtrack/zesty 0.3.1-1build2 amd64
xserver-xorg-input-mutouch/zesty 1:1.3.0-1build9 amd64
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics/zesty 1.9.0-1ubuntu1 amd64
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics-dev/zesty,zesty 1.9.0-1ubuntu1 all
xserver-xorg-input-void/zesty 1:1.4.1-1build3 amd64
xserver-xorg-input-wacom/zesty 1:0.34.0-0ubuntu2 amd64
xserver-xorg-input-xwiimote/zesty 0.5-1build3 amd64

Please [edit] your question and add output of xinput list-props 14 terminal command. — Pilot6, Aug 19 '17 at 11:12
The two finger scroll was available before. I actually used it yesterday before upgrading to 17.04 — Antonio Kordić, Aug 19 '17 at 11:32
Well, it looks like a bug to me. Touchpad capabilities are wrongly detected. — Pilot6, Aug 19 '17 at 11:35
This is going out on a limb, but please try xinput set-prop 14 297 1 0 0 — Charles Green, Aug 19 '17 at 14:37
@Charles Green response from the terminal:
xinput set-prop 14 297 1 0 0 X Error of failed request: BadValue (integer parameter out of range for operation) Major opcode of failed request: 131 (XInputExtension) Minor opcode of failed request: 57 () Value in failed request: 0x129 Serial number of failed request: 19 Current serial number in output stream: 20 — Antonio Kordić, Aug 20 '17 at 21:27
@AntonioKordić It was worth a try - I also have a device listed as 'SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad', and the code above, modified for my device and property number, does set two finger scrolling. — Charles Green, Aug 21 '17 at 01:59
Also I note that property 296 of your device indicates that only edge scrolling is available on your device. — Charles Green, Aug 21 '17 at 02:00
Can you append to your question, the output of the command apt list xserver-xorg-input* — Charles Green, Aug 21 '17 at 02:09

score 9 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 19 '17 at 12:34

9

After the upgrade the user space xorg-synaptics was replaced by libinput. In most cases it works better and is now default in new Ubuntu releases.

"Tap to click" is disabled in libinput by default for a reason I can't understand. You can fix it by editing the /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf file.

Add

Option "Tapping" "True"

to the touchpad section of the file after Driver "libinput", and restart the session.

Regarding two-finger scrolling. Not all touchpads support this feature. All new do, but old ones don't. According to your output only edge scrolling is available.

libinput Scroll Methods Available (296):    0, 1, 0

The first number should be 1 if the touchpad supports two-finger scrolling.

The touchpad capabilities are reported to user space by the kernel. I don't think that xorg-synaptics and libinput read it differently.

If that is a bug and your touchpad is really capable of multitouch, that is more likely a kernel bug. Also you can always switch back to xorg-synaptics by

sudo apt install xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
sudo apt remove xserver-xorg-input-libinput

edited Aug 19 '17 at 12:34

Byte Commander

107,489

answered Aug 19 '17 at 11:24

Pilot6

90,100
91
213
324

I added: Option "Tapping" "True" to
/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf and now the tapping works !
A two-finger scroll will as it seems, remain a mystery.

Thank you !
– Antonio Kordić Aug 19 '17 at 12:03
To resolve the scrolling issue we need no know which kernel was inatelled before and after the upgrade. – Pilot6 Aug 19 '17 at 12:05
4.10.0-32-generic is what it says after the upgrade. I do not know how to see the previous version of Kernel. But before upgrading to 17.04 I installed Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 – Antonio Kordić Aug 19 '17 at 12:13
1

You should still have previos kernels. You can boot with one of them using grub menu. It is probably 4.4 or 4.8. Check if the scrolling works with one of those. – Pilot6 Aug 19 '17 at 12:18
1

I have found what the problem was. It was my mistake. I always used two fingers to scroll not knowing it could be done by using just one on the edge of my touchpad. #humanerror
Thank you for your effort ! I apologize for taking your time.
– Antonio Kordić Aug 19 '17 at 12:47
1

This means that your touchpad supports only edge scrolling. – Pilot6 Aug 19 '17 at 12:52
Yes ! It was my mistake – Antonio Kordić Aug 19 '17 at 12:54
Thanks to both of you! That was it for me ( https://askubuntu.com/questions/966898/ubuntu-17-10-natural-scrolling )non 17.10 with wayland, No idea WHY it now works but it does :) – Rinzwind Oct 21 '17 at 04:33
on an upgrade to 21.04 from 20.10 two finger scroll stopped working, I ran sudo apt install xserver-xorg-input-synaptics sudo apt remove xserver-xorg-input-libinput, which fixed it but broke the keyboard, so uninstalled and reinstalled above and two finger scroll and keyboard came back :) – uzi3k Jul 20 '21 at 07:56

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 27 '23 at 09:26

Sounds like the same problem i had, probably you could try below. I solved that by doing following, but not sure which is actually the solution:

remove xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
in terminal, gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad send-events enabled
reset BIOS setting to default, https://pcsupport.lenovo.com/de/de/products/laptops-and-netbooks/thinkpad-t-series-laptops/thinkpad-t570/20ha/troubleshoot/lpt001165

Touchpad double tap and two finger scroll not working on Ubuntu 17.04

2 Answers2

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