Middle click scrolling for Linux version?

Stardust

@Motionshot said in Middle click scrolling for Linux version?:

Using Solus Linux (and currently fully updated to the latest Vivaldi 1.7 snapshot). I'm using a trackpad though, so maybe there's a different b/w trackpads and external mice?

I assume that you are using 2 finger scrolling?

BTW I am using Solus too )

kumiponi

@Motionshot said in Middle click scrolling for Linux version?:

For me middle click scrolling works in Vivaldi without having installed any extension (well, not one that enables autoscrolling, that is). I know that sounds unbelievable but it's true: it has been this way since the first Vivaldi 1.6 snapshot (before that, it didn't). Using Solus Linux (and currently fully updated to the latest Vivaldi 1.7 snapshot). I'm using a trackpad though, so maybe there's a different b/w trackpads and external mice?

What kind of trackpad do you have? I don't remember ever seeing one that has a middle button. I know a basic feature in trackpads is scrolling the window vertically with one side of the pad, somewhat like the scroll wheel of a mouse. That function can't interfere with middle click paste, of course.

It's possible that the autoscrolling feature is actually in the Linux version of Chromium also, but enabling it requires disabling middle click paste or something.

Steffie

@kumiponi said in Middle click scrolling for Linux version?:

It's possible that the autoscrolling feature is actually in the Linux version of Chromium also, but enabling it requires disabling middle click paste or something.

...which of course then immediately begs the question... HOW can one disable Linux's chronic middle-click paste function [but NOT otherwise disable the mouse-wheel functionality]? I just hate this "feature", but my attempts in previous years to find a solution all lead nowhere.

CantankRus

@dLeon said in Middle click scrolling for Linux version?:

I'm confuse.
What middle click button have anything to do with middle button scrolling?
All of them register to 3 different X events.

Middle click paste on Linux is another kind of story. While X supported it, the specific program it self need to support it. So not in all programs you can middle click paste. For example, for the last 2 years, Linux Firefox disable that ability for security by default I believe.

It's about initiating an autoscroll browser feature using the mouse middle click, not normal middle button scroll.

@Steffie said in Middle click scrolling for Linux version?:

...which of course then immediately begs the question... HOW can one disable Linux's chronic middle-click paste function [but NOT otherwise disable the mouse-wheel functionality]? I just hate this "feature", but my attempts in previous years to find a solution all lead nowhere.

Don't see how middle-click paste would cause you problems and find it one of the handiest things in Linux.
In Latest Gnome3 based distros you can turn off middle click paste using dconf-editor or gnome-tweak-tool.
Or via terminal...

dconf write /org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/xsettings/overrides "{'Gtk/EnablePrimaryPaste': <0>}"

Steffie

@CantankRus said in Middle click scrolling for Linux version?:

Don't see how middle-click paste would cause you problems and find it one of the handiest things in Linux.
In Latest Gnome3 based distros you can turn off middle click paste using dconf-editor or gnome-tweak-tool.
or via terminaldconf write /org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/xsettings/overrides "{'Gtk/EnablePrimaryPaste': <0>}"

Yep, i know that lots of Linuxers like it as you do, & that's fine, but i just wish it wasn't so deeply "hard-wired" in so that lunatics & social outcasts like me could easily disable it. I use a Plasma5 distro, not GTK3, so don't have the option you mentioned. Oh well. Actually, i only asked the question coz i was intrigued by the idea [see @kumiponi, above] that maybe if i could disable it, i might then discover a previously unknown [to me] easter-egg that i could middle-click autoscroll-initiate chromium-based browsers in Linux, without needing the AutoScroll extension. Not to worry.
..............................................................................................................................................
Tower's SSD = Linux Mint 17.3 x64 KDE 4.14.2 [< 26/9/16]; now Maui 2.1 "Blue Tang" x64 Plasma 5.8.4.
Lappy's SSD = Linux Mint 18 x64 Xfce+Compiz [< 25/12/16]; now Maui 2.1 "Blue Tang" x64 Plasma 5.8.4.

CantankRus

@Steffie
Didn't find any easter eggs.
Do you know this easter egg?
Disconnect your internet then try and load/reload a page.
When you see the error page hit the space bar.

Steffie

@dLeon -- haha that's quite funny. Oh well, i suppose that as well as being a lunatic & social outcast, i might also be a masochist, coz i can't help myself -- i really do like KDE / Plasma

Steffie

@CantankRus -- how cool is that !! Thanks.

kumiponi

The problem is, that "select text to copy" and "middle-click to paste" are the default and expected behaviour, yet they aren't controlled in any system-wide manner. It's up to each program (and/or the toolkit it's built on) to decide when to copy stuff to that separate clipboard and what to do when you click the middle button.

