It’s a tool that can be used to control features of the “Lenovo ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint”. The official User Guide can be found here: UserGuide (PDF).

This tool uses the hidraw driver and needs at least Linux 2.6.39 in order to work. Using hidraw it can only write settings, not read them, so you have to set everything at the same time. It also supports the hid-lenovo-tpkbd driver which was merged in Linux 3.6. This driver allows changing the settings via sysfs files, so they can also be read.

On most systems /dev/hidraw* and /sys files are writeable only by root, so you will probably have to run this as root.

Usage: tpkbdctl [options]

Options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -l, --list            List all available devices
  -d DEVICE, --device=DEVICE
                        Specify device. Format as printed with --list
  -s SENSITIVITY, --sensitivity=SENSITIVITY
                        Set trackpoint sensitivity. Range 1-255
  -S SPEED, --press-speed=SPEED
                        Set press-speed. Range 1-255
  -p ?, --press-to-select=?
                        Enable press-to-select? (y/n)
  -R ?, --press-right=?
                        Enable press-right? (y/n)
  -D ?, --dragging=?    Enable dragging? (y/n)
  -r ?, --release-to-select=?
                        Enable release-to-select? (y/n)

The higher the sensitivity, the less force you need to move the mouse cursor.

If this is enabled, pressing down the trackpoint generates a click.

This setting determines how fast you have to press to generate a click if Press to select is enabled.

By enabling this, you can not only click by pressing down the trackpoint, but also drag. This depends on Press to select being enabled.

This changes the Press to select feature to generate right-button clicks instead of left-button ones.

This inaptly named option (the name was adopted from the Windows driver) enables double-clicking when using Press to select.

Make sure you have pip installed. The package is usually called python-pip. Then run:

sudo pip install tpkbdctl

To have your preferred configuration set automatically, a udev rule can be used. Place the following code in /etc/udev/rules.d/10-tpkbdctl.rules.

SUBSYSTEM=="hid", ATTRS{idVendor}=="17ef", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6009", ACTION=="add", RUN+="/etc/udev/tpkbdctl_runner"

Customize this according to your needs and save it as /etc/udev/tpkbdctl_runner. Don't forget to make it executable by running chmod 755 /etc/udev/tpkbdctl_runner.

#!/bin/sh

/usr/bin/tpkbdctl -d ${DEVPATH} -s 192 # your settings here

The kernel patch provides additional functionality. It allows you to control the LEDs in the mute buttons and makes the microphone mute button usable. It was merged in Linux 3.6.

It's very convenient to be able to scroll by holding the middle button and moving the TrackPoint up and down. To enable this, save this as /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-trackpoint.conf:

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "Trackpoint Wheel Emulation"
    MatchProduct "ThinkPad USB Keyboard with TrackPoint"
    MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
    Option "EmulateWheel" "true"
    Option "EmulateWheelButton" "2"
EndSection

This tool is licensed under the GNU GPL v2.