Forem: Kohei Yamada

Enhance Your Touchpad Experience on Linux with ThumbSense!

Kohei Yamada — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 13:35:02 +0000

Hello everyone! 🌟

What is ThumbSense?

With ThumbSense, you can use your laptop's touchpad as an additional modifier key.
Assign specific keys as mouse buttons and toggle their functionality based on whether your thumb is touching the touchpad. This feature allows you to keep your hands on the home position of the keyboard.
By turning off the often troublesome "tap to click" feature, you can achieve a more comfortable touchpad experience.

Repository

Thumbsense is implemented as a plugin of fusuma.

https://github.com/iberianpig/fusuma-plugin-thumbsense

Key Features:

Seamless integration with the touchpad gesture tool, Fusuma
A stable mouse-like experience without moving your hands away from the keyboard.
Customize key-to-mouse button mappings using YAML.

Installation and setup

$ sudo apt-get install libevdev-dev ruby-dev build-essential

$ echo 'KERNEL=="uinput", MODE="0660", GROUP="input", OPTIONS+="static_node=uinput"' | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/60-udev-fusuma-remap.rules

$ sudo udevadm control --reload-rules && sudo udevadm trigger

$ sudo gem install fusuma-plugin-thumbsense

Customize with yaml

Set the following code in ~/.config/fusuma/config.yml.

---
context: 
  thumbsense: true

remap:
  J: BTN_LEFT
  K: BTN_RIGHT
  F: BTN_LEFT
  D: BTN_RIGHT
  SPACE: BTN_LEFT

Give it a try and let us know your thoughts! With your feedback and collaboration, let's make touchpad usage more intuitive and efficient!

Configure application-specific gestures with Fusuma v2!

Kohei Yamada — Sat, 12 Jun 2021 07:10:49 +0000

Starting from this article, I will explain how to configure the new features available in Fusuma v2.
If you haven't updated to Fusuma v2, please refer to the previous article.

Fusuma, multi-touch gestures for Linux, updated to v2!

Kohei Yamada ・ Jun 9 '21

#linux #ubuntu #ruby

So far, Fusuma has only allowed you to set one type of action for a gesture globally.
However, by using the context of Fusuma v2, you will be able to switch Config dynamically.

In this article, we will install fusuma-plugin-appmatcher and configure application-specific settings on Fusuma's config.yml.

iberianpig / fusuma-plugin-appmatcher

Fusuma plugin configure app-specific gestures

Fusuma::Plugin::Appmatcher

Fusuma plugin configure app-specific gestures

Switch gesture mappings by detecting active application.
Support X11, Ubuntu-Wayland

Installation

Run the following code in your terminal.

Install fusuma-plugin-appmatcher

$ sudo gem install fusuma-plugin-appmatcher

Install Appmatcher GNOME Shell Extensions on Wayland

Gnome Wayland version 41 and later does not allow to access information about window or application like focused app So fusuma-plugin-appmatcher solves this problem via Appmatcher gnome-extension.

$ fusuma-appmatcher --install-gnome-extension

Restart your session(logout/login), then activate Appmatcher on gnome-extensions-app

List Running Application names

$ fusuma-appmatcher -l prints Running Application names.

$ fusuma-appmatcher -l
Slack
Google-chrome
Alacritty

You can use these applicatin name to under application: context in config.yml

Add appmatcher properties and application names to config.yml

Add the --- symbol to separate the context in config.yml.
Add context: property in ~/.config/fusuma/config.yml.
Under the context: property, you can set the application: APP_NAME as a value.

In this context, you can configure mappings to…

View on GitHub

Install fusuma-plugin-appmatcher

Run the following command in a terminal

$ sudo gem install fusuma-plugin-appmatcher

How to configure fusuma-plugin-appmather

Get the application name to use in the configuration.

To get application name (WM_CLASS) to specify in config.yml, use $ fusuma-appmatcher -l.
Without -l option, only foreground application names are retrieved.

$ fusuma-appmatcher -l
discord
Slack
Gnome-terminal
Google-chrome

Set `context: WM_CLASS` in config.yml.

To add to the existing config.yml.

add --- to the bottom of ~/.config/fusuma/config.yml to separate context.
add context: { application: Google-chrome }.
add swipe: ... ... and describe the gestures as usual.

In the following example, 4-finger gesture is the default setting, and 3-finger swipe gesture is assigned with different behaviors for Google Chrome and Gnome Terminal.

This example uses fusuma-plugin-wmctrl , fusuma-plugin-sendkey and fusuma-plugin-keypress .

When I try swiping up three fingers on Google Chrome and Gnome Terminal respectively, both tabs open.
I was able to assign different keys to them: LEFTCTRL+T for Google Chrome and LEFTSHIFT+LEFTCTRL+T for Gnome Terminal.

Concept of Context in Fusuma v2

Actually, Fusuma runs as an event-driven application.

When a user touches the trackpad, some touch events will be sent to Fusuma. Fusuma will calculate the events and if they exceed the threshold, it will pass them to the executor plugin as swipe events and execute the action associated with the event content from config.yml.