KDE should definitely have a way to at least define the behaviour of KDE programs but there's no such setting (that I can find) in the System Settings app. KDE is advertised as "highly configurable" but the actual configuration files are undocumented, stored somewhere far out of sight, and aren't meant to be edited by hand anyway. Every time KDE has been rewritten from scratch, they have, at least initially, left out some handy way of configuring something that people were used to.

When I transitioned from Windows to the Linux world, I was constantly pasting things by accident. I have a habit of "highlighting" text while reading and I wasn't used to the middle button at all. These days I feel somehow mentally and computingly challenged when I'm using Windows and can't use the easier way to copy and paste things.

Steffie

@kumiponi -- nice comments & i do agree mostly (i particularly identified with your early misadventures with the clipboard & middle-button in Linux after coming into the light from the Windows darkness; that's also what happened with me]. More generally-speaking, these days when i [rarely] fire up my Win10 VM, i'm always freshly appalled all over again at how [warning, technical term coming] YUCK it is after Linux. Teehee.

sophos02

@Steffie said in Middle click scrolling for Linux version?:

...which of course then immediately begs the question... HOW can one disable Linux's chronic middle-click paste function [but NOT otherwise disable the mouse-wheel functionality]? I just hate this "feature", but my attempts in previous years to find a solution all lead nowhere.

Middle mouse button paste is an X Window standard. There is a way to disable it with xbindkeys. Most solutions disable the middle button completely but this shouldn't.

Just install xbindkeys, xsel and xdotool.
Add lines

"echo -n | xsel -n -i; pkill xbindkeys; xdotool click 2; xbindkeys"
b:2 + Release

to ~/.xbindkeysrc and reload xbindkeys with

xbindkeys -p

Have fun without this great feature

ben2talk

@Stardust Sorry, disagree here. Tried it a while back - rolling the wheel is better IMO...

ben2talk

@sophos02 Take pity - maybe he doesn't have ClipIt installed (it really should be standard desktop furniture...).

CantankRus

@sophos02
I can confirm the xbindkeys solution works.

Though after using Linux for ten years, have never had a problem with middle click paste.
My advice... buy a gaming mouse and use a clipboard manager and you just may find out how useful it is.

Stardust

@ben2talk said in Middle click scrolling for Linux version?:

@Stardust Sorry, disagree here. Tried it a while back - rolling the wheel is better IMO...

Middle click scrolling is the fastest way to scroll a long sites. Have you tried it on Firefox >50?
Why it was invented then?

Stardust

@sophos02 said in Middle click scrolling for Linux version?:

Just install xbindkeys, xsel and xdotool.

Sorry for offtop, but does anybody know how to make combination RMB + scroll work as zoom (global system hotkey). I heard that xdotool can do so.

CantankRus

@Stardust said in Middle click scrolling for Linux version?:

@ben2talk said in Middle click scrolling for Linux version?:

@Stardust Sorry, disagree here. Tried it a while back - rolling the wheel is better IMO...

Middle click scrolling is the fastest way to scroll a long sites. Have you tried it on Firefox >50?
Why it was invented then?

Prefer the scrollbar for long pages and have swipe up/down mouse gestures set to the Home/End keys to quickly go to the top or bottom of a page.

Stardust

@CantankRus said in Middle click scrolling for Linux version?:

Prefer the scrollbar for long pages

I think Middle click scrolling is faster because you can start to scroll instantly anywhere on the page (no need to drag cursor to the right edge of the screen). And you can vary the scrolling speed. More smooth experience for me

sophos02

@Stardust said in Middle click scrolling for Linux version?:

@sophos02 said in Middle click scrolling for Linux version?:

Just install xbindkeys, xsel and xdotool.

Sorry for offtop, but does anybody know how to make combination RMB + scroll work as zoom (global system hotkey). I heard that xdotool can do so.

You can use for example "xdotool key Ctrl+plus" or "xte 'keydown Control_L' 'key KP_Add' 'keyup Control_L'" to use as 'Ctrl' + '+' to zoom in. Problem is i could not get xbindkeys to recognize b:2 (RMB) + b:4 (Wheel Up) together on a quick try but i have to admit that i am not that experienced with it. Maybe it is possible.

kumiponi

@CantankRus said:

@sophos02
I can confirm the xbindkeys solution works.

Though after using Linux for ten years, have never had a problem with middle click paste.
My advice... buy a gaming mouse and use a clipboard manager and you just may find out how useful it is.

It's really more of a hack. Xbindkeys runs in the background listening for keyboard events. When you click the middle mouse button, xsel clears the "selection" clipboard and xdotool creates another middle click event so that the window you are clicking on can still catch it. Xbindkeys needs to be killed before that so that you don't end up in an infinite loop, and restarted...

I agree that a gaming mouse is often the best choice. In gaming you need precision and can't afford accidental clicking. Although I also own a Logitech bluetooth mouse that has a separate middle button. When you click the wheel, you can lock it in a mode where the wheel spins freely, so that you can rapidly scroll to the bottom of the page, which also pertains to the subject of this thread.