How can I map keyboard buttons to my mouse buttons?

Question

I have 2 extra buttons on my mouse that I would like to map as "Home" and "End"

I am able to map mouse buttons to my keyboard using xkbset, but I would like to do the reverse and map keyboard buttons to my mouse.

Output of xbindkeys here.

Answer 1

1. Install the package xautomation, we need the command xte

   sudo apt-get install xautomation
   

2. Install the package x11-utils, we need the command xev

   sudo apt-get install x11-utils
   

3. Check the code for the two mouse buttons.

   • Start the command xev in a terminal:

     xev
     

   • Move the mouse in the new window

   • Press your extra mouse buttons

   In my case, note the output button 8 and button 9:

   ButtonRelease event, serial 36, synthetic NO, window 0x2e00001,
       root 0x233, subw 0x0, time 9222464, (94,21), root:(1774,85),
       state 0x10, button 8, same_screen YES
   
   ButtonPress event, serial 36, synthetic NO, window 0x2e00001,
       root 0x233, subw 0x0, time 9223854, (94,21), root:(1774,85),
       state 0x10, button 9, same_screen YES
   

4. Edit your xbindkeys configuration, e.g.:

   nano ~/.xbindkeysrc
   

   and add the following lines

   "xte 'key Home'"
        b:9
   
   "xte 'key End'"
        b:8
   

   Replace b:8 and b:9 with your numbers of xev output

   • from man xte

     key k
           Press and release key k
     
     keydown  k
           Press key k down
     
     keyup k
           Release key k
     

5. Kill all kbindkeys processes

   killall xbindkeys
   

6. Restart xbindkeys with your configuration, eg:

   xbindkeys -f ~/.xbindkeysrc