Right physical button on touchpad does left click.

[David White]

On a DELL XPS15 with a touchpad and two physical buttons, both mouse buttons do a left-click. This severely hampers use of quite a range of software.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: libinput10 1.10.4-1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-13.14-generic 4.15.10
Uname: Linux 4.15.0-13-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7
Architecture: amd64
BootLog: Error: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '/var/log/boot.log'
CompositorRunning: None
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Wed May 23 09:42:01 2018
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: bionic
DistroVariant: ubuntu
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0416] (rev 06) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller [1028:05fe]
   Subsystem: Dell GK107M [GeForce GT 750M] [1028:05fe]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2018-05-23 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS "Bionic Beaver" - Beta amd64 (20180404)
MachineType: Dell Inc. XPS 15 9530
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-4.15.0-13-generic.efi.signed root=/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-root ro quiet splash vt.handoff=1
SourcePackage: libinput
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 07/30/2015
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A09
dmi.board.name: XPS 15 9530
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A09
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: Not Specified
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA09:bd07/30/2015:svnDellInc.:pnXPS159530:pvrA09:rvnDellInc.:rnXPS159530:rvrA09:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvrNotSpecified:
dmi.product.name: XPS 15 9530
dmi.product.version: A09
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.91-2
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 18.0.0~rc5-1ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 18.0.0~rc5-1ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.19.6-1ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev N/A
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:18.0.1-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.917+git20171229-1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.15-2

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. This particular bug has already been reported and is a duplicate of bug 1759300, so it is being marked as such. Please look at the other bug report to see if there is any missing information that you can provide, or to see if there is a workaround for the bug. Additionally, any further discussion regarding the bug should occur in the other report. Feel free to continue to report any other bugs you may find.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

I don't think the Dell XPS 15 9530 (2013 Haswell) has "a touchpad and two physical buttons". From the photos I can find it's a single clickpad with fake buttons painted on top.

To right click on such a clickpad you can use two finger clicks. If you would prefer the older behaviour using the fake buttons then please see bug 1759300 for instructions on how to enable that.

[David White (cppege-david-9ei9ny)]

It definitely has physical buttons. The whole track-pad clicks down and it has a separate left and right physical switches. This isn't the same bug.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

No problem. Just follow the links in bug 1759300.

There you will also find discussion about how we can improve the situation better in future Ubuntu versions.

[David White (cppege-david-9ei9ny)]

Why are you asking me to follow links discussing track-pad button emulation? My bug is about physical buttons. The right physical button (microswitch under the trackpad) is mapped to left-click, the same as the left physical button. I've turned touch-to-click off entirely.

I was following the instructions you left on the other ticket.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gsettings-desktop-schemas/+bug/1759300/comments/10
"If your physical buttons (the ones that move independently of the touchpad, and not just painted on) are not behaving correctly then please log a bug with:

  ubuntu-bug libinput10"

[David White (cppege-david-9ei9ny)]

I found a solution. This works for Dell XPS 15 with touchpad with physical click under the touchpad:

In Ubuntu Settings > Devices > Mouse and touchpad set "Tap to click" to OFF

In Gnome tweaks > Keyboard & Mouse > Mouse click emulation choose "Area".

I guess there's some interaction between touchpad touch location and the physical switch.

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

I was referring to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gsettings-desktop-schemas/+bug/1759300/comments/1

But also I think you are incorrect in saying "right physical button". On clickpads there is no "right physical button", at least not in any I have ever encountered. There is paint on the top surface giving the fake impression of separate buttons, but underneath there is typically only one microswitch in the centre (maybe with multiple springs on both sides for balance, so to the user it feels like they are clicking something at the side). The determination of what button is intended is made in software according to the finger location. So it's really a one-button device with software emulation of more buttons. That's how all clickpads work, in my experience.

Unfortunately we can't detect paint in software :) And we have recently switched to a more modern default of preferring two-finger clicks over bottom-right area clicks to emulate the secondary button. This gives the user more touchpad area to use and doesn't require that you look at the touchpad to know which (virtual) button you are clicking. Just use one or two fingers to indicate which button you want.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.