Ubuntu 22.04 and Logitech MX Vertical

The Logitech MX Vertical generally works fine in Ubuntu 22.04 out of the box. The only thing that doesn't work is the DPI button.

Here I will show how to make the DPI button usable - it will show the Activities screen (something similar to MacOS App Expose)

Reacting on the DPI button

The first problem to conquer is that the MX Vertical DPI button does not trigger a standard mouse event, but uses a proprietary Logitech protocol - and therefore cannot be handled by a standard Linux tools.

Luckily, there's a software able to handle it - Solaar.

So first of all, let's install it:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install solaar

Once installed, open the app and click Rules editor

Create a user-defined rule as follows:

User-defined rules
  Rule
    Key:      DPI Switch (00FD) (released)
    Execute:  /bin/bash /home/<user>/dpi-button.sh

After this, each press of the DPI button on the mouse will execute a ~/dpi-button.sh script.

Note: you can use any command to be executed in reaction to button click. I find using a custom script easier to maintain.

Showing Activities using command line in Ubuntu 22.04

Now, let's put some useful code inside ~/dpi-button.sh.

In my case I find it most useful to open an Activities screen, which shows all open windows. In fact Ubuntu will show Activities by default as a reaction to pressing the Super key on the keyboard, so our job is in fact to emulate Super key press.

The exact way of achieving it depends on the display manager you're using.

How to check which display manager is used

# Checking which display manager is used 
echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE

Wayland version (default)

If you're using Wayland as a display manager - which is probably the case, as Wayland is a default display manager in Ubuntu 22.04 - you need to install the ydotool tool. Do not install if using apt, it's outdated and buggy (as of November 2022)! Instead, use the following instruction: https://askubuntu.com/a/1413830

Then you can emulate pressing Super (aka Win) key using the following command

ydotool key 125:1 125:0

To sum up, the ~/dpi-button.sh should look like this:

~/dpi-button.sh

#!/bin/bash
ydotool key 125:1 125:0

Note: if the ydotool doesn't work after the reboot, create a following file: ~/.config/autostart/ydotoold.desktop with the following content:

~/.config/autostart/ydotoold.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Name=ydotool deamon
Exec=/usr/local/bin/ydotoold
Comment=Generic Linux command-line automation tool (no X!).
Categories=GNOME;GTK;System;

X.org version

While X.org is not the default display manager in Ubuntu 22.04, however it's still available and possible to use.

How to change Ubuntu 22.04 display manager to X.org

Source: https://askubuntu.com/a/1354342

Edit the file /etc/gdm3/custom.conf and uncomment line:

#WaylandEnable=false

Reboot

Note that if you're using X.org, you might encounter lower performance on 4K displays.

If you're using X.org, use the following command to emulate pressing Super (aka Win) key on the keyboard:

xdotool key super

And by default Ubuntu shows the Activities screen.