Thinkpad TrackPoint Scrolling in Ubuntu Lucid/10.04

Update: for (easier) instructions for Ubuntu Maverick/10.10 and later, click here.

Another Ubuntu release, another set of X.org shakeups.

Some things in X changed in Lucid (xorg 1:7.5+5 and higher), breaking existing Thinkpad TrackPoint scrolling configurations that modify files in /etc/hal/fdi/policy (like those you may have seen in this previous post). You can use gpointing-device-settings to apply the same policy, but I found that even that stops working after a suspend/resume cycle.

Samson Yeung pointed out to me the following fix which can be applied on Ubuntu Lucid/10.04:

Create a new file /usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-thinkpad.conf with the following contents (on Ubuntu Maverick/10.10 and later, save the file to /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-thinkpad.conf instead):

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "Trackpoint Wheel Emulation"
    MatchProduct "TrackPoint"
    MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
    Driver "evdev"
    Option "EmulateWheel" "true"
    Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
    Option "Emulate3Buttons" "false"
    Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
    Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Then restart X.

The configuration above works for both Thinkpad laptops with TrackPoints and the Thinkpad TrackPoint keyboard.

Source: instructions derived from these instructions by Samson Yeung. Thanks, Samson!

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93 comments:

  1. Rasmus4/27/2010 1:48 PM

    Thank you!
    Worked perfectly on X301!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sergey4/28/2010 9:11 PM

    Thanks a lot, i've just returned trackpoint functionality to my T500 as well

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous4/29/2010 3:00 PM

    Thanks for the heads-up. Works like a charm.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous4/29/2010 8:31 PM

    sweet worked great

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous4/29/2010 11:35 PM

    Works with my T43.. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  6. rustam4/30/2010 2:54 AM

    Fine works on my X200s

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous4/30/2010 3:54 AM

    Thanks! Works perfectly on R61

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous4/30/2010 10:27 AM

    This works on my T410s. Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous5/01/2010 3:18 AM

    Works like a charm on my T400. Thanks a lot!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Unknown5/01/2010 8:48 AM

    Thanks a lot.
    Worked on T61!:D

    ReplyDelete
  11. Sunseeker5/02/2010 3:50 AM

    thank you! works perfect on my x200

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous5/02/2010 5:29 AM

    Works on:

    t42
    x40
    Ultranav Keyboard

    Thanks a lot!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous5/02/2010 8:21 AM

    Works perfectly on a T61. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous5/02/2010 2:07 PM

    I can not get my x61s to suspend nor resume using this.

    What am I doing wrong?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous5/03/2010 6:14 AM

    Another thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous5/03/2010 7:49 AM

    Works on a Lenovo Thinkpad X60s, even after resuming from 'sleep'

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous5/05/2010 11:51 AM

    Thanks, you saved my day. Works perfect on my X40, also after suspend.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous5/06/2010 4:57 AM

    Works on x61s

    ReplyDelete
  19. Margo5/06/2010 1:30 PM

    Worked on my T60. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Anonymous5/08/2010 12:42 AM

    You all rock!
    Thanks for keeping this page up-to-date!

    ReplyDelete
  21. Anonymous5/09/2010 10:09 AM

    Nice - working again
    kudos - a novice even did it

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous5/10/2010 7:59 AM

    Works on T22

    ReplyDelete
  23. Anonymous5/10/2010 10:52 AM

    You saved my day! I went nuts using arrow keys to scroll. Works perfectly on my X61 Tablet, vertically and horizontally and also after suspend/resume! THANK YOU!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anonymous5/10/2010 12:22 PM

    Hi guys.
    First of all. I'm a noob in Ubuntu, so have some issues :)
    How excatly do I make the new file? (im a beginner.. Sorry ;-) )

    ReplyDelete
  25. Phil5/10/2010 1:47 PM

    @Anonymous, open a terminal (Accessories -> Terminal). Type:

    gksudo gedit /usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-thinkpad.conf

