Problem configuring "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"

Markus00000 · 2011-04-21 21:32:00

I find no way to configure the TrackPoint speed and sensitivity of my Lenovo USB keyboard. "xinput list" identifies the device as:

Lite-On Technology Corp. ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint

The speed and sensitivity of the internal TrackPoint of my ThinkPad is fairly easy to configure within the "/sys" file system. For example like this:

sudo echo -n 225 > /sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/sensitivity

I hoped to find a similar file for the USB keyboard but there is only the one for the internal TrackPoint.

Any ideas how to increase the sensitivity and speed? The default must be a finger's darkest nightmare...

cypherinside · 2011-04-22 23:04:10

Try
$ xinput list-props "Lite-On Technology Corp. ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint" (or the id number).
You should get something like this.
Then you can change the values of Device Accel voices with xinput set-prop. For example the sensibility of my trackpoint is (slightly) faster because I change the values of "Device Accel Profile" to 2.
You can see a description of the voices and the range of the values with "man evdev".

Markus00000 · 2011-04-23 05:47:26

Thanks for the answer. I know one can change e.g. acceleration/deceleration using xinput. My question is how to change the sensitivity of the TrackPoint.

It's the force you need to make the mouse pointer move. As far as I know this cannot be set with xinput.

cypherinside · 2011-04-23 10:29:34

I tried to change the sensitivity too, but i failed. I think that this ability depends on the keyboard model. I mean: if you could change the sensitivity then there should be a voice "sensitivity" listed in xinput list-props "Lite-On Technology Corp. ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint", or however you should find something with the command "locate sensitivity"...
But it is not. All the wiki refer to "/sys/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/serio2/sensitivity", but I can't find sensitivity. So I think the wiki refer to other keyboards and so you can't change the sensitivity for this keyboard.
(PS: But if you can do it let me know the way)

cypherinside · 2011-04-23 11:06:25

Edit: you can change sensitivity editing Accel Velocity Scaling value. For example, try to set Accel Profile to 2 and Accel Velocity Scaling to... 200 (I have set it to 100).
Read this.

Last edited by cypherinside (2011-04-23 11:11:43)

Markus00000 · 2011-04-23 13:57:42

Thanks, this is much of an improvement. Only the high initial power that is needed to get the pointer moving (=sensitivity) is still a pain. :-/

cypherinside · 2011-04-23 14:18:11

I think it depends on the structure of the trackpoint. I believe that it don't work better in windows (but I don't know because I haven't a windows os). Now I have a question for you: to save the changes after reboot I added the 2 command of xinput set-prop to my autostart file. But this way is not too much elegant. I read that this can also be done by creating a rule for udev or editing xorg.conf. How did you?

Markus00000 · 2011-04-23 14:25:41

At least for the TrackPoint in my ThinkPad the default sensitivity is also very low by default. Though that can be easily changed as described.

I haven't yet tried to make it permanent and have no experience with udev rules. Sorry.

ccom · 2012-01-12 12:09:04

There's a kernel patch to control the sensitivity like with the PS/2 TrackPoint: http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-input/msg15423.html

I don't know, what came of it, or why it didn't get pushed to the upstream kernel sources (a reply to the above patch indicates that more documentation is desired).

Btw, how do you apply such a patch best in Archlinux?

Markus00000 · 2012-01-12 14:44:21

A good starting would be the wiki: Kernel Compilation/Arch Build System

Last edited by Markus00000 (2012-01-12 14:45:19)

ccom · 2012-01-21 11:34:14

Thanks for the hint.

I tried to compile the kernel as described in the Wiki. I changed pkgname to linux-custom and tried the default config without patching. Makepkg then compiles, but pacman -U doesn't install anything. In fact, the pkg directory is empty.

What did I miss?

Markus00000 · 2012-01-23 14:04:07

I am not that proficient when it comes to kernel compilation. I would start a new thread listing everything I had done and error messages (if any).

ccom · 2012-01-25 10:44:25

I've now successfully compiled the kernel (without renaming it) and with the patch applied. The TrackPoint is now working a lot better.

I've also compiled a custom kernel in the "traditional" way, and started a new thread with the issues I'm getting.

Thanks for your help, CC

kriolog · 2014-08-04 22:36:38

I added this to my /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-trackpoint.conf :

Section "InputClass"
Identifier "USB Trackpoint Acceleration Profile"
MatchProduct "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"
MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
Option "AccelerationProfile" "2"
EndSection

tattsan · 2014-08-29 09:37:32

If your keyboard is an older model (NOT Compact), try tpkbdctl to control trackpoint sensitivity of the keyboard.
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/tpkbdctl-git

For a newer model, 'ThinkPad Compact USB Keyboard with TrackPoint', there's a fork of tpkbdctl by hiikezoe:
https://github.com/hiikezoe/tpkbdctl

For a bluetooth model, 'ThinkPad Compact Bluetooth Keyboard with TrackPoint', first
<shell-prompt> grep 'ThinkPad Compact Bluetooth' /sys/class/hidraw/hidraw*/device/uevent | cut -d/ -f5
and if you get hidraw7 for example, try
<shell-prompt> echo -ne '\x18\x02\x09' | sudo dd of=/dev/hidraw7 2>/dev/null
You can write from '\x18\x02\x01' to '\x18\x02\x09' to set sensitivity.

Last edited by tattsan (2014-09-01 04:16:13)

Markus00000 · 2014-08-29 13:02:06

Thanks! I have the "Compact" version. An AUR package for the fork would certainly be useful, in case the changes won't be merged.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-04-21 21:32:00

Problem configuring "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"

#2 2011-04-22 23:04:10

Re: Problem configuring "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"

#3 2011-04-23 05:47:26

Re: Problem configuring "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"

#4 2011-04-23 10:29:34

Re: Problem configuring "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"

#5 2011-04-23 11:06:25

Re: Problem configuring "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"

#6 2011-04-23 13:57:42

Re: Problem configuring "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"

#7 2011-04-23 14:18:11

Re: Problem configuring "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"

#8 2011-04-23 14:25:41

Re: Problem configuring "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"

#9 2012-01-12 12:09:04

Re: Problem configuring "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"

#10 2012-01-12 14:44:21

Re: Problem configuring "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"

#11 2012-01-21 11:34:14

Re: Problem configuring "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"

#12 2012-01-23 14:04:07

Re: Problem configuring "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"

#13 2012-01-25 10:44:25

Re: Problem configuring "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"

#14 2014-08-04 22:36:38

Re: Problem configuring "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"

#15 2014-08-29 09:37:32

Re: Problem configuring "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"

#16 2014-08-29 13:02:06

Re: Problem configuring "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"

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