How can I map the Apple Magic Mouse two-finger swipe to a web browser's back and forward functions?

Question

The Apple Magic Mouse appears to work with Ubuntu so far, but only a couple multitouch functions seem to work. With the trackpad, there are lots of other functions with utouch. What I'd really like to do is map two-finger swipes to back/forward in a browser.

Were you able to find the solution? I want to be able to go back/forward too — bakytn, Oct 12 '12 at 17:40
I'm thinking of buying a Magic Mouse, but navigating back and forward is fundamental when browsing the web. — speakman, Nov 20 '12 at 10:04
As far as I know, there's still no way to do this. I wish someone would make a customization tool for the Magic Mouse. — Jonathan, Nov 23 '12 at 22:00
Maybe this blog post will help: http://blog.subutux.be/2011/02/21/the-magic-mouse-under-ubuntu/ — skarz, May 18 '14 at 00:48
combining graphmonkey with vector-tool ?! - then your hand is catching your nose ?! — dschinn1001, Jun 05 '14 at 04:13
I guess i am 7 years late to this thread but has anyone found the solution for gestures since Linux kernel 5.15 officially implemented support for magic mouse 2? — VISUALSOFPOTATO, Apr 30 '22 at 06:43

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 21 '14 at 11:22

I have set up this and many other gestures with touchegg. Install it via:

sudo apt-get install touchegg

Configurate touchegg via its configuration file located here:

~/.config/touchegg/touchegg.conf

Configuration for your desired gestures would be the following.

<touchégg>

<settings>
    <property name="composed_gestures_time">15000</property>
</settings>

<application name="All">      

    <gesture type="DRAG" fingers="2" direction="LEFT">
        <action type="SEND_KEYS">Alt+Right</action>
    </gesture>

    <gesture type="DRAG" fingers="2" direction="RIGHT">
        <action type="SEND_KEYS">Alt+Left</action>
    </gesture>

</application>

It's important to follow the last hint of the FAQ if you want to setup two or three finger gestures.

 synclient TapButton2=0
 synclient TapButton3=0
 synclient ClickFinger2=0
 synclient ClickFinger3=0
 synclient HorizTwoFingerScroll=0
 synclient VertTwoFingerScroll=0

Create an executable shell script and fire it up on startup.

This deactivates the two and three finger taps and clicks of the synaptics driver as well as the two finger scrolling. If you want to keep the two finger tap to be the right mouse button click and the two finger scrolling you have to do it with touchegg as well.

I think the magic mouse reports itself as a trackpad as stated here.

The Magic Mouse isn't reported as a trackpad, but as a mouse. It also isn't one of the touchégg supported devices. — Jonathan, Jan 25 '14 at 19:43

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 11 '14 at 09:13

1

I'm not sure this will work with Magic Mouse, but with Magic Trackpad I successfully used xSwipe to get browser back / forward navigation, workspace switch, Scale and Expo actions.

answered Aug 11 '14 at 09:13

varepsilon

119
3

1

If you read the other replies in this thread, you'll see that what works for the Magic Trackpad definitely doesn't work for the Magic Mouse. They're very different devices. – Jonathan Oct 21 '14 at 19:35

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 20 '14 at 18:34

0

Have you tried touchegg? I was able to define some gestures on my MacBook's touchpad.

http://code.google.com/p/touchegg/

answered Jan 20 '14 at 18:34

kekio

11
2

As far as I can tell, touchégg works with trackpads, but not with mice. – Jonathan Jan 20 '14 at 23:06

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 15 '14 at 05:21

0

Easystroke Gesture Recognition can map a gesture to an aplication. you can findEasystroke Gesture Recognition in ubuntu software centre.

answered Jun 15 '14 at 05:21

adiSuper94

1

I don't want to be able to map a pointer movement to an action, but map a movement on the mouse's surface (without the pointer moving) to an action. – Jonathan Jun 17 '14 at 03:26

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 21 '14 at 11:50

At the moment of writing this, mouse driver hid-magicmouse does not report two-finger swipe any differently than one-finger. So no application level solution is possible. You have to watch the development of kernel module. Magic Mouse is seen in system as a very basic mouse with two scrollwheels. It will not be detected by any touchpad software.
On the contrary, Apple Magic Touch is seen as a very advanced touchpad and can be assigned many more functions than as in MacOS.

How can I map the Apple Magic Mouse two-finger swipe to a web browser's back and forward functions?

5 Answers5