How to set up system-wide Natural Scrolling/Reverse Scrolling for a mouse in Fedora

[dcharlespyle]

This is for Microsoft Mouse, or for any other mouse that has the "Scrolling Distance" property. (Some mice, such as the Dell PixArt Mouse, do not have this property; I will post an update for that mouse below, as soon as I figure it out.) This has been tested to work even in rawhide. I had a serious problem with previous methods used to accomplish a working Natural Scrolling/Reverse Scrolling with my mouse that began with obsoleting of the xorg-x11-drv-mouse driver. I found that my mouse cursor would freeze and the mouse become unusable. If you are using the method that has the 99-wt-natural-scrolling.conf file in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d you will likely hit that same bug I did once you upgrade to Fedora 21 (or perhaps earlier if the Evdev driver obsoletes the earlier driver in previous versions of Fedora as it does in rawhide). This method fixes that issue and should work even in rawhide, without any freezing problems. This should be extendable to a touch pad device as well as the mouse. This method also will be set system wide, so you should be aware of that. Methods to do this per user can be found elsewhere on the internet.

1. Find your mouse device id:

$ xinput list

In my case, the following was displayed:

$ xinput list
⎡ Virtual core pointer                    	id=2	[master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer              	id=4	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Microsoft Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v7.0	id=9	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Microsoft Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v7.0	id=10	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                   	id=3	[master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard             	id=5	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                            	id=6	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                            	id=7	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Microsoft Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v7.0	id=8	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ UVC Camera (046d:0821)                  	id=11	[slave  keyboard (3)]

2. Find the id number of your device and use that number in the following (substituting your device id number for "{device id}"):

$ xinput list-props {device id} | grep "Scrolling Distance"

In my case, my device was 'id=9' and the following was displayed (your results may vary):

$ xinput list-props 9 | grep "Scrolling Distance"
	Evdev Scrolling Distance (273):	1, 1, 1

In the case of my mouse, the scrolling distance was 1 but yours might be any number. To use this number, you convert it to a negative number ("1" becomes "-1"; if yours is 156 then you use -156, and so forth) and use it in a file you will create in the next step.

3. Create a file in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d named 20-natural-scrolling.conf.

$ sudo touch /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-natural-scrolling.conf

4. Open the file using a text editor as superuser:

$ sudo nano /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-natural-scrolling.conf

5. Put the following contents (modified to fit your mouse device using the number obtained in the above steps) in the file you created:

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "Natural Scrolling"
        MatchIsPointer "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Option "VertScrollDelta" "-1"
        Option "HorizScrollDelta" "-1"
        Option "DialDelta" "-1"
EndSection

6. Save the file and reboot.

You should see natural scrolling/reverse scrolling for all users. The advantage to doing it this way is that it also works in nemo and nautilus as well as it does in caja or elsewhere, and doesn't seem to conflict with the new Evdev drivers like previous methods did for me.

[weitjong]

Thanks for sharing it.

[weitjong]

Unfortunately, it does not work on my Logictech mouse. Xinput does not report any "scrolling distance" property for my case. Attempting to use -1 setting anyway but it does not work (after reboot). I am falling back to use xmodmap approach instead of my 99-wt-natural-scrolling.conf for quite some time now. Until I figure this one out, I just have to bear myself with Nautilus.

[dcharlespyle]

Unfortunately, it does not work on my Logictech mouse. Xinput does not report any "scrolling distance" property for my case. Attempting to use -1 setting anyway but it does not work (after reboot). I am falling back to use xmodmap approach instead of my 99-wt-natural-scrolling.conf for quite some time now. Until I figure this one out, I just have to bear myself with Nautilus.

That is really odd that your mouse does not report a scrolling distance. It is case sensitive, though, unless you use the -i option with grep. If you did not capitalize the 'S' and the 'D', you would get no report. Did you also substitute your device id number for {device id}? Be sure you do not use the id numbers of any "virtual core" devices that may appear in the output of xinput list.

Make sure that you are not using the xmodmap method when you try what I provided above. It will not work if you are.

