How can I simulate the middle mouse button on Linux?












0















I just got a 4-button trackball mouse without a mousewheel (many of those don't have a mousewheel, for some reason), and I would like to make one of those buttons act like the middle mouse button (for the purpose of autoscrolling). The 4-buttons, by default, are for left click, right click, back and forward (i.e. back/forward a page while web browsing). I changed the back/forward buttons to act like page-up and page-down (using xte and xbindkeys as suggested in an answer to a question somewhere on StackExchange), but I wasn't completely satisfied with that; so, I'd like to turn one of those buttons (the back button) into the middle mouse button, and do something creative with the other one, but I don't know how to make one mouse button simulate another (nor do I know the name of the middle mouse button). I do, however, know how to make a mouse button represent a key or key combination on a keyboard (or how to make it launch a program or script). Edit: I found out a way to remap mouse buttons, but it doesn't seem to work with Button-2 (that's the right button, right? I'm wanting the button that makes a circle with arrows appear and when you move the mouse it scrolls in the direction you move it; also, when you click a link with it, it opens it in a new tab, and such).



Anyway, here's what I attempted putting in my .xbindkeysrc file:



"xte 'mouseclick 2'"
b:8


Note: Pressing left-click and right-click at the same time doesn't simulate the middle mouse button on my OS (Xubuntu 17.04) with my mouse.










share|improve this question




















  • 1





    Both xbindkeys and xte are additional applications that intercept X events. It's cleaner to just change the button map, e.g. with xinput --set-button-map or via properties, depending on how your trackball works. See man xinput, and man evdev if you want to record the buttonmap in an xorg.conf to make it work automatically on boot.

    – dirkt
    Oct 17 '17 at 14:47
















0















I just got a 4-button trackball mouse without a mousewheel (many of those don't have a mousewheel, for some reason), and I would like to make one of those buttons act like the middle mouse button (for the purpose of autoscrolling). The 4-buttons, by default, are for left click, right click, back and forward (i.e. back/forward a page while web browsing). I changed the back/forward buttons to act like page-up and page-down (using xte and xbindkeys as suggested in an answer to a question somewhere on StackExchange), but I wasn't completely satisfied with that; so, I'd like to turn one of those buttons (the back button) into the middle mouse button, and do something creative with the other one, but I don't know how to make one mouse button simulate another (nor do I know the name of the middle mouse button). I do, however, know how to make a mouse button represent a key or key combination on a keyboard (or how to make it launch a program or script). Edit: I found out a way to remap mouse buttons, but it doesn't seem to work with Button-2 (that's the right button, right? I'm wanting the button that makes a circle with arrows appear and when you move the mouse it scrolls in the direction you move it; also, when you click a link with it, it opens it in a new tab, and such).



Anyway, here's what I attempted putting in my .xbindkeysrc file:



"xte 'mouseclick 2'"
b:8


Note: Pressing left-click and right-click at the same time doesn't simulate the middle mouse button on my OS (Xubuntu 17.04) with my mouse.










share|improve this question




















  • 1





    Both xbindkeys and xte are additional applications that intercept X events. It's cleaner to just change the button map, e.g. with xinput --set-button-map or via properties, depending on how your trackball works. See man xinput, and man evdev if you want to record the buttonmap in an xorg.conf to make it work automatically on boot.

    – dirkt
    Oct 17 '17 at 14:47














0












0








0








I just got a 4-button trackball mouse without a mousewheel (many of those don't have a mousewheel, for some reason), and I would like to make one of those buttons act like the middle mouse button (for the purpose of autoscrolling). The 4-buttons, by default, are for left click, right click, back and forward (i.e. back/forward a page while web browsing). I changed the back/forward buttons to act like page-up and page-down (using xte and xbindkeys as suggested in an answer to a question somewhere on StackExchange), but I wasn't completely satisfied with that; so, I'd like to turn one of those buttons (the back button) into the middle mouse button, and do something creative with the other one, but I don't know how to make one mouse button simulate another (nor do I know the name of the middle mouse button). I do, however, know how to make a mouse button represent a key or key combination on a keyboard (or how to make it launch a program or script). Edit: I found out a way to remap mouse buttons, but it doesn't seem to work with Button-2 (that's the right button, right? I'm wanting the button that makes a circle with arrows appear and when you move the mouse it scrolls in the direction you move it; also, when you click a link with it, it opens it in a new tab, and such).