Fusuma will search the config.yml for actions that match the event, but when a context event is issued, Fusuma will search the config for actions that match that context.

Fusuma v2 can accept YAML documents containing ---.
You can create a context by separating the config.yml with three --- hyphens.
The first document delimited by --- is treated as the default configuration.
By the way, --- is a standard YAML syntax that allows multiple documents to be described in one file.

Under context: is the event-name of the context and its value.

context:
  event-name: value

swipe:
  3:
    left:
      sendkey: 'LEFTALT+RIGHT'

Currently, context events can only be fired by the fusuma-plugin-appmatcher plugin.

In the future, we plan to support context events from tail or external commands by generalizing the events.
For example, a user can define a config that is valid only when a specific device is connected.

Fusuma, multi-touch gestures for Linux, updated to v2!

Kohei Yamada — Wed, 09 Jun 2021 17:45:20 +0000

Fusuma v2 is released! 🎉

iberianpig / fusuma

Multitouch gestures with libinput driver on Linux

Fusuma

Fusuma is multitouch gesture recognizer This gem makes your linux able to recognize swipes or pinchs and assign commands to them.

襖(Fusuma) means sliding door used to partition off rooms in a Japanese house.

Features

Easy installation with RubyGems
Define gestures and actions in YAML format
Sensitivity settings (threshold, interval) for gesture recognition
Automatic addition of external touchpads
Feature extension via a plugin system

Installation

Grant permission to read the touchpad device

IMPORTANT: You MUST be a member of the INPUT group to read touchpad by Fusuma.

sudo gpasswd -a $USER input

Then, You apply the change with no logout or reboot.

newgrp input

IMPORTANT: This makes /dev/input/ readable, so if that's an issue for you for some reason (like for privacy- or securityconcerns etc. or if it causes other parts of your OS to misbehave), consider this your heads-up.

For Debian Based Distros (Ubuntu, Debian, Mint,…

View on GitHub

There are a lot of updates in Fusuma v2.

Performance improvements with multiprocessing and IO multiplexing.
Real-time continuation gestures
Contextual switching of gesture settings and other enhancements!

Update Fusuma

You can update Fusuma with the gem command.
No need to use sudo if you haven't installed it using system-wide Ruby.

$ sudo gem update fusuma

If you have any installed Fusuma plugins, update them all.

List fusuma plugins

$ sudo gem list fusuma-plugin-
fusuma-plugin-keypress (0.4.1)
fusuma-plugin-sendkey (0.6.2)
fusuma-plugin-wmctrl (0.4.3)

Update fusuma plugins

$ sudo gem update fusuma-plugin-sendkey fusuma-plugin-wmctrl fusuma-plugin-keypress

More powerful tweaks with Fusuma v2!🦾

Some useful features have been available using the v2 API.

App-specific gesture settings (iberianpig/fusuma-plugin-appmatcher)
Mac OS style three-finger drag
Windows-style 3-finger swipe to switch windows
Swipe/rotate to adjust volume and change brightness.

I will write a series of articles about these configuration details.

↓ BTW, I realized that three-finger drag was really useful after I implemented it.
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Watch Fusuma Wiki🤓

Some configs have already been added to the fusuma Wiki.

Anyone can edit this Fusuma Wiki.
It also contains settings for various distributions or WM(Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pop!_OS, KDE, i3...). If you find any valuable configurations, please share them on Fusuma Wiki. I look forward to seeing new tips.

Configure application-specific gestures with Fusuma v2!

Kohei Yamada ・ Jun 12 '21

#linux #ubuntu #ruby

How to customize touchpad gestures on Linux using Fusuma

Kohei Yamada — Fri, 05 Apr 2019 17:25:09 +0000

I published "Fusuma" to RubyGems that recognize swipe or pinch gesture on Linux touchpad.
https://github.com/iberianpig/fusuma

You can add touchpad gestures to run commands or common tasks, such as changing workspaces, back or forward on a browser, etc.

This my first post is how to use and customize Fusuma.

Install Fusuma

If you use Debian-based OS (using apt for package management), you can use the following commands like "apt install" as they are.

I'm using fusuma on elementary OS Loki on Dell XPS 13(9360).

You can use libinput that depends on Fusuma for Ubuntu 15.04 and above, but you should try xswipe to use the Synaptics driver for older versions' Ubuntu.

Confirm installed Ruby version

Please confirm at first whether you have ruby installed.

You can use the fusuma with Ruby it installed in System Wide.

(Of course, even rbenv and rvm is OK)

$ ruby -v

ruby 2.4.1p111 (2017-03-22 revision 58053) [x86_64-linux]
# confirm the version of ruby installed

Install dependent packages

Install libinput-tools for reading touchpad input.

(Fusuma use the output of debug logs by libinput debug-events in itself)

$ sudo apt install libinput-tools

Also install xdotool so that fusuma trigger shortcuts such as Alt + Left, Alt + Right and so on.

$ sudo apt install xdotool

Install Fusuma From RubyGems

$ sudo gem i fusuma

i is an abbreviation for install. If you want to install the fusuma to Ruby in System-Wide is required sudo.