Also try doing the following:

xinput list-props {your device id} | grep -i "scrolling distance"

I got the following when I ran it (my device id was 9):

$ xinput list-props 9 | grep -i "scrolling distance" 
Evdev Scrolling Distance (273):	 1,  1,  1

Then run the following (again, make sure you are not using the xmodmap method):

xinput set-prop {device id} {numbers in output of above command line}

In my case, I ran it in the following format:

xinput set-prop 9 273 -1 -1 -1

You will need to quit and restart nautilus after running the above.

nautilus -q
nautilus -n &

[weitjong]

Thanks for your elaborate explanation. I understand how grep command works. I have also just use "xinput list-props" without piping to grep command to see what are all the available properties for my case. My Logitech does not have the "Evdev Scrolling Distance (273)" property, so grepping the string will not produce anything regardless of case sensitivity . In fact I reckon the property id mapping between Microsoft and Logitech is totally different. Here is what I got when I grep by property id 273.

$ xinput list-props 12 |grep 273
Button Labels (285):	"Button Left" (143), "Button Middle" (144), "Button Right" (145), "Button Wheel Up" (146), "Button Wheel Down" (147), "Button Horiz Wheel Left" (148), "Button Horiz Wheel Right" (149), "Button Side" (271), "Button Extra" (272), "Button Forward" (273), "Button Back" (274), "Button Task" (275), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260)

I am currently using a high end Logitech mouse that have multi-programmable buttons. That is exactly the reason why I fallback to xmodmap instead of using my old 99-wt-natural-scrolling.conf as only evdev supports multiple buttons.

I have tried to do xinput test after I have rebooted without xmodmap setting done. Actually it does not really matter also. The list of properties in the xinput output is the same with or without xmodmap.

[dcharlespyle]

Thanks for your elaborate explanation. I understand how grep command works. I have also just use "xinput list-props" without piping to grep command to see what are all the available properties for my case. My Logitech does not have the "Evdev Scrolling Distance (273)" property, so grepping the string will not produce anything regardless of case sensitivity . In fact I reckon the property id mapping between Microsoft and Logitech is totally different. Here is what I got when I grep by property id 273.

$ xinput list-props 12 |grep 273
Button Labels (285):	"Button Left" (143), "Button Middle" (144), "Button Right" (145), "Button Wheel Up" (146), "Button Wheel Down" (147), "Button Horiz Wheel Left" (148), "Button Horiz Wheel Right" (149), "Button Side" (271), "Button Extra" (272), "Button Forward" (273), "Button Back" (274), "Button Task" (275), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260), "Button Unknown" (260)

I am currently using a high end Logitech mouse that have multi-programmable buttons. That is exactly the reason why I fallback to xmodmap instead of using my old 99-wt-natural-scrolling.conf as only evdev supports multiple buttons.

I have tried to do xinput test after I have rebooted without xmodmap setting done. Actually it does not really matter also. The list of properties in the xinput output is the same with or without xmodmap.

Why would you grep by property id? You should grep by device id. And, you cannot do it properly or have it work when you are using xmodmap methods. You will get incorrect numbers as a result. You have to revert your system to default beforehand or it won't work. All mice with scroll wheels and trackpad devices have a scrolling distance property in one form or another.

[dcharlespyle]

I needed to point something else out. The xorg-x11-drv-mouse driver will be obsoleted by Evdev. This has already occurred in F21 rawhide, which is what led up to my starting this thread. When the mouse driver got obsoleted I had frozen mouse problems.

Updated:

I just plugged in in one my Logitech USB mice and got the following

$ xinput list
⎡ Virtual core pointer                    	id=2	[master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer              	id=4	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Microsoft Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v7.0	id=9	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Microsoft Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v7.0	id=10	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Logitech USB Optical Mouse              	id=12	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                   	id=3	[master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard             	id=5	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                            	id=6	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                            	id=7	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Microsoft Microsoft® 2.4GHz Transceiver v7.0	id=8	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ UVC Camera (046d:0821)                  	id=11	[slave  keyboard (3)]

$ xinput list-props 12 | grep "Scrolling Distance"
	Evdev Scrolling Distance (273):	-1, -1, 1

[weitjong]

Perhaps I was not making myself clear. For my case, the list-props shows a list of properties except the "Scrolling Distance". I can use grep to short list anything I want to, instead of just following other example like a fool. I modified the grep command in my last post to proof my point that the property id mapping is not the same as your system, at least on my system.