    (You may be asked to type in your password.) Then paste in the configuration snippet in the post. Save the file and quit. Log out and back in again.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous5/10/2010 2:09 PM

    Thank you Phil!. Works as it should now :)!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Hannes5/14/2010 12:10 AM

    Helped me as well. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous5/14/2010 12:20 PM

    Works great on my R50. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous5/16/2010 1:50 AM

    This broke my keyboard; I had to boot off a CD to fix it. See the original instructions (http://dlv.blogspot.com/2010/04/udev-xorgconfd-snippet.html) for a fix.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Anonymous5/16/2010 6:40 AM

    Yeah works on my x200s! thx

    ReplyDelete
  31. Anonymous5/17/2010 3:44 PM

    Works on my R60 too! Nice!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Anonymous5/24/2010 1:11 AM

    Thanks a lot for the explanations. Now the wheel emulation works fine with my Thinkpad SL410 ! But how can I disable the touchpad which is now disturbing ?
    Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Phil5/25/2010 12:41 PM

    @Anonymous (5/24), I think you can disable the touchpad in the BIOS.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Anonymous5/25/2010 11:47 PM

    Thanks, Phil, but not with the SL410. Lenovo has a special program under Windows 7 to do the job.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Allen Knutson5/26/2010 8:00 AM

    Worked on my much-loved Thinkpad external keyboard attached to a desktop. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  36. Anonymous6/05/2010 3:35 AM

    Thanks man, works perfectly on my T61p!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Anonymous6/06/2010 3:09 AM

    This is great! It is working well on R61. Thank you Phil and Samson

    ReplyDelete
  38. Anonymous6/06/2010 6:11 PM

    Another thank you! It works like a charm for the OS Linux Fedora 13 on a ThinkPad X60s

    ReplyDelete
  39. Anonymous6/07/2010 6:38 AM

    works perfectly on x60 and ubuntu 10.04 laptop editon, thanks a million

    ReplyDelete
  40. wolfv6/12/2010 7:38 PM

    Thanks for sharing. This worked on my ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint Mfg Part #: 55Y9003
    Ubuntu 10.04

    ReplyDelete
  41. Anonymous6/17/2010 5:20 AM

    works perfectly on my X41 with Ubuntu 10.04

    ReplyDelete
  42. Anonymous6/18/2010 5:09 PM

    Worked perfectly on my X61 tablet.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Anonymous6/18/2010 7:36 PM

    Thank you!
    Works on my R61e.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Anonymous6/26/2010 1:44 AM

    Thank you very much!!! Worked fine on my T500! :)

    ReplyDelete
  45. Anonymous6/30/2010 9:07 AM

    Thanks! Works great on my ThinkPad X100e! :)

    ReplyDelete
  46. Anonymous7/09/2010 11:15 AM

    Thank you! Works quiet well on my x200t!

    ReplyDelete
  47. Anonymous7/31/2010 5:25 AM

    thanks! works on T61

    ReplyDelete
  48. Anonymous8/06/2010 12:48 AM

    did not work on my t400 unfortunately

    Problem:

    Would get stuck at "checking battery" during start-up.
    Had to CTRL+ALT+F1 and remove file

    restarting gdm wouldn't work either for some reason

    ReplyDelete
  49. Anonymous8/06/2010 6:15 PM

    I got it to work! I went to Yeung's website and had to create a second file

    file and location: /usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-allinput.conf

    with the following:

    Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "allinput"
    Driver "evdev"
    EndSection

    Trackpoint now works. Thanks :)

    ReplyDelete
  50. thomas8/07/2010 1:48 PM

    Thanks, working perfectly in R60

    ReplyDelete
  51. Anonymous8/10/2010 8:57 PM

    it works on x60, thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Anonymous8/18/2010 6:06 PM

    Excellent!!!
    Fixed my R61!!

