Convertibles (hybrid, 2-in-1): Switching between laptop, tent, and tablet modes needed

Attaching relevant files for the case that the Thinkwiki article goes away.

This file must be made executable.

An implementation of mode-switching is also on

https://launchpad.net/magick-rotation

I supports several models of convertibles, so it should contain the appropriate ACPI event information. Not so nice is that it rotates the desktop into portrait mode. The orientation should be automatically set by an orientation sensor or changed by a button press, as in many cases (like video) a tablet is used in landscape orientation.

I told in the initial description that xinput was not working any more. I checked again today and it is working again. So for the script only a way for root to determine the current desktop user is missing.

xinput needs the DISPLAY and XAUTHORITY env variables to be set. For the time being one can hard-code all these variables in the script, at least on machines with only one user account.

The script is a hack, a proper fix is expected in Unity 8.

Attached is a script which works with Saucy, also a hack, but with logind (via loginctl) support added. Works for the time being until we get a real fix.

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

I am currently setting up such a device, Asus ZenBook Flip 15, UX561UD from 2018, and the new Dell XPS 15 9575 2-in-1 will follow in a week or two.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Asus-ZenBook-Flip-15-i7-8550U-GTX-1050-4K-SSD-HDD-Convertible-Review.295860.0.html
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-15-9575-i7-8705G-Vega-M-GL-4K-UHD-Convertible-Review.301916.0.html

For the Asus, the generic laptop functions work out of the box with just two small niggles (bugs are filed) and very little is missing to make conversion features work out of the box. Rotation sensors and touch works perfectly fine (this is on Wayland, X has fewer working touch gestures but basics work too). What is missing is just:

1. Automatically deactivate touchpad when folding to tablet. (The keyboard already turns off. The keyboard has a working key to deactivate the touchpad, these two things only have to be wired together)

2. The new on-screen keyboard (from Gnome 2.28) activates automatically (even when deactivated in Accessibility settings) when touching the search box in the Gnome Activities menu and the applications overview menu. I found no other place where it triggers, not even the first-class Gnome applications like Web. It just has to trigger for every text entry box and we are good.

3. Important and not yet mentioned: This device type has a tent mode, typically for video watching. (It's great because most laptops have air intake grills and speakers at the bottom, which sucks e.g. in bed. Tent mode solves this nicely). However, in tent mode the stereo speakers swap positions relative to the screen, so the stereo channels have to be swapped. This is quite simple on the fly without touching a config file by:

pactl load-module module-remap-sink sink_name=reverse-stereo master=0 channels=2 master_channel_map=front-right,front-left channel_map=front-left,front-right

Then switch to it by:
pactl set-default-sink reverse-stereo

One can also switch in the sound control panel. It will disappear after pulseaudio restart

I didn't come up with the pulseaudio stuff or try it out yet. Credit goes to @ulidtko on https://superuser.com/questions/59481/how-to-swap-stereo-channels-in-ubuntu

And these convertibles are now starting to pop up all over the place, so getting this to work would be a thing now.

Linking the bug about the Gnome on-screen keyboard as is seems to be a general issue that this here bug depends on, and not device specific: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-shell/+bug/1760399

Found out that the on-screen keyboard in Gnome 3.30 behaves differently under X and Wayland. Non-gnome toolkits can't trigger it automatically when selecting text widgets, so it needs to be manually activated.
- Wayland: Swipe up from bottom of screen. Works but difficult to discover
- X: This gesture does not work and another way to activate is needed, discussed in bug #1760399 (the one from the prev. comment.)
- Both: In Gnome 3.30 even selecting Gnome text widgets only rarely triggers it automatically

These usability issues filed as bug #1791551

The above instructions for swapping stereo channels with pulseaudio worked out. The reversed audio sink can easily be made persistent in /etc/pulse/default.pa (as explained in above link). Automation of stereo channel swapping based on sensors would be neat but I didn't figure it out yet, currently I'm using buttons to run scripts. It is also possible to go into Gnome sound settings and choose between the regular and swapped audio sinks.

Automation would have to take into account at least the following configurations:

- Laptop mode:
Regular stereo (left channel on left speaker, right channel on right speaker)

- Display in a kind of flat table position, i.e., at 180 degrees to keyboard, both the display and keyboard facing upward:
Is this a thing that would be used in practice? Should probably default to regular stereo.

- Tent mode:
Swap stereo channels (left channel on right speaker, right channel on left speaker)

- Presentation mode, for want of a better word. Display and keyboard are at similar angle as tent mode i.e. > 180 degrees, but keyboard faces down, keys resting on surface. Effectively the keyboard part functions just a stand for a touchscreen. (Think touch phone or digital photo frame). In the end tent mode achieves the same effect, but e.g. Asus shows off this mode in the first image on https://www.asus.com/2-in-1-PCs/ASUS-ZenBook-Flip-UX561UD):
Regular (left channel on left speaker, right channel on right speaker)

- Tablet mode, display folded back completely:
In landscape orientation, sound follows display rotation, i.e., regