Change touchpad sensitivity on Arch on VirtualBox

bisarch · 2020-04-07 11:06:25

I recently installed Arch Linux as a guest operating system on VirtualBox-6.0.14 with Ubuntu as the host. I am on a Dell laptop. I am trying to make scrolling on the touchpad more sensitive but I am unable to do so. I am using Plasma on Xorg with libinput as the driver.

Soul · 2020-04-07 16:48:56

Have you had a look at libinput-multiplier ?

I don't use it myself, but it seems like it could help you increase your scrolling speed.

bisarch · 2020-04-07 17:55:27

I installed libinput-multiplier and wrote 6 to the file tmp/libinput_discrete_deltay_multiplier as mentioned in https://github.com/tkkcc/libinput_patch but it replaces the number 6 by 1 on restart. Btw, VirtualBox does not expose touchpad to the guest. Here is the output of xinput on guest
xinput
⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ VirtualBox mouse integration id=9 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ VirtualBox USB Tablet id=10 [slave pointer (2)]
⎜ ↳ ImExPS/2 Generic Explorer Mouse id=12 [slave pointer (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard id=3 [master keyboard (2)]
↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard id=5 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Power Button id=6 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Sleep Button id=7 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ Video Bus id=8 [slave keyboard (3)]
↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard id=11 [slave keyboard (3)]

Soul · 2020-04-07 18:19:22

As I understand it, VirtualBox receives input from the host and passes it to the guest as input from a standard mouse and keyboard. I don't think that should matter for this issue, as libinput-multiplier should work on the simulated input as well (if anyone is more informed here, please do correct me).

Addressing the issue of the value being reset on restart, that's because the /tmp directory is temporary and wiped on reboot, after which libinput-multiplier will recreate the discrete_deltay_multiplier file with the default value. To preserve your setting on restart, you may just want to set it every time the guest boots - the wiki has an article regarding this https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Sy … rary_files.

bisarch · 2020-04-07 22:47:58

I created the following file, but after reboot /tmp/libinput_discrete_deltay_multiplier still contains 1

$ pwd
/etc/tmpfiles.d
$ cat libinput-multiplier-tmp.conf
#    Path                                       Mode UID  GID  Age Argument
w    /tmp/libinput_discrete_deltay_multiplier    -    -    -    -   6

Soul · 2020-04-08 17:15:14

Check if the systemd-tmpfiles-setup service or another service with the prefix systemd-tmpfiles is enabled?

Also see

man systemd-tmpfiles

or the unit files themselves in

/lib/systemd/system/systemd-tmpfiles-*

for more information on that.

bisarch · 2020-04-09 02:34:26

Yes, systemd-tmpfiles-setup and systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev are enabled

~]$ sudo systemctl status systemd-tmpfiles-setup
● systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service - Create Volatile Files and Directories
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service; static; vendor preset: disabled)
     Active: active (exited) since Wed 2020-04-08 22:18:01 EDT; 12min ago
       Docs: man:tmpfiles.d(5)
             man:systemd-tmpfiles(8)
    Process: 281 ExecStart=/usr/bin/systemd-tmpfiles --create --remove --boot --exclude-prefix=/dev (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 281 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

Apr 08 22:18:01  systemd[1]: Starting Create Volatile Files and Directories...
Apr 08 22:18:01  systemd[1]: Finished Create Volatile Files and Directories.
 ~]$ sudo systemctl status systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev
● systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service - Create Static Device Nodes in /dev
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-tmpfiles-setup-dev.service; static; vendor preset: disabled)
     Active: active (exited) since Wed 2020-04-08 22:17:58 EDT; 13min ago
       Docs: man:tmpfiles.d(5)
             man:systemd-tmpfiles(8)
    Process: 248 ExecStart=/usr/bin/systemd-tmpfiles --prefix=/dev --create --boot (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 248 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

Warning: journal has been rotated since unit was started, output may be incomplete.

Last edited by bisarch (2020-04-09 02:38:07)

bisarch · 2020-04-09 02:46:58

bisarch wrote:

I created the following file, but after reboot /tmp/libinput_discrete_deltay_multiplier still contains 1
$ pwd
/etc/tmpfiles.d
$ cat libinput-multiplier-tmp.conf
#    Path                                       Mode UID  GID  Age Argument
w    /tmp/libinput_discrete_deltay_multiplier    -    -    -    -   6

Could it be that just after the boot 6 gets written to /tmp/libinput_discrete_deltay_multiplier and then libinput-multipliers writes 1 to it?

Soul · 2020-04-09 17:31:10

Indeed, looking at the patch that libinput-multiplier applies, it writes 1 to the file when libinput starts up. This means you'll have to write the value to the file after libinput has been loaded by Xorg. I'd say that putting the echo in a bash script like

#!/bin/bash
echo 6 > /tmp/libinput_discrete_deltay_multiplier

and then running it at the end of your $HOME/.xinitrc like

 
/path/to/your/script
/path/to/app1 &
...
exec /path/to/wm

should work. (see https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xinit#xinitrc for more on .xinitrc)
If not, maybe that's still too early - try putting it in your WM/Desktop's startup configuration (Plasma has the AutoStart Manager, for example).

bisarch · 2020-04-09 18:41:17

There is no .xinitrc or xinitrc present in ~, /etc/X11/xinit or /etc/skel. Should I create an empty .xinitrc in ~ and write 'exec /path/to/wm' to it?

Soul · 2020-04-09 18:51:28

Oh yeah, I hadn't considered that a desktop environment would likely pass by xinit if started on boot. In that case, try adding the script via the autostart manager.

bisarch · 2020-04-10 01:32:48

Finally /tmp/libinput_discrete_deltay_multiplier has the number 6 in it on reboot. But I don't see much improvement in scroll speed. Should I be experimenting with different numbers?

Soul · 2020-04-10 15:13:48

Sure! Try setting some different values and see what works best. If nothing seems to be changing even when you set extreme values, then something is definitely still wrong.

Arch Linux

#1 2020-04-07 11:06:25

Change touchpad sensitivity on Arch on VirtualBox

#2 2020-04-07 16:48:56

Re: Change touchpad sensitivity on Arch on VirtualBox

#3 2020-04-07 17:55:27

Re: Change touchpad sensitivity on Arch on VirtualBox

#4 2020-04-07 18:19:22

Re: Change touchpad sensitivity on Arch on VirtualBox

#5 2020-04-07 22:47:58

Re: Change touchpad sensitivity on Arch on VirtualBox

#6 2020-04-08 17:15:14

Re: Change touchpad sensitivity on Arch on VirtualBox

#7 2020-04-09 02:34:26

Re: Change touchpad sensitivity on Arch on VirtualBox

#8 2020-04-09 02:46:58

Re: Change touchpad sensitivity on Arch on VirtualBox

#9 2020-04-09 17:31:10

Re: Change touchpad sensitivity on Arch on VirtualBox

#10 2020-04-09 18:41:17

Re: Change touchpad sensitivity on Arch on VirtualBox

#11 2020-04-09 18:51:28

Re: Change touchpad sensitivity on Arch on VirtualBox

#12 2020-04-10 01:32:48

Re: Change touchpad sensitivity on Arch on VirtualBox

#13 2020-04-10 15:13:48

Re: Change touchpad sensitivity on Arch on VirtualBox

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