trackpad gestures for switching workspaces - Desktop Customization & Workflow

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sth
Long time nixers
i have a thinkpad and use the trackpoint exclusively for mousing, so there's a big part of my wristrest that sits there and does nothing. i used to have a mac and i really liked having the ability to swipe between workspaces using the trackpad. a lot of *nix DEs have the ability to interpret gestures but with WMs, you're pretty much stuck configuring it yourself.

today i decided to get this working and it was a lot easier than i thought it would be. this applies to linux - i haven't tested it on anything else and i don't know if libinput even works on other OSes so ymmv.

requirements:
libinput-gestures
xdotool (for non EWMH WMs) or wmctrl (for EWMH WMs)

instructions:
install libinput-gestures and xdotool but hold off on starting libinput-gestures.
in your wm, configure keyboard shortcuts to switch workspaces/groups*.
for example, in cwm, create bind-key lines for group-cycle and group-rcycle (probably works best with sticky groups).

next, open the libinput-gestures config file and find the swipe left/right gestures and change the xdotool command to match the wm binding.

finally, reload your wm config and start libinput-gestures.

*if you can send a command directly to your wm, i think you can just replace the xdotool command with the workspace switching command and skip adding a keybind to your wm config. i haven't tested this though. this could be pretty useful in conjunction with wmutils!
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Messages In This Thread
trackpad gestures for switching workspaces - by sth - 17-04-2020, 11:11 PM