Thinkpad TrackPoint Scrolling in Ubuntu Maverick/10.10

Update: these steps seem to work on Ubuntu Natty/11.04 for me, as well.

My fellow citizens, our long national nightmare of having to use bad pointing devices is over.

Starting with Ubuntu Maverick/10.10, configuring scrolling with the middle button and the TrackPoint is now really easy:

  • Install gpointing-device-settings (sudo aptitude install gpointing-device-settings)
  • Run gpointing-device-settings &, enable the Use wheel emulation using button 2, and enable both vertical and horizontal scrolling.

(gpointing-device-settings is not new but Maverick is the first time it has really worked well for me.)

Update: some people are reporting that g-d-s settings are lost after suspend. If you run into this, you might try these alternative instructions.

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46 comments:

  1. Bryan Cristina9/18/2010 5:08 PM

    And yet again, just like with 10.04, you've come through perfectly clear and made my day. Thanks

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  2. Anonymous9/24/2010 6:32 AM

    This works great until you come in and out of standby. Resuming causes it to stop working and when you open it up to turn it back on, it says it is on, but still doesn't work. Any Ideas?

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  3. Phil9/24/2010 11:32 AM

    @Anonymous: I had the same issue with gpointing-device-settings in Lucid. Try the instructions on this page. That was the fallback I used before g-d-s started working for me in Maverick, so I presume those instructions still work.

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  4. Anonymous10/01/2010 6:53 AM

    The Maverick architecture is different, it no longer works on the xorg.conf. There's not even an xorg.conf.d folder. Do you have any other ideas for getting it working? Thanks.

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  5. Phil10/01/2010 9:50 AM

    @Anonymous: looks like maverick wants /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d instead of /usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d

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  6. Matt10/03/2010 1:03 AM

    hey guys just want to add that I tried this on 10.04 and it works perfectly!

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  7. Anonymous10/08/2010 1:32 AM

    Works like charm with x200t, thank you! And I can still for example open links with middle button <3 Totally made my day.

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  8. Anonymous10/10/2010 4:44 PM

    This worked with Ubuntu 10.10 on my T60, thanks!

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  9. Anonymous10/10/2010 6:34 PM

    Thanks! Trackpoint FTW.

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  10. Anonymous10/12/2010 7:12 AM

    Works with Ubuntu10.10 on X201i. Thanks!!

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  11. Mustafa Kaya10/13/2010 4:01 PM

    Hi Phil. Thanks for the post. The G-D-S worked for me until I resumed from standby. Now I went back to the solution for 10.04 http://www.eastwoodzhao.com/thinkpad-middle-button-scroll-ubuntu-linux-10-04-lucid-lynx/ except I changed the directory to /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d
    It now seems to work flawlessly for me, on 10.10 Thinkpad T400.

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  12. Phil10/14/2010 12:08 AM

    @Mustafa: thanks for the confirmation! I've added a note to this post.

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  13. David10/14/2010 6:11 AM

    woohoo! you rock. thanks. Thinkpad R500

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  14. Anonymous10/18/2010 9:53 AM

    Awesome! ThinkPad x60

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  15. Anonymous10/19/2010 12:02 PM

    Doesn't work on the T61... Alternative instructions do work...

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  16. Anonymous10/26/2010 7:53 AM

    great GREAT!!! Thanks!!!

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  17. Anonymous10/27/2010 12:58 PM

    thank you

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  18. Anonymous10/28/2010 2:29 AM

    Great! it worked on the T43p

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  19. Anonymous10/28/2010 1:54 PM

    Works fine on R400. Thanks

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  20. Anonymous11/11/2010 12:54 PM

    perfect, thanks!

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  21. Anonymous11/17/2010 6:04 PM

    Holy shit, awesome, thanks.

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  22. Anonymous12/02/2010 3:05 PM

    Good job, Thanx

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  23. Anonymous1/05/2011 1:17 PM

    Awesome! This was one thing that was keeping me from using Ubuntu often. I love ultranav and i'm now one step closer to saying bye bye windows.

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  24. Anonymous1/15/2011 6:14 AM

    Worked great on my X100e. Thanks.

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  25. CalcProgrammer11/26/2011 11:09 AM

    Works on my old A21p! Awesome! Thanks

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  26. Alexander2/03/2011 8:09 AM

    Thank you! Drove me mad not being able to scroll

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  27. Unknown2/17/2011 2:41 PM

    First time ever on Ubuntu on my T61P, and this answer got me going fast.
    No where else could I find this answer..

    Top dollar buddy ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous2/17/2011 6:53 PM

    AWESOME!!! Posted my thanks yesterday for Lucid and just recently installed 10.10. Great guide.. many thanks!

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  29. Anonymous2/23/2011 8:18 PM

    awesome.

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  30. Anonymous3/07/2011 3:39 PM

    Thanks for the guide! Works on the Thinkpad X61..

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  31. Unknown3/09/2011 1:25 PM

    LOVELY!

    Worked like a charm on my x61. Thanks for the post.

    - Frederik

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  32. Ysiak3/26/2011 4:18 PM

    Great! 100% working THX :D

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  33. Anonymous3/31/2011 9:22 AM

    Thanks! Works 100%

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  34. Anonymous4/23/2011 9:37 AM

    Works fine on R61e. Thanks

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  35. Anonymous5/19/2011 3:44 AM

    works fine thanxxx! thinkpad r60e

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  36. Prometheus5/24/2011 5:51 PM

    works on x61 + ubuntu 11.04
    thanks!

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  37. Anonymous8/24/2011 11:37 AM

    Fantastic!!! Thanks!

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  38. Anonymous8/30/2011 9:27 PM

    Thanks, works great on t60p + ubuntu 10.04

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  39. Anonymous8/31/2011 4:26 AM

    I AM SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW.

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  40. Anonymous8/31/2011 10:10 AM

    Thank you! Worked perfect.

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  41. Allen Knutson9/21/2011 6:22 PM

    Working perfectly in 11.04, even post-Suspend.

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  42. A. Thomas Tran10/04/2011 1:14 AM

    Instead of
    "sudo aptitude install gpointing-settings-device"
    I entered
    "sudo apt-get install gpointing-settings-device"
    And all works perfect.

    I can now die in peace. Thank you Phil!

    (Lenovo Thinkpad Edge E520, Ubuntu 11.04)

    ReplyDelete
  43. evgeny8810/29/2011 1:15 PM

    works perfectly on THINKPAD X60! Thanks a lot!!!

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  44. Lostboy1/15/2013 7:34 AM

    THANK YOU SO MUCH MAN! I searched so much but found nothing that worked. Thanks a lot.

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  45. Unknown12/08/2013 11:16 AM

    works on t410 manjaro 0.8.8 (arch linux) too

    ReplyDelete
  46. Anonymous1/04/2015 7:18 AM

    Works on x40 with Linux Mint 17.1 installed, thanks!

    ReplyDelete

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