I’ve been having trouble getting GNOME to function for me in a lot of ways, one of which I’ve tried to get help for here in the forums. Someone I know offline recommended switching to Plasma, which according to the Purism website <https://puri.sm/posts/gnome-and-kde-in-pureos-diversity-across-devices/>, is supported in PureOS. I tried installing it, and after rummaging through the configuration menus, I had it mostly working. But I’m noticing that the two-finger tap for left click doesn’t work, nor does the three-finger tap for middle click. And for some reason, these Librem machines don’t have the hardware buttons that would make mouse use easy.
How do I use left-clicking and middle-clicking in KDE Plasma on a Librem laptop?
I found the option to enable mouse button emulation in Plasma. Go to “System Settings” => “Input Devices” => “Touchpad”. It’s still really annoying that there aren’t hardware buttons though. Often times, I don’t hit the touchpad just right, so the wrong type of click is used, and certain games become much harder to play too. Clicking and dragging is a pain, as you have to press down on the touchpad to activate the one actual mouse button, and then drag while pressing down, which causes enough friction to make precise movement a pain. I really hope future Librem laptops come with actual, hardware mouse buttons.
To click and drag, double-tap and hold the second tap. Drag whatever you’re dragging to wherever you’re dragging it, then release.