Mouse scrolling and media buttons [SOLVED, acer 5920 look]

[copycat]

I've had this problem since Feisty, through Daryna and now with Elyssa.

I have a laptop with the media buttons (that are a "fake" mouse)
I can set them as global keys and they work perfectly. Until I scroll.
Apparently, my "play" button is "button4" and my "stop" button is "button5", so every time I scroll up or down I get pauses or stop and play, and it's getting annoying having to use one or the other.
I tried configuring my xorg.conf as following:

Option "Buttons" "9"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "8 9"

To fakely set buttons 8 and 9 as the scrolling, but it will just deactivate it completely, I can't configure anywhere else to interpret the scrolling as those buttons.
And, of course, my media buttons for play and stop work perfectly... for scrolling.
There MUST be a way, if it works under mac and under windows, it must work under linux.

Any step in a good direction is greatly appreciated.

[rivenought]

While I have not used it, there is a program called "KeyTouch" in Synaptic. You may wish to research that application further to see if it may be of benefit to you. Good luck.

[copycat]

Tried. The only thing I learned is that my media buttons are "event 11"
Oh, I forgot to mention, that's the problem. My media keys aren't a keyboard or part of it. It's another synaptics mouse: that's why it interferes with my usb mouse

This is a problem for many people as well https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-input-synaptics/+bug/152016

or, in cat /proc/bus/input/devices terms:

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I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0007 Version=01b1
N: Name="SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio3/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/platform/i8042/serio3/input/input10
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse2 event10
B: EV=b
B: KEY=6420 0 7001f 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: ABS=11000003

I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0007 Version=81b1
N: Name="SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio4/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/platform/i8042/serio4/input/input11
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse3 event11
B: EV=b
B: KEY=6420 0 7000f 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: ABS=11000003

[rivenought]

Are these buttons absolutely mission-critical in the daily use of your computer? If not, you most likely will be able to get along without them by using other standard keyboard and mouse options.

This is most likely not the answer you wish to hear, but oftentimes one must adjust expectations to closer reflect reality.

Sometimes with monopolistic/proprietary and closed-source hardware/software, there are no freedom and open-source alternatives. At this point, after weighing options, one must make the decision as to which way to go. Good luck.

[copycat]

Are these buttons absolutely mission-critical in the daily use of your computer? If not, you most likely will be able to get along without them by using other standard keyboard and mouse options.

This is most likely not the answer you wish to hear, but oftentimes one must adjust expectations to closer reflect reality.

Sometimes with monopolistic/proprietary and closed-source hardware/software, there are no freedom and open-source alternatives. At this point, after weighing options, one must make the decision as to which way to go. Good luck.

confused? Do you think I'm a linux newbie complaining and whining about something useless? If that's your approach to problem-solving and community helping, your are the one who should be considering using proprietary software with paid customer support.

I just asked because I want to learn the inners of the linux kernel and the way it interprets events and how xorg assigns them.

And yes, goddamnit, it is important for me to use my hardware to its full capabilities, otherwise we would all be using our gigahertz GPUs for displaying text in two dimensions. It's not the point that I can't live without it, but I want to learn and be able to, apparently a motivation you lack.

PS: If that's the approach of people here, I think I'll stick with the Ubuntu forums discussing the same problem

[rivenought]

Copycat,

I am sorry you took issue with my opinion. I offered it with honesty and the experience that comes with using computers since 1981 (it was a Zenith, I believe) through more different operating systems than I can remember. I am not a newbie either, by the way. And in all these years, I may not have always agreed with what was suggested to me in a help forum, but I have never cursed at or belittled anyone taking his or her time attempting to help me.

I stand by my post, but I hereby offer you a full refund since you were not satisfied. No hard feelings. These things happen. I can understand your frustration. Been there, done that, and weighed my own options.

Now, I hope you are able to find someone else with more in-depth knowledge who can provide you with the assistance you need. We are all in here to share and learn from each other. Good luck, and please post back with your progress.

[copycat]

Now, I hope you are able to find someone else with more in-depth knowledge who can provide you with the assistance you need. We are all in here to share and learn from each other. Good luck, and please post back with your progress.

No hard feelings on this side either.
I got it working 95% percent right now. My USB mouse is dead ATM, but I got the touchpad (with vertical scroll!) and the media keys assigned from button17 to button20 (and working perfectly with audacious!)
As soon as I figure out what's wrong with my USB mouse I'll post the detailed instructions.
Thanks

[copycat]

Okay! So let's start:

Create eventtouchpad script:

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sudo gedit /usr/sbin/eventtouchpad

Copy the text below into the text editor and save/quit:

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#!/bin/bash

rm /dev/input/eventtouchpad
ln -s /dev/input/event"$1" /dev/input/eventtouchpad

Create eventkeys script:

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sudo gedit /usr/sbin/eventkeys

Copy the text below into the text editor and save/quit:

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#!/bin/bash

rm /dev/input/eventkeys
ln -s /dev/input/event"$1" /dev/input/eventkeys

Next make them executable with the commands below:

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sudo chmod +x /usr/sbin/eventtouchpad
sudo chmod +x /usr/sbin/eventkeys

Create the rules by typing:

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sudo gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/10-acersynaptic.rules

Copy the text below into the text editor and save/quit:

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SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{phys}=="isa0060/serio4/input0", KERNEL=="event*", NAME="input/eventtouchpad"
SUBSYSTEMS=="input", ATTRS{phys}=="isa0060/serio3/input0", KERNEL=="event*", NAME="input/eventkeys"

Now, you have to modify your xorg.conf file (please back it up first by typing sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.good)

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sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

These are the relevant parts of the xorg.conf file. Leave everything else untouched. Keep the order of the sections as well.

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Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Default Layout"
    Screen         "Default Screen" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Generic Keyboard"
    InputDevice    "AcerMediaKeys" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice    "Configured Mouse"
    InputDevice    "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier       "AcerMediaKeys"
    Driver           "evdev"
    Option          "Device"        "/dev/input/eventkeys"
    Option        "SendCoreEvents" "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
   Identifier   "Configured Mouse"
   Driver      "mouse"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Synaptics Touchpad"
    Driver         "synaptics"
    Option         "SendCoreEvents" "true"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/input/eventtouchpad" #here you may need to customize
    Option         "Protocol" "event"
    Option         "LeftEdge" "1900"
    Option         "RightEdge" "5400"
    Option         "TopEdge" "1900"
    Option         "BottomEdge" "4000"
    Option         "FingerLow" "25"
    Option         "FingerHigh" "30"
    Option         "MaxTapTime" "180"
    Option         "MaxTapMove" "220"
    Option         "VertScrollDelta" "100"
    Option          "HorizEdgeScroll"       "0"
    Option          "SHMConfig" "True"

EndSection

Restart X or your system and voilà! you'll get:

-Synaptics touchpad with vertical scroll, configurable with gsynaptics
-Media keys bound to: play=button17, stop=button18, last=button19, next=button20 .This way, any media program that can capture key bindings will accept them as this.
-Your USB mouse working.

(You can always configure your .xbindkeysrc to the following:)

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#Mutlimedia Play/pause:
"xvkbd  -text "\[Control_L]\[Alt_L]\[p]""
    m:0x0 + b:17
#Stop:
"/usr/bin/xvkbd -text "\[Control_L]\[Alt_L]\[s]""
   m:0x0 + b:18
#Multimedia fwd/back:
"/usr/bin/xvkbd -text "\[Control_L]\[Alt_L]\[z]""
    m:0x0 + b:19
"/usr/bin/xvkbd -text "\[Control_L]\[Alt_L]\[x]""
    m:0x0 + b:20

Any questions, feel free to ask!
Thanks: FokkerCharlie, B00R4dL3y, deinstein, errenay and rivenought