Middle click scrolling for Linux version?

[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.

[Steffie]

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

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

That sounds most interesting. Thank you. I've not yet had time to try this, but for now i have two questions about it pls:

1. If it does not achieve exactly what i want, or creates unexpected other issues, is reverting to my standard system simply a matter of reversing each step you listed, or... do those steps cause other settings elsewhere to change that i'd then have to also hunt down & manually edit?

2. With reference to the actual original thread subject, do you know if Vivaldi / other chromium-based browsers, actually do now exhibit middle-click autoscroll once "your" changes are made? If no, then i won't bother trying this out, coz whilst i dislike middle-click pasting as mentioned, my dislike is insufficient to actually install other software to counter it. Conversely, if said autoscrolling does then begin working without needing extension, then i would be very keen to implement this change.

[Steffie]

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

@sophos02
I can confirm the xbindkeys solution works.

Interesting... can you pls define "works"? See my Qu.2 in my reply to @sophos02.

[CantankRus]

@Steffie

1. Can be reversed by uninstalling xbindkeys or comment out the added lines in ~/.xbindkeysrc
   and reload xbindkeys with xbindkeys -p

2. It only disables middle click paste without disabling the middle click button entirely.
   (uses xsel to set the mouse primary selection empty as stated by @kumiponi )
   Doesn't reveal any autoscroll feature.

[Steffie]

@CantankRus -- aha, well i thank you for your fast & clear replies. Given #2, as foreshadowed i shan't bother proceeding this helpful initiative. Thus, the quest for non-extension Linux chromium-browser autoscroll continues. I suspect there'll be no solution anytime soon...

[sophos02]

@Steffie
As @CantankRus already said this does not automatically enable autoscroll but just disables middlemouse paste globally by a workaround. But it is really easy to set up and also to undo so if anyone is annoyed by it one could try.
Btw. i do not think middlemouse paste has anything to do with the lack of autoscroll as firefox has boolean flags for both of them. So it is just a feature that is not implemented.

[Steffie]

@sophos02 -- yes, i see, thank you. Just in case i was unclear earlier, i didn't actually think for a moment that making "your" changes would of itself somehow give me autoscroll because of specific code within those additions, but rather, once the middle-click paste was disabled, perhaps innate autoscroll code within chromium-based browsers, hitherto "suppressed" by Linux's middle-click paste function, might then become "freed" to activate.

Yes, it does seem a silly deluded idea for me to have, i agree... but [ever since i left Windows for Linux a few years ago] it just amazes me that Windows versions of chromium-based browsers happily autoscroll til the cows come home, but those same browsers don't/won't/can't in Linux.

[sophos02]

@Steffie
There was already a patch for chromium for pan_scan as they call it but it was never implemented because they say it is too many functions on one button for the average user and preferences are not an option for chromium.
Maybe with this patch it is possible for the Vivaldi devs to easily add this feature as a preference albeit it is already 6+ years old and i do not know if it still works. If there is a feature request for Autoscroll maybe someone can add this so the devs can take a look at it.

[Steffie]

@sophos02 -- fair enough. In the meantime, it seems that the AutoScroll extension has to remain one of the first extensions i install any/every time i freshly install any chromium-based browsers [in Linux, obviously].

As a footnote - i still remember my abject shock, & thoughts of "oh holy Zarquon, what have i done?", in the early days of my migration from Windows to Linux, when i first discovered no native autoscrolling function in any of the chromium-based browsers i had routinely used in Windows. I can tell you -- it was a desolate barren discombobulating several weeks of page scrolling by k/b or scrollbar drag, til i decided i was desperate enough to go searching for solutions, which eventually lead to discovering the AS extension. It just seems so ... wrong ... Linux is otherwise wondrous & fantabulous, & i would never consider going back to The Dark Side, but this is a really peculiar functionality oversight, or even worse, design blunder.

[Maniastern]

AutoScroll Extension doesn't work fine, actually. I use it for a long time in Vivaldi and I noticed it doesn't work for some sites at all and clearly doesn't work for the browser pages like Reader Mode (and passive scrolling is really important when you read something, you know). AutoScroll implements JS-script into page, so it can't fully replace real built-in passive scrolling for browser, because sometimes it has no rights to implement its script. It's just only and sadly uncomfortable replacement for real passive scrolling. The replacement which should be eventually replaced by a real function.

[Steffie]

@maniastern Every now & then i discover some rare webpages on which AutoScroll Extension doesn't work correctly, but the vast majority of sites i visit every day, work very nicely. Agree that it does not work in Reader Mode [or Private Windows], which might disadvantage some V users... not me though, as i never use RM [i intensely dislike it & can't fathom why anyone likes it (I refer to RM in any browser, not just V)], & very rarely use PW [again i can't see the point; PW is a huge misleading misnomer].

[Maniastern]

@steffie

Well, yes, it works for the most cases, but the rest are really frustrating. The extension really helps, though. Better than nothing, eh?

And why do you hate RM, if it's not a secret? Just curious.

As for the Private Window function, in my opinion, it's just because of realisation. For example, I use multiple windows mode very rarely, there is just no need in it the most of the time - only when you use the browser with someone else, I think. So, Private Windows aren't really comfortable. But Private Tabs, as it was in Opera, are far more useful. For example, you can open such a tab when you find out someone blocked you in VK (Russian social network) and you can't look through his info without loging out. Or you need to log in somewhere you are already logged in with another account. It's really good function, actually, very helpful, but windows realisation for it just sucks.