    Thank you!

    John

    ReplyDelete
  53. Unknown8/21/2010 11:13 AM

    Hello it works on x60, many thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  54. seanism9/14/2010 9:50 PM

    Not working for me with my x300. I tried both files. Do I need to make it executable?

    I did sudo gedit xxx.conf

    ReplyDelete
  55. Phil9/15/2010 5:40 PM

    @seanism,

    You shouldn't need to make the file executable. I seem to recall, though, that the X300s have input devices that are configured slightly differently. This comment seems to indicate that you might be able to fix this by disabling the touchpad in the BIOS or by changing the Identifier or MatchProduct fields.

    ReplyDelete
  56. seanism9/16/2010 3:16 PM

    I did what you suggested and it did indeed fix the problem.

    Isn't there a way to have it work with both enabled? Someone who knows what there doing should be able to modify the phrase to match what the device is called with both enabled.

    Thanks for the info!

    ReplyDelete
  57. Phil9/16/2010 5:02 PM

    @seanism,

    Does changing MatchProduct to "DualPoint Stick" (and then re-enabling touchpad) help?

    ReplyDelete
  58. Anonymous9/27/2010 11:11 AM

    Thank you, works perfectly!

    ReplyDelete
  59. Anonymous10/11/2010 5:14 AM

    It doesnt work in ubuntu 10.10:( Any ideas?

    ReplyDelete
  60. Unknown10/11/2010 8:26 PM

    Ubuntu 10.10 dont work :S

    ReplyDelete
  61. Unknown10/11/2010 8:31 PM

    Ubuntu 10.10 = http://psung.blogspot.com/2010/09/thinkpad-trackpoint-scrolling-in-ubuntu.html

    ReplyDelete
  62. Phil10/11/2010 8:40 PM

    For Ubuntu 10.10 users, does creating 20-thinkpad.conf in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d instead of /usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d help?

    ReplyDelete
  63. Anonymous10/13/2010 4:11 AM

    to Pablolibo - thx, it works;)

    ReplyDelete
  64. Anonymous10/17/2010 2:43 AM

    This worked on my R61 and my wife's R400. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  65. Anonymous10/20/2010 1:38 PM

    Hi,
    Works fine on X61T with Maverick!
    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  66. Anonymous10/21/2010 6:23 AM

    Awesome!

    Works perfectly with Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick) on T510. I used the /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-thinkpad.conf file method. Both vertical AND horizontal scrolling work. Even after suspend.

    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  67. Anonymous10/26/2010 1:55 PM

    Work with x301 but i make the change in the 50-synaptics.conf, with unbuntu 10.10

    ReplyDelete
  68. Anonymous10/27/2010 8:05 PM

    Thanks, works on X200 and Lucid.

    ReplyDelete
  69. Jinesh11/20/2010 6:09 PM

    This worked for me. Thanks a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  70. 鍾志均12/08/2010 8:55 AM

    My sl410 can workable now. Thanks a lot

    ReplyDelete
  71. Anonymous12/31/2010 9:43 AM

    Thank you! T60p works perfectly even after suspend and resume. Horizontal and vertical scroll in Ubuntu 10.10. Gpointing had worked but not reliably after suspend.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Qaim1/24/2011 4:19 AM

    Thank you very much!
    This works excellent on my Trackpoint USB keyboard :D

    ReplyDelete
  73. Anonymous2/16/2011 7:21 PM

    Thanks!! Way easier than the older methods for T61p. Much appreciated!

    Ubuntu 10.4

    ReplyDelete
  74. Anonymous2/20/2011 8:03 AM

    thanks, works great with x61s :-)

    ReplyDelete
  75. Anonymous3/17/2011 4:58 PM

    Tkx! Work great on my T61!!

    ReplyDelete
  76. Anonymous4/09/2011 3:32 AM

    it's work on T400, thanks

    ReplyDelete
  77. Anonymous4/29/2011 4:46 PM

    Not working with 11.04...

    ReplyDelete
  78. Unknown5/06/2011 1:44 AM

    So hard issue!
    # aptitude install gpointing-device-settings

    ReplyDelete
  79. Anonymous5/08/2011 6:52 AM

    Works fantastic using Ubuntu 11.04 x64 on ThinkPad X201

    ReplyDelete
  80. Anonymous5/14/2011 4:17 PM

    THANK YOU!! I was so annoyed after try to get gpointing to work and not finding any alternative solutions that'd work. After a lot of googling I finally found this and it works great. So thanks a lot. Almost considered going back to Windows for a while there..

    ReplyDelete
  81. legendbb5/28/2011 3:31 PM

    Great great thanks, it works like a charm

    ReplyDelete
  82. Anonymous6/11/2011 11:35 AM

    Thanks alot. Works perfect on my Thinkpad Edge "11

    ReplyDelete
  83. Anonymous6/20/2011 1:20 PM

    Thanks alot. Works perfect on my Thinkpad x32 with Ubuntu 11.04

    dth

    ReplyDelete
  84. Anonymous7/18/2011 6:59 AM

    Works like a charm! on ThinkPad Edge 13" Intel Core i3 using Ubuntu 11.04 32-bit.

    Great Tip!

    ReplyDelete
  85. Anonymous8/18/2011 8:37 AM

    Thanks! This provided a good start. However, I think ubuntu 11.04 does not like the option for driver evdev there. My computer froze after those changes and a reboot. It recovered completely after removing those files after booting from a live CD.

    The fix was to leave the evdev out. This worked:
    Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "Trackpoint Wheel Emulation"
    MatchProduct "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint|DualPoint Stick|Synaptics Inc. Composite TouchPad / TrackPoint|ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"
    MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
    Option "EmulateWheel" "true"
    Option "EmulateWheelButton" "3"
    Option "Emulate3Buttons" "false"
    Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
    Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
    EndSection

    ReplyDelete
  86. Anonymous8/21/2011 6:09 AM

    I'm using Ubuntu 10.04 on an R61i and I had to use a slightly different 20-thinkpad.conf file.

    Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "Trackpoint Wheel Emulation"
    MatchProduct "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint|DualPoint Stick|Synaptics Inc. Composite TouchPad / TrackPoint|ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"
    MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
    Option "EmulateWheel" "true"
    Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
    Option "Emulate3Buttons" "false"
    Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
    Option "YAxisMapping" "4 5"
    EndSection

    Source: http://warwickchapman.com/getting-trackpoint-scrolling-working-on-a-lenovo-x301-in-ubuntu-10-04

    ReplyDelete
  87. 鍾志均8/29/2011 1:11 AM

    densitywave
    How do you know the difference - MatchProduct "TPPS/2 IBM TrackPoint|DualPoint Stick|Synaptics Inc. Composite TouchPad / TrackPoint|ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"?

    ReplyDelete
  88. Anonymous3/15/2012 8:25 AM

    thanks, works great on my T400

    ReplyDelete
  89. Anonymous3/19/2012 6:02 PM

    Thank you, it works on my X31 Thinkpad :)

    ReplyDelete
  90. Anonymous3/22/2012 6:11 AM

    For everyone who cannot create a file in this directory:
    type in the Terminal:
    su
    Then you have to type your password.
    After that type
    sudo gedit /usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-thinkpad.conf
    to create the file 20-thinkpad.conf in this directory and so on

    ReplyDelete
  91. Anonymous1/26/2013 9:03 AM

    x40, workinf fine, thanks

    ReplyDelete
  92. Anonymous12/22/2014 10:17 AM

    It worked great for my x200, thanks !

    ReplyDelete
  93. ProductsRace4/17/2019 7:09 AM

    Where do I enable this for my Lenovo ThinkPad T480?

    ReplyDelete

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