And I have tested without the xmodmap, of course. But when the prop is not there, it is simply not there.

[dcharlespyle]

What mouse driver and mouse model are you using? Besides that, I never suggested or even entertained the thought that all your device properties would be the same as those on my system.

The Logitech mice I have tested (I only gave one example above) all have a "Scrolling Distance" property in the Evdev driver, just like my Microsoft Mouse does.

[weitjong]

It's evdev (as shown in /var/log/X0rg.0.log) and m950t. As this thread is not about troubleshooting for my case, I will not bother you further with it. I am also quite happy with my current setup with xmodmap, xbindkeys, and xdotool to bind all the buttons.

Again, thanks for sharing this. I believe it will be useful to others and may be myself also in the future after I get rid of this over priced mouse.

[dcharlespyle]

I was actually going to suggest xbindkeys but I see you are ahead of the game. Thanks for sharing information about your configuration. You might want to post a how-to in another thread for those using the same mouse as you are using. That, too, would be most useful.

[sjzurek]

Hi All,

I have Dell WM514 mouse and Dell KM714 keyboard, but it seems that they're made by Logitech.
It works fine on my F21, but after a reboot it goes back to what it was before. Any idea how to make the change persistent?
Also the property id fluctuates. I had:

Evdev Scrolling Distance (286):	-1, -1, 1
Evdev Scrolling Distance (287):	-1, -1, 1

Right now I have:

$ xinput list
⎡ Virtual core pointer                    	id=2	[master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer              	id=4	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Logitech Unifying Device. Wireless PID:4029	id=8	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Logitech Unifying Device. Wireless PID:4015	id=9	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                   	id=3	[master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard             	id=5	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                            	id=6	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                            	id=7	[slave  keyboard (3)]

$ xinput list-props 8
Device 'Logitech Unifying Device. Wireless PID:4029':
	Device Enabled (145):	1
	Coordinate Transformation Matrix (147):	1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000
	Device Accel Profile (277):	0
	Device Accel Constant Deceleration (278):	1.000000
	Device Accel Adaptive Deceleration (279):	1.000000
	Device Accel Velocity Scaling (280):	10.000000
	Device Product ID (266):	1133, 50475
	Device Node (267):	"/dev/input/event2"
	Evdev Axis Inversion (281):	0, 0
	Evdev Axes Swap (283):	0
	Axis Labels (284):	"Rel X" (155), "Rel Y" (156), "Rel Horiz Wheel" (275), "Rel Vert Wheel" (276)
	Button Labels (285):	"Button Left" (148), "Button Middle" (149), "Button Right" (150), "Button Wheel Up" (151), "Button Wheel Down" (152), "Button Horiz Wheel Left" (153), "Button Horiz Wheel Right" (154), "Button Side" (270), "Button Extra" (271), "Button Forward" (272), "Button Back" (273), "Button Task" (274), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269)
	Evdev Scrolling Distance (286):	-1, -1, -1
	Evdev Middle Button Emulation (287):	0
	Evdev Middle Button Timeout (288):	50
	Evdev Third Button Emulation (289):	0
	Evdev Third Button Emulation Timeout (290):	1000
	Evdev Third Button Emulation Button (291):	3
	Evdev Third Button Emulation Threshold (292):	20
	Evdev Wheel Emulation (293):	0
	Evdev Wheel Emulation Axes (294):	0, 0, 4, 5
	Evdev Wheel Emulation Inertia (295):	10
	Evdev Wheel Emulation Timeout (296):	200
	Evdev Wheel Emulation Button (297):	4
	Evdev Drag Lock Buttons (298):	0

Side buttons does not wok at all. Any testing tool shows all buttons working, except from side buttons.

Regards,
Simon.