(If you use the Ruby you have installed via rbenv and rvm, you can install with $ gem install fusuma)

Create configurations file for Fusuma

Create a configurations file to ~/.config/fusuma/config.yml

$ mkdir -p ~/.config/fusuma
$ touch ~/.config/fusuma/config.yml

Open ~/.config/fusuma/config.yml in editor, then paste following content.

swipe:
  3:
    left:
      command: 'xdotool key alt+Right'
    right:
      command: 'xdotool key alt+Left'
    up:
      command: 'xdotool key ctrl+t'
    down:
      command: 'xdotool key ctrl+w'

The above example is registering the shortcut of the browser by three fingers' swipe.
(Back / Forward / Create Tab / Close Tab)

Add the user to input groups

To execute Fusuma, it needs to give permission to read to the input of touchpad to the user.

$ sudo gpasswd -a $USER input

gpasswd command adds the user to the input group.
($ USER is the username at runtime)

Need to log out and log in (or restart) from X

Fusuma cannot recognize the touchpad without this process.
Because it must be reflected to add the user in the input group.

Launch Fusuma

Open terminal, and type Fusuma and endter.

$ fusuma

It's OK if all actions are worked (Back / Forward / Create Tab / Close Tab) when you swipe with Three-finger on the browser.

Keep running in the background when the terminal is closed

$ fusuma -d

This -d option is running as Unix demon, it disconnects from the terminal process.
So fusuma is available even after closing terminal.

Configure commands to be assigned gesture

Add recognition gestures and assigns commands to it in ~/.config/fusuma/config.yml.

Confirm command to run in terminal

To switch the workspace, you can set xdotool key ctrl + alt + Up orxdotool key ctrl + alt + Down
I recommend that you try such commands to work properly on the terminal.

Shortcuts for workspace depend on the WindowManager in this example. (Gnome 3 moves up and down with xdotool key ctrl + alt + Up andxdotool key ctrl + alt + Down)

Switch the workspace in the four fingers' swipe

Paste the following at the bottom of the swipe section

  4:
    up: 
      command: 'xdotool key ctrl+alt+Down'
    down: 
      command: 'xdotool key ctrl+alt+Up'

If you rewrite the config file, you must do re-run fusuma command after it stops with Ctrl-c or kill command.

If you can confirm the operation of the customized four-finger swipe, it is OK.

Autostart setting of Fusuma

Set fusuma to start automatically, because it is troublesome to open the terminal and execute Fusuma command with every restarts your laptop.

Enter the which fusuma in the terminal, to note the path to launch Fusuma
Start gnome-session-properties, enter the launch path noted the previous step by adding the -d options (daemonize) at the end.

Update Fusuma

$ sudo gem update fusuma

(If you have installed fusuma with Ruby on rbenv or rvm, you can update with $ gem update fusuma)

Other customizations

In ~/.config/fusuma/config.yml, you can set Pinch Zoom (pinch in / pinch out) and Sensitivity for each gesture(threshold).
It is also possible to set gestures that pinch in continuity.

See Fusuma repository README for more information.

When finding a bug

If you find any bug or issue, please register the issue to Github Issue.

Donation

Do you want to support Fusuma? Check out the fully optional donation option, a way to support Fusuma's ongoing development directly: https://github.com/sponsors/iberianpig

Forem: Kohei Yamada

Enhance Your Touchpad Experience on Linux with ThumbSense!

What is ThumbSense?

Repository

Key Features:

Installation and setup

Customize with yaml

Configure application-specific gestures with Fusuma v2!

Fusuma, multi-touch gestures for Linux, updated to v2!

Kohei Yamada ・ Jun 9 '21

iberianpig / fusuma-plugin-appmatcher

Fusuma plugin configure app-specific gestures

Fusuma::Plugin::Appmatcher

Installation

Install fusuma-plugin-appmatcher

Install Appmatcher GNOME Shell Extensions on Wayland

List Running Application names

Add appmatcher properties and application names to config.yml

Install fusuma-plugin-appmatcher

How to configure fusuma-plugin-appmather

Get the application name to use in the configuration.

Set context: WM_CLASS in config.yml.

Concept of Context in Fusuma v2

Fusuma, multi-touch gestures for Linux, updated to v2!

Fusuma v2 is released! 🎉

iberianpig / fusuma

Multitouch gestures with libinput driver on Linux

Fusuma

Features

Installation

Grant permission to read the touchpad device

Update Fusuma

List fusuma plugins

Update fusuma plugins

More powerful tweaks with Fusuma v2!🦾

Watch Fusuma Wiki🤓

Next Articles

Configure application-specific gestures with Fusuma v2!

Kohei Yamada ・ Jun 12 '21

How to customize touchpad gestures on Linux using Fusuma

Install Fusuma

Confirm installed Ruby version

Install dependent packages

Install Fusuma From RubyGems

Create configurations file for Fusuma

Add the user to input groups

Launch Fusuma

Keep running in the background when the terminal is closed

Configure commands to be assigned gesture

Confirm command to run in terminal

Switch the workspace in the four fingers' swipe

Autostart setting of Fusuma

Update Fusuma

Other customizations

When finding a bug

Donation

Set `context: WM_CLASS` in config.yml.