LXDE Forums

Hi there,

I am running LXDE on Debian 12 on a fairly old laptop — the Compaq Presario 2800. I can use the touchpad to move the cursor around, but I have to rely on the hard buttons to click. I’d like to extend their lifespan, make things more convenient and enable tap-to-click functionality.

In the Input Device Preferences (Preferences -> Keyboard and Mouse), touchpad options aren’t showing up, and most posts I’ve found are over five years old, referring to drivers that are no longer used. Also, note that I have gpm installed in the console, and tap-to-click works out of the box there.

What is the preferred (or simplest) way to enable tap-to-click nowadays? I don't have libinput or synclient installed.

Many thanks for your help!

The following information is from the Debian Linux Wiki Website, at
https://wiki.debian.org/SynapticsTouchpad, and may be specific to that
configuration.

Create the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf with full 'read'
access, containing the following lines (to "EndSection"):
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "libinput touchpad catchall"
MatchIsTouchpad "on"
MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
Driver "libinput"
Option "Tapping" "on"
EndSection

Note: The directory /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d may also need to be created.

The settings will not be effective until the next login.