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abstouch-nux - Absolute Touchpad Client for GNU/Linux Operating Systems

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Topic Starter
akincakinerr
libinput and Synaptics drivers don't support absolute input for touchpads for a while. I found https://github.com/apsun/AbsoluteTouchEx by apsun but it was Windows only. After searching a while, I found GNU/Linux solution by benny10033 in https://osu.ppy.sh/community/forums/topics/914557, but it had some flaws.
  1. It couldn't map the input to display or screen properly.
  2. You couldn't select the display and screen you want to display with.
  3. You couldn't calibrate your input to match your touchpad.
  4. You had to enter the event every time.
  5. It wasn't very user-friendly to use.
So, I decided to make another client myself. It is built using C and uses libX11 and Linux libraries. It is available at https://github.com/acedron/abstouch-nux.

Installation

Here is a little guide to how to install and use it:

First of all, make sure you use X11 / X.org to run your desktop environment instead of Wayland. See https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/336219/gnome-defaults-to-wayland-how-can-i-go-to-back-to-x11 to fix it in GNOME. It already uses X11 in KDE and XFCE.

Then you can install the package. Here are the commands for some most used distributions:
Debian (Ubuntu, Kali, Mint, etc.)
$ echo -e "deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/acedron/ppa/ubuntu focal main\ndeb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/acedron/ppa/ubuntu focal main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install abstouch-nux
Fedora (CentOs, Red Hat, etc.)
$ sudo dnf install cmake gcc libXi-devel libX11-devel libXi libX11 xorg-x11-drv-libinput
$ git clone https://github.com/acedron/abstouch-nux.git
$ cd abstouch-nux
$ cmake -B build
$ cmake --build build
$ sudo cmake --install build
openSUSE
$ sudo zypper install cmake gcc libXi-devel libX11-devel libXi6 libX11-6 xf86-input-libinput
$ git clone https://github.com/acedron/abstouch-nux.git
$ cd abstouch-nux
$ cmake -B build
$ cmake --build build
$ sudo cmake --install build

The installation is pretty much done now, but you should execute the following command for abstouch-nux to work properly.

Usermod
$ sudo usermod -aG input $(whoami)

Usage

The binary `abstouch` is available after installation.

The first thing you should do is run the setup.

Seting up the Client
$ abstouch setup

You can then start the client.

Starting the Client
$ abstouch start
Stopping the Client
$ abstouch stop
Calibrating the Client
$ abstouch calibrate

You can see following commands for further help:
Help
$ abstouch help
Manual Page*
$ man abstouch

Possible Error Fixes

  1. Make sure the user is in input group. If not, you should add sudo at the beginning of the command or run as root.
  2. Make sure you use X11 instead of Wayland. It is X11 on KDE and XFCE by default, but if you are using GNOME, see https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/336219/gnome-defaults-to-wayland-how-can-i-go-to-back-to-x11
  3. Make sure your touchpad supports absolute input.

License

abstouch-nux by acedron is licensed under the terms of GNU General Public License (GPL) v3.0. See https://github.com/acedron/abstouch-nux/blob/master/LICENSE for more information.

Issues

Please create an issue at https://github.com/acedron/abstouch-nux/issues if you have any problems running the client.

Have fun everyone!
SwirlyClover51
What happened to the repository? It gives a 404 error.
Topic Starter
akincakinerr

SwirlyClover51 wrote:

What happened to the repository? It gives a 404 error.
It was under maintenance. I changed the build system so it wasn't available for everyone. It should be fine now. I also edited the post.
Chatul
Hello, i'm stuck on the setup step, its asking for a event id, no matter what number i put there, it will just reset and ask for a id again.

=> Events:
=> Please enter the event id. => [0-0] => 1
=> Events:
=> Please enter the event id. => [0-0] => (asking a number again)
Topic Starter
akincakinerr

Chatul wrote:

Hello, i'm stuck on the setup step, its asking for a event id, no matter what number i put there, it will just reset and ask for a id again.

=> Events:
=> Please enter the event id. => [0-0] => 1
=> Events:
=> Please enter the event id. => [0-0] => (asking a number again)
I am really sorry for the late reply, but at least for future users:

This will mostly happen if your user is not in the input group.

To add the user to the input group:

Click to see the command.
$ sudo usermod -aG input $(whoami)

If the issue still persists, try running it with sudo or contact me.
lcrafterm
Hello, i have problem with mapping, my touchpad has (apparentely) higher resolution than my display, and input works only for about half of my touchpad.
i was not able to resolve this through calibration or config
R-Prime

akincakinerr wrote:

Chatul wrote:

Hello, i'm stuck on the setup step, its asking for a event id, no matter what number i put there, it will just reset and ask for a id again.

=> Events:
=> Please enter the event id. => [0-0] => 1
=> Events:
=> Please enter the event id. => [0-0] => (asking a number again)
I am really sorry for the late reply, but at least for future users:

This will mostly happen if your user is not in the input group.

To add the user to the input group:

Click to see the command.
$ sudo usermod -aG input $(whoami)

If the issue still persists, try running it with sudo or contact me.
Hey I'm hoping this isn't totally abandoned, since the apt repo is still there - I'm getting a floating point exception as soon as I start the daemon and press on the tablet, but it works fine while calibrating. Would you have an idea of how to fix it?
Pieczebi

lcrafterm wrote:

Hello, i have problem with mapping, my touchpad has (apparentely) higher resolution than my display, and input works only for about half of my touchpad.
i was not able to resolve this through calibration or config
Hi, the original repo has been archived a long time ago (and looks like now is gone completely). I had the same problem as you a year ago, so I forked it and fixed the bug. Here's the link to the fork: https://github.com/rszyma/abstouch-nux.

Btw, I'm willing to maintain the repo. Also there's possibility that I'll rewrite it in rust and add wayland support soon.
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