[dcharlespyle]

Hi All,

I have Dell WM514 mouse and Dell KM714 keyboard, but it seems that they're made by Logitech.
It works fine on my F21, but after a reboot it goes back to what it was before. Any idea how to make the change persistent?
Also the property id fluctuates. I had:

Evdev Scrolling Distance (286):	-1, -1, 1
Evdev Scrolling Distance (287):	-1, -1, 1

Right now I have:

$ xinput list
⎡ Virtual core pointer                    	id=2	[master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer              	id=4	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Logitech Unifying Device. Wireless PID:4029	id=8	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Logitech Unifying Device. Wireless PID:4015	id=9	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                   	id=3	[master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard             	id=5	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                            	id=6	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                            	id=7	[slave  keyboard (3)]

$ xinput list-props 8
Device 'Logitech Unifying Device. Wireless PID:4029':
	Device Enabled (145):	1
	Coordinate Transformation Matrix (147):	1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 0.000000, 1.000000
	Device Accel Profile (277):	0
	Device Accel Constant Deceleration (278):	1.000000
	Device Accel Adaptive Deceleration (279):	1.000000
	Device Accel Velocity Scaling (280):	10.000000
	Device Product ID (266):	1133, 50475
	Device Node (267):	"/dev/input/event2"
	Evdev Axis Inversion (281):	0, 0
	Evdev Axes Swap (283):	0
	Axis Labels (284):	"Rel X" (155), "Rel Y" (156), "Rel Horiz Wheel" (275), "Rel Vert Wheel" (276)
	Button Labels (285):	"Button Left" (148), "Button Middle" (149), "Button Right" (150), "Button Wheel Up" (151), "Button Wheel Down" (152), "Button Horiz Wheel Left" (153), "Button Horiz Wheel Right" (154), "Button Side" (270), "Button Extra" (271), "Button Forward" (272), "Button Back" (273), "Button Task" (274), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269), "Button Unknown" (269)
	Evdev Scrolling Distance (286):	-1, -1, -1
	Evdev Middle Button Emulation (287):	0
	Evdev Middle Button Timeout (288):	50
	Evdev Third Button Emulation (289):	0
	Evdev Third Button Emulation Timeout (290):	1000
	Evdev Third Button Emulation Button (291):	3
	Evdev Third Button Emulation Threshold (292):	20
	Evdev Wheel Emulation (293):	0
	Evdev Wheel Emulation Axes (294):	0, 0, 4, 5
	Evdev Wheel Emulation Inertia (295):	10
	Evdev Wheel Emulation Timeout (296):	200
	Evdev Wheel Emulation Button (297):	4
	Evdev Drag Lock Buttons (298):	0

Side buttons does not wok at all. Any testing tool shows all buttons working, except from side buttons.

Regards,
Simon.

Interesting. All my side buttons work just fine. Did you do the following?

1. Create a file in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d named 20-natural-scrolling.conf.

sudo touch /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-natural-scrolling.conf

2. Open the file using a text editor as superuser:

sudo nano /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-natural-scrolling.conf

3. Put the following contents in the file you created:

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "Natural Scrolling"
        MatchIsPointer "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
        Option "VertScrollDelta" "-1"
        Option "HorizScrollDelta" "-1"
        Option "DialDelta" "-1"
EndSection

4. Save the file and reboot.

Once we get the file squared away to make this permanent we can work on the side buttons if they still don't work. Warning: If you have tried any other method to try to set and make natural scrolling work you have to remove all of those first or they will undo what I have stated here and make it do the opposite.

[weitjong]

Time flies. It has been almost a year since I last tried this. Now that I have upgraded my system to F21, the evdev driver now reports this "Scrolling Distance" property for my Logitech mouse. It does not use the same property-id as the OP but that is totally expected. Using "set-prop" to revert the value does the trick this time round.

[sjzurek]

@dcharlespyle Many thanks!
Your xorg conf file works great. It also works correctly with file manager, where other methods fail (e.g. flipping the wheel buttons sequence).
The buttons that were not working... well, they are working. After some digging I've found that the side buttons work as modifier button. When pressed all buttons have different functions. It works in a way "Fn" button on a keyboard. When pressed wheel left/right becomes back/forward buttons and up/down becomes zoom. Weird mouse...