What is this?

It’s a tool that can be used to control features of the “Lenovo ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint”. The official User Guide can be found here: UserGuide (PDF).

Requirements and Limitations

This tool uses the hidraw driver and needs at least Linux 2.6.39 in order to work. Using hidraw it can only write settings, not read them, so you have to set everything at the same time. It also supports the hid-lenovo-tpkbd driver which was merged in Linux 3.6. This driver allows changing the settings via sysfs files, so they can also be read.

On most systems /dev/hidraw* and /sys files are writeable only by root, so you will probably have to run this as root.

Usage

Usage: tpkbdctl [options]

Options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -l, --list            List all available devices
  -d DEVICE, --device=DEVICE
                        Specify device. Format as printed with --list
  -s SENSITIVITY, --sensitivity=SENSITIVITY
                        Set trackpoint sensitivity. Range 1-255
  -S SPEED, --press-speed=SPEED
                        Set press-speed. Range 1-255
  -p ?, --press-to-select=?
                        Enable press-to-select? (y/n)
  -R ?, --press-right=?
                        Enable press-right? (y/n)
  -D ?, --dragging=?    Enable dragging? (y/n)
  -r ?, --release-to-select=?
                        Enable release-to-select? (y/n)

Sensitivity

The higher the sensitivity, the less force you need to move the mouse cursor.

Press to select

If this is enabled, pressing down the trackpoint generates a click.

Press-speed

This setting determines how fast you have to press to generate a click if Press to select is enabled.

Dragging

By enabling this, you can not only click by pressing down the trackpoint, but also drag. This depends on Press to select being enabled.

Press right

This changes the Press to select feature to generate right-button clicks instead of left-button ones.

Release to select

This inaptly named option (the name was adopted from the Windows driver) enables double-clicking when using Press to select.

Building and Installing

Make sure you have pip installed. The package is usually called python-pip. Then run:

sudo pip install tpkbdctl

Permanent Setup

To have your preferred configuration set automatically, a udev rule can be used. Place the following code in /etc/udev/rules.d/10-tpkbdctl.rules.

SUBSYSTEM=="hid", ATTRS{idVendor}=="17ef", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6009", ACTION=="add", RUN+="/etc/udev/tpkbdctl_runner"

Customize this according to your needs and save it as /etc/udev/tpkbdctl_runner. Don't forget to make it executable by running chmod 755 /etc/udev/tpkbdctl_runner.

#!/bin/sh

/usr/bin/tpkbdctl -d ${DEVPATH} -s 192 # your settings here

See also

The kernel patch provides additional functionality. It allows you to control the LEDs in the mute buttons and makes the microphone mute button usable. It was merged in Linux 3.6.

Miscellaneous

It's very convenient to be able to scroll by holding the middle button and moving the TrackPoint up and down. To enable this, save this as /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-trackpoint.conf:

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "Trackpoint Wheel Emulation"
    MatchProduct "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"
    MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
    Option "EmulateWheel" "true"
    Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
EndSection

License

This tool is licensed under the GNU GPL v2.