I’m new to linux, running last version of ubuntu MATE. Tried to get fusuma to have a better experience with my touchpad (I’m using an hp notebook). I followed the whole guide for ubuntu users on the Github page, created the config.yml using these two commands:

mkdir -p ~/.config/fusuma

nano ~/.config/fusuma/config.yml

Then I used the config.yml file they provided and got the result you see in this image when I launched sudo fusuma, i.e the error :

config file: /root/.config/fusuma/config.yml is NOT FOUND

Then I run just “fusuma” without sudo and the error disappeared, but fusuma does literally nothing. Can someone please help me with this?

This is the first time I installed a Linux distro (I heard it lowers the possibility of getting a blue screen which happened to me lately result of my SSD dying). So I really don’t understand permissions here (how I run things as administrator like in windows) and the difference between root and home clearly, I don’t even know how to uninstall fusuma to try again now!

  • Noogs@lemmy.noogs.me
    2·
    1 year ago

    There’s a bit to explain here. So the root user is basically the equivalent of Administrator. One big difference (there are many) is that when you run something as root using sudo, you are actually running as the root user. When you ran the first command to create the folder, you created it in your home directory using the ~ shorthand variable which points to your /home/ user folder. The second command, also references your home folder. However since your running as root, it’s looking for the file in the root user’s home directory or /root, not your home folder.

    The config file needs to be in the home directory of the user running the command unless you can put the full path to the config file in the command, then you can put it wherever you want.

    • zaknenou@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Okay! But shouldn’t the problem be resolved when I ran “fusuma” without sudo then? It does nothing to the system

  • Dotdev
    2·
    1 year ago

    In the GitHub it is written that you should only use fusuma.

    About that error, in windows, you have two users say administrator and user. Both the users have their own user folder,they can’t tamper with the others users folders right.

    Similarly linux in default install has two users one the root and other the user. When you use sudo you are asking the root to open the file in its folder not in yours.

    • zaknenou@lemmy.mlOP
      1·
      1 year ago

      aaah! okay. So if I’m doing things correctly, why doesn’t fusuma have any effect on my system ?

      • Dotdev
        2·
        1 year ago

        If I am correct mate doesn’t have many touch gestures so there is no effect for it. If you want gestures gnome or kde would be suited. I maybe wrong if so any seniors do correct me 😉

  • d3Xt3r@lemmy.nzM
    1·
    1 year ago

    I’m not familiar with this program, but did you follow the instructions to grant permissions? If you do that, you should be able to run it without using sudo, and it should read the config file from your home folder.

    • zaknenou@lemmy.mlOP
      1·
      1 year ago

      I think I forgot one command, the second one. If so, should I just go again through the whole process or I have to uninstall the changes before that (I don’t know how to do this)

      • d3Xt3r@lemmy.nzM
        1·
        1 year ago

        You shouldn’t have to unistall anything, just reboot and try running the program normally (without sudo).

        • zaknenou@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          I did the installation multiple times yesterday and shutdown my laptop, now I ran fusuma and I can’t even pinch zoom on a PDF

          • d3Xt3r@lemmy.nzM
            1·
            1 year ago

            Did you try this command yet?

            gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.peripherals.touchpad send-events enabled

            • zaknenou@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
              1·
              1 year ago

              I just now opened the terminal and ran this, nothing happened. The I ran “fusuma” and tried pinch zoom and 3 fingers gestures also nothing happened.

              • d3Xt3r@lemmy.nzM
                1·
                1 year ago

                Hmm, in that case I’ve got nothing more sorry, since I don’t use this program myself, nor MATE. You could try asking on fusuma’s github page, or alternatively, I would recommend using Touchégg instead, which is a basically the de-facto program for multi-touch gestures, for people using a non-standard desktop.

                • zaknenou@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
                  1·
                  1 year ago

                  Okay, I tried it (along with touché the gui, and it’s worst here, it breaks the whole system ability to make use of the touchpad. I guess problem with the gnome version of MATE. Thanks for your help bro

  • 🧟‍♂️ Cadaver@lemmy.one
    1·
    1 year ago

    Okay first question is : is MATE absolutely necessary ?

    If not, I would advise you to switch to a distro that uses GNOME or KDE. I’d go for Zorin OS which is really perfect for anyone beginning on Linux.

    In any case, I have a solution that should work no matter the device. It requires you to have libinput and libinput-gestures installed (rather than fusuma which I found buggy and laggy)

    You can find it here : https://lemmy.one/comment/2189433

    I tried my best to make it beginner-friendly — even if it is not. Don’t read the first paragraph which is KDE specific.

    • zaknenou@lemmy.mlOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      is MATE absolutely necessary

      well I’m too tired to format again. I chose it cuz it is just lighweight ubuntu (knowing that ubuntu is pretty popular = I get more support) and I recently got an ssd dying from opening multiple firefox windows so being lightweight is important, also MATE has GNOME2.

      I will try a bit more with fusuma cuz it looks optimal, if it doesn’t work I’ll try libinput. Thank you sir!