Adjust double click interval?

[arist]

I'm still using Karmic (KDE 4.3.2), but this has been a problem in every version of Kubuntu, and I assume it still is. I would like to increase the double click interval on my mouse. Currently I have to click the second time within a tenth of a second or so after the first in order for it to be recognized as a double click. Because of a mild disability this is nearly impossible to pull off. I have changed the value in System Settings, trying everything between 0 and 2000 milliseconds, but it has no effect on the mouse. I know I am not the only one with this problem, but I wonder if my hardware is partly to blame. Has anyone succeeded in altering this setting?

[Snowhog]

Re: Adjust double click interval?

Try accessing the mouse settings control via the console as root:

kdesudo kcmshell4 mouse

And making the delay changes.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Adjust double click interval?

Or,
KMenu --> Settings --> System Settings --> Input Devices --> Mouse (Snowhog's method gets you to here) --> Advanced.

[Snowhog]

Re: Adjust double click interval?

GreyGeek@

My suggestion is to ensure that the Mouse applet of kcmshell4 is actually executed as root. In earlier releases of KDE4, there were issues with some of the System Setting applets change options either greyed out, or changes made didn't actually 'save'. Launching the applet via the console with kdesudo kcmshell4 ensures that it is being run with roots authority, and so, ensuring any changes made are saved.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Adjust double click interval?

As I thought. 8)

I included the GUI approach merely as a comparison. It would be a lot easier for arist to pop open a Konsole and C&P your command into that, than to click through the GUI.

Over time I got lazy and used the GUI for admin work more and more, but being on this forum for the last two years has renewed my use of the CLI to do admin work. I've switched from 90-10 GUI to 90-10 CLI. My main problem is that my 70 year old brain can't remember CLI commands and parameters as easily as it use to.

[arist]

Re: Adjust double click interval?

Try accessing the mouse settings control via the console as root:

kdesudo kcmshell4 mouse

And making the delay changes.

This brings up the same dialog as in System Settings>Mouse and Keyboard>Mouse, but changing the value as root also had no effect. Further, changing the value as root does not change the value as displayed in System Settings>Mouse and Keyboard>Mouse>Advanced. Which leads me to wonder if it really is being saved.

I've experimented little more and have come to the conclusion that there is a difference in the interval between KDE and non-KDE apps. In Kate, KMail and KWrite it's nice and long, almost a second. In Firefox, Thunderbird, and J-Pilot it's impossibly short. Neither interval is affected by changes made in the settings, as root or not.

[Snowhog]

Re: Adjust double click interval?

Well, that would be the case. kcmshell4 mouse (and/or System Settings) affects KDE applications, not those written for Gnome apps.

[arist]

Re: Adjust double click interval?

So I take it that there is no way to set the interval in Kubuntu for the system.

For the record, I can't get kcmshell4 mouse to affect KDE apps, either.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Adjust double click interval?

Try it through the GUI, without using root. When you change the delay the "Apply" button will ungray and you can click it. Then check your KDE apps.

[nostradomis]

Try it through the GUI, without using root. When you change the delay the "Apply" button will ungray and you can click it. Then check your KDE apps.

I have been searching for an answer to this problem for months. I have a physical disability that makes my click speed slow 800ms works fine. The problem is exactly defined -- the interval for non kde apps is different than kde apps -- too short -- kcmshell4 only changes kde app interval.

In my search, I have narrowed down the problem to kubuntu's port of kde;

Not Hardware- I installed 4 different computers with a combination of 5 different mice. Problem always present.
Not version - I have installed every ver. since 10.04. Problem persists. If I boot same system into Gnome or Unity all apps work perfectly -- no interval problems

I installed Fedora 16 and problem goes away as with Gentoo and Slackware.

I want to use kubuntu.

I have looked into xinput, xorg.conf, xset, HAL, etc. It seem that 'double click' is not an actual event. It's a single click event with a sleep x followed by another single click event.

I'm just looking to fix the kubuntu bug.

Thanks for any help.

[woodsmoke]

I'm gonna go WAAAAY out on a limb here and suggest going to a computer store that will let one open packages and try the "wave in the air" mouse.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that it works on a flat surface like a regular mouse also.

I have this one, from about five years ago and it has a programmed in longer delay for the mouse click because one is clicking "in the air" and sometimes things get "jiggy" on the screen. I used it with both Windblows and a Linux setup, which was, and is, a gnome from 5 years ago.

I never actually "set the time" but I did notice that it was "longer". I used it for testing whether one could actually do things like word processing etc on a home theatre screen but mainly to play games.



http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gyration-Wir...item2c62b6f3e4

BUT DO NOT PURCHASE without testing, because my rememberance may be wrong, and I no longer have the system setup.

woodsmoke

[oshunluvr]

I suspect this is a Ubuntu problem that has spilled over into Kubuntu, never-the-less, try this:

Open Kate or whatever text editor you prefer
Type *multiClickTime: 800
(Use whatever milliseconds you desire, 250 is the default)
Save the file as .Xresources in your home directory
Log out and then back in.

[nostradomis]

In this thread yesturday, I said that the problem was narrowed down to ubuntu's port of KDE. I have t ried .xresources to no avail:

echo *multiClickTime: 800 >~/.Xresources
xrdb -merge .Xresources

The same versions of kubuntu when booted to Unity or any version of gnome work fine work fine as well as other distros of KDE.

Kubuntu has a bug (easily repeatable): mouse settings change mouse double click interval correctly, but the interval for non-KDE apps (firefox, chrome,etc) stays at about 200 ms. This bug has persisted through different versions probably because most people don't notice. I asked my wife to try to double click select text in Chrome on Kubuntu 11.10 and it works without fail.

As a workaround I installed mousetweaks and wrote a bash script:

#!/bin/bash
/usr/bin/mousetweaks --dwell --dwell-time=1.2 -t 20 --ssc --ssc-time 1.2

I then added the the script to startup in KDE.

[nostradomis]

I filed bug reports:

https://bugs.kde.org/post_bug.cgi
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/936463

[nostradomis]

Kde uses qt while gnome, firefox, chrome,and others use gtk. System settings in Ubuntu's port of kde only sets the double click inteval for qt. Hence gtk apps are left at 200ms (default).

A workaround for this:

edit ~/.gtkrc-2.0
add gtk-double-click-time = 800 (800 is ms, change as desired)

Restart gtk applications and they should work.

This is still a bug as other distros synchronize the interval automatically.