trackball with 360° scroll?

[matt3o]

I'm looking for trackball that by pressing a button (or holding it) converts the ball to a 360 deg. scroller (basically in a 2D mouse wheel). Does something like that exist?

[mtl]

You can do that with a TrackPoint + middle button. Maybe there's a way to use the same settings on a trackball?

[bhtooefr]

Actually, if it's got a third button, most stuff set up for a scroll mouse should treat it the same way, I'd think, as clicking the wheel on a scroll mouse. (Which gives 2-axis scrolling with mouse movement.)

[matt3o]

that must be firmware dependent

[matt3o]

okay. I found a very nice solution, if you are on linux it works on any trackball (or even mouse).

open or create the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-evdev.conf and add the following section:

Code: Select all

Section "InputClass"
	Identifier  "Mouse0"
	Driver "evdev"
	MatchIsPointer "on"
	MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"

	Option "EmulateWheel" "true"
	Option "EmulateWheelButton" "9"

	Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
	Option "XAxisMapping" "6 7"
EndSection

now if you press the button #9 (usually the forward button) you get a 360° free scroller using the ball.

Added to the 101 reasons why I love linux.

[Findecanor]

Great stuff, matt3o! Added to the wiki.