binding back/forward to mouse buttons

1. Install the package xautomation, we need the command xte:

   sudo apt-get install xautomation
   

2. Install the package x11-utils, we need the command xev:

   sudo apt-get install x11-utils
   

3. Check the code for the two mouse buttons.

   • Start the command xev in a terminal:

     xev
     

   • Move the mouse in the new window

   • Press your wheel left and wheel right.

   In my case, note the output button 6 and button 7:

   ButtonRelease event, serial 36, synthetic NO, window 0x2e00001,
       root 0x233, subw 0x0, time 9222464, (94,21), root:(1774,85),
       state 0x10, button 6, same_screen YES
   
   ButtonPress event, serial 36, synthetic NO, window 0x2e00001,
       root 0x233, subw 0x0, time 9223854, (94,21), root:(1774,85),
       state 0x10, button 7, same_screen YES
   

4. Edit your xbindkeys configuration, e.g.:

   nano ~/.xbindkeysrc
   

   and add the lines below

   "xte 'keydown Alt_L' 'keydown Left' 'keyup Left' 'keyup Alt_L'"
        b:6
   
   "xte 'keydown Alt_L' 'keydown Right' 'keyup Right' 'keyup Alt_L'"
        b:7
   

   Replace b:6 and b:7 with your numbers of xev output.

   • From man xte:

     key k
           Press and release key k
     
     keydown  k
           Press key k down
     
     keyup k
           Release key k
     

5. Kill all xbindkeys processes:

   killall xbindkeys
   

6. Restart xbindkeys with your configuration, e.g.:

   xbindkeys -f ~/.xbindkeysrc
   

Fix Scrolling Speed and back/forward buttons on a Logitech G900 (should be the same for this one):

xev didn’t work for my mouse, I used the command xinput to find out the device ID of my mouse first. To list the Input devices:

 # xinput 
⎡ Virtual core pointer                      id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Logitech Gaming Mouse G900                id=8    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Logitech Gaming Mouse G900                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)]
    ↳ HD Pro Webcam C920                        id=11   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Logitech Gaming Mouse G900                id=12   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Apple Inc. Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad id=10   [slave  keyboard (3)]

and then use xinput test 8 (this is the mouse id, 9 didn't give any output) to find out that the side buttons are actually button 8 and 9 (just press them and look at the output to see which buttons you press).

I have previously installed imwheel to adjust mouse scrolling speed already

Create a .imwheelrc like this:

cat >~/.imwheelrc<<EOF
".*"
None, Up, Button4, 5 
None, Down, Button5, 5
None, Thumb1, Alt_L|Left
None, Thumb2, Alt_L|Right
EOF

Where the ".*" means, use that config for all x-windows. If you want to use that config only in chrome, for example, you could insert there "^google-chrome$".

You can use xprop WM_CLASS | grep -o '"[^"]*"' | head -n 1 and then click a windows, to get the Name which should be in the config.

The None part in the first column means Mouse button klicks are registered without holding any modifier keys (e.g. Shift, Ctrl, Alt) at the same time.

Button4 and Button5 are typically the Mousewheel. The 5 at the end of the line defines the scroll speed (higher is faster, lower is slower)

I have no idea what the ThumbN means.

The Alt_L|Left should emulate holding down the left Alt key (Alt_L), and pressing the left arrow (←) key to go back in the browser. KP_Left instead of Left would also work.

Restart imwheel with killall imwheel and imwheel.

Note: you have to reopen the windows to take effect.

To find the Button Names use the listing by xmodmap -pke or the Graphical interface from it xkeycaps

I used many sources. To honor some of them: Another post on same topic Also about mouses example imwheelrc file

There are multi mouse button instructions here and xorg.conf info here.

Essentially, you mess around with xinput. (Or imwheel for more options.)

First, open a Terminal. List your input devices:

# show all input devices
xinput list

You'll get something like this:

$ xinput list
⎡ Virtual core pointer                          id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Microsoft Natural® Ergonomic Keyboard 4000        id=11   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ Evoluent VerticalMouse 4                  id=12   [slave  pointer  (2)]

I have an Evoluent VerticalMouse. You can see the identifier number is 12: "id=12".

I can test my mouse with:

# show all input from device with identifier number 12
xinput test 12

Now when I move my mouse or click, I get output in that terminal telling me what button I pressed. Hit Ctrl-c to end the test.

If your back/forward buttons aren't giving you output, try resetting your button map to the default with set-button-map. Note that I'm using my device name that was output by xinput list:

xinput set-button-map "Evoluent VerticalMouse 4" 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Now try running xinput test with your id. If you're getting correct button responses here, then you just need to figure out the mapping you want and update your xorg.conf. (I don't know how to do that yet.)

After much flailing about, I found that to get the two small triangular buttons under the thumb (next to the thumb wheel) to work as back/forward with my Logitech MX Master, I had to:

Install imwheel, and then edit ~/.imwheelrc to look like this:

".*"
None,      Up,   Button4, 5
None,      Down, Button5, 5
Control_L, Up,   Control_L|Button4
Control_L, Down, Control_L|Button5
Shift_L,   Up,   Shift_L|Button4
Shift_L,   Down, Shift_L|Button5
None, Thumb1  , Alt_L|Left
None, Thumb2  , Alt_L|Right

The bottom two lines mean that pressing the lower of the two thumb buttons ("Thumb1", apparently) without holding any modifier keys (e.g. Shift, Ctrl, Alt) at the same time (that's the "None" part) should emulate holding down the left Alt key (Alt_L), and pressing the left arrow (←) key to go back in the browser.

Similarly, the "Thumb2" line generates the left Alt key plus the right arrow, to go forward.

It looks like there are a number of different ways to do this, but this is what I found and worked for me in Ubuntu 18.04. I had a little trouble interpreting what the man page for imwheel was telling me to do, so I hope this helps someone out.

After you edit the .imwheelrc file, don't forget to restart imwheel to make the changes take effect:

sudo imwheel -k