Man page 1 : synclient

synclient - commandline utility to query and modify Synaptics driver options.

synclient [-m interval]
synclient [-hlV?] [var1=value1 [var2=value2] ...]

This program lets you change your Synaptics TouchPad driver for XOrg/XFree86 server parameters while X is running. For the -m and -h options, SHM must be enabled by setting the option SHMConfig "on" in your XOrg/XFree86 configuration.

• -m interval
      monitor changes to the touchpad state. . Interval specifies how often (in ms) to poll the touchpad state. . Whenever a change in the touchpad state is detected, one line of output is generated that describes the current state of the touchpad. This option is only available in SHM mode. . The following data is included in the output.

• time
      Time in seconds since the logging was started.
• x,y
      The x/y coordinates of the finger on the touchpad. . The origin is in the upper left corner.
• z
      The "pressure" value. . Pressing the finger harder on the touchpad typically produces a larger value. . Note that most touchpads don't measure the real pressure though. . Instead, capacitance is usually measured, which is correlated to the contact area between the finger and the touchpad. . Since more pressure usually means a larger contact area, the reported pressure value is at least indirectly related to the real pressure.
• f
      The number of fingers currently touching the touchpad. . Note that only some touchpads can report more than one finger. . Generally, synaptics touchpads can, but ALPS touchpads can't.
• w
      The w value is a measurement of the finger width. . This is only supported by some synaptics touchpads. . Touchpads that can't measure the finger width typically report a faked constant value when a finger is touching the touchpad.
• l,r,u,d,m,multi
      The state of the left, right, up, down, middle and multi buttons. . Zero means not pressed, one means pressed. . Not all touchpads have all these buttons. . If a button doesn't exist, the value is always reported as 0.
• gl,gm,gr
      Some touchpads have a "guest device". . This is typically a pointing stick located in the middle of the keyboard. . Some guest devices have physical buttons, or can detect button presses when tapping on the pointing stick. . Such button events are reported as "guest left", "guest middle" or "guest right".
• gdx,gdy
      Pointer movements from the guest device are reported as relative x/y positions, called gdx and gdy.
• -l
      List current user settings.
• -V
      Print version number and exit.
• -?
      Show the help message.
• var=value
      Set user parameter var to value.

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

/etc/X11/XF86Config-4

To disable EdgeMotionSpeed:

synclient EdgeMotionSpeed=0

To monitor touchpad events (requires SHM):

synclient -m 100

Peter Osterlund <> and many others.

• This man page was written by Mattia Dongili <>
      .SH "SEE ALSO"

Xorg(1), syndaemon(1), synaptics(4)