Anyway, here's what I attempted putting in my .xbindkeysrc file:



"xte 'mouseclick 2'"
b:8


Note: Pressing left-click and right-click at the same time doesn't simulate the middle mouse button on my OS (Xubuntu 17.04) with my mouse.










share|improve this question
















I just got a 4-button trackball mouse without a mousewheel (many of those don't have a mousewheel, for some reason), and I would like to make one of those buttons act like the middle mouse button (for the purpose of autoscrolling). The 4-buttons, by default, are for left click, right click, back and forward (i.e. back/forward a page while web browsing). I changed the back/forward buttons to act like page-up and page-down (using xte and xbindkeys as suggested in an answer to a question somewhere on StackExchange), but I wasn't completely satisfied with that; so, I'd like to turn one of those buttons (the back button) into the middle mouse button, and do something creative with the other one, but I don't know how to make one mouse button simulate another (nor do I know the name of the middle mouse button). I do, however, know how to make a mouse button represent a key or key combination on a keyboard (or how to make it launch a program or script). Edit: I found out a way to remap mouse buttons, but it doesn't seem to work with Button-2 (that's the right button, right? I'm wanting the button that makes a circle with arrows appear and when you move the mouse it scrolls in the direction you move it; also, when you click a link with it, it opens it in a new tab, and such).



Anyway, here's what I attempted putting in my .xbindkeysrc file:



"xte 'mouseclick 2'"
b:8


Note: Pressing left-click and right-click at the same time doesn't simulate the middle mouse button on my OS (Xubuntu 17.04) with my mouse.







linux mouse shortcuts xubuntu mouse-click






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Jan 30 at 1:13







Shule

















asked Oct 10 '17 at 6:10









ShuleShule

1389




1389








  • 1





    Both xbindkeys and xte are additional applications that intercept X events. It's cleaner to just change the button map, e.g. with xinput --set-button-map or via properties, depending on how your trackball works. See man xinput, and man evdev if you want to record the buttonmap in an xorg.conf to make it work automatically on boot.

    – dirkt
    Oct 17 '17 at 14:47














  • 1





    Both xbindkeys and xte are additional applications that intercept X events. It's cleaner to just change the button map, e.g. with xinput --set-button-map or via properties, depending on how your trackball works. See man xinput, and man evdev if you want to record the buttonmap in an xorg.conf to make it work automatically on boot.

    – dirkt
    Oct 17 '17 at 14:47








1




1





Both xbindkeys and xte are additional applications that intercept X events. It's cleaner to just change the button map, e.g. with xinput --set-button-map or via properties, depending on how your trackball works. See man xinput, and man evdev if you want to record the buttonmap in an xorg.conf to make it work automatically on boot.

– dirkt
Oct 17 '17 at 14:47





Both xbindkeys and xte are additional applications that intercept X events. It's cleaner to just change the button map, e.g. with xinput --set-button-map or via properties, depending on how your trackball works. See man xinput, and man evdev if you want to record the buttonmap in an xorg.conf to make it work automatically on boot.

– dirkt
Oct 17 '17 at 14:47










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















0














This can be solved by mapping mouse buttons to keyboard keys via xkbset: see Use keys for mouse buttons on linux. Alternative to AHK?






share|improve this answer























    Your Answer








    StackExchange.ready(function() {
    var channelOptions = {
    tags: "".split(" "),
    id: "3"
    };
    initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

    StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
    // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
    if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
    StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
    createEditor();
    });
    }
    else {
    createEditor();
    }
    });

    function createEditor() {
    StackExchange.prepareEditor({
    heartbeatType: 'answer',
    autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
    convertImagesToLinks: true,
    noModals: true,
    showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
    reputationToPostImages: 10,
    bindNavPrevention: true,
    postfix: "",
    imageUploader: {
    brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
    contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
    allowUrls: true
    },
    onDemand: true,
    discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
    ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
    });


    }
    });














    draft saved

    draft discarded


















    StackExchange.ready(
    function () {
    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fsuperuser.com%2fquestions%2f1257730%2fhow-can-i-simulate-the-middle-mouse-button-on-linux%23new-answer', 'question_page');
    }
    );

    Post as a guest















    Required, but never shown

























    1 Answer
    1






    active

    oldest

    votes








    1 Answer
    1






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    0














    This can be solved by mapping mouse buttons to keyboard keys via xkbset: see Use keys for mouse buttons on linux. Alternative to AHK?






    share|improve this answer




























      0














      This can be solved by mapping mouse buttons to keyboard keys via xkbset: see Use keys for mouse buttons on linux. Alternative to AHK?






      share|improve this answer


























        0












        0








        0







        This can be solved by mapping mouse buttons to keyboard keys via xkbset: see Use keys for mouse buttons on linux. Alternative to AHK?






        share|improve this answer













        This can be solved by mapping mouse buttons to keyboard keys via xkbset: see Use keys for mouse buttons on linux. Alternative to AHK?







        share|improve this answer












        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer










        answered Jun 7 '18 at 4:04









        RussoRusso

        1012




        1012






























            draft saved

            draft discarded




















































            Thanks for contributing an answer to Super User!


            • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

            But avoid



            • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

            • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


            To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




            draft saved


            draft discarded














            StackExchange.ready(
            function () {
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fsuperuser.com%2fquestions%2f1257730%2fhow-can-i-simulate-the-middle-mouse-button-on-linux%23new-answer', 'question_page');
            }
            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown





















































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown

































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown







            Popular posts from this blog

            How do I know what Microsoft account the skydrive app is syncing to?

            When does type information flow backwards in C++?

            Grease: Live!