Touch, controllers and stylus

Linux apps were made for a mouse and a keyboard. These settings, all under Settings > Input, make the other ways you touch a phone or tablet work in them. They apply in Desktop and Floating mode. The everyday gestures, such as tapping to click and two fingers to scroll, are in The three modes, and a physical keyboard in Keyboard and shortcuts.

Touchpad mode

Touchpad mode turns the screen into a laptop's touchpad for Linux windows. It is free.

• One finger moves a pointer by how far it travels. Faster movements go further.
• Tap to click where the pointer is.
• Hold still, then lift, to right-click.
• Hold, then move, to drag. A tap followed by a tap and move drags too, as on a laptop.
• Two fingers scroll and pinch to zoom, and a two-finger tap right-clicks, at the pointer.
• A three-finger tap is a middle click.

In a floating window Breadstick draws the pointer itself, an arrow with its tip where the click goes.

Mouse buttons on screen

Mouse buttons on screen adds a small bar with L, M and R, the left, middle and right buttons. It is free and works with or without touchpad mode:

• Without touchpad mode, tap a button, then the spot to click. Tap R and then a link, for example, to right-click the link.
• In touchpad mode, the buttons click where the pointer is.

The bar also has a button that switches between direct touch and touchpad mode, so you can change for one task without opening Settings.

On-screen game controls

On-screen game controls puts game controls over Linux windows, for games that expect a keyboard and mouse when all you have is the touchscreen. It is free.

• A thumb stick holds down W, A, S and D, the keys most games walk with, as you push it.
• A mouse-look area turns a drag into mouse movement, for looking around.
• Buttons hold their key or mouse button down for as long as your finger is on them.

Game controllers

Breadstick Pro.

Game controllers brings Bluetooth and USB controllers into Linux games and emulators, up to four at once, with rumble. Connect the controller to Android first, in Android's Bluetooth settings or with a cable, then turn the switch on.

Linux sees every controller as an Xbox 360 controller, whatever it is: an Xbox controller, a DualSense, an 8BitDo or a Switch Pro. Android has already matched its buttons by position, and one well-known layout means games and SDL, which most Linux games use, need no setup. Programs that read controllers directly find them at /dev/input/event200 and up, and /dev/input/js0 and up, so jstest works too. Controllers can come and go while a game runs.

Android cannot hand an app the controller itself, so Breadstick reads it and passes it to Linux programs. A game started from the Linux desktop or the Apps drawer finds the controllers.

Stylus as a pen

Breadstick Pro.

Stylus as a pen sends a stylus to Linux as a pen, with its pressure and tilt, so drawing apps such as GIMP, Krita and Xournal++ draw thicker lines when you press harder. The eraser end of a stylus that has one erases, the side button right-clicks, and the pen moves the pointer while it hovers.

While the pen is near the screen, finger touches are ignored, so a hand resting on the screen does not draw or click.

With the switch off, a stylus works as a mouse, as it did before 3.0.

The keyboard button

Auto-hide keyboard button hides the button that brings up the on-screen keyboard in Linux windows while a keyboard cover or a Bluetooth keyboard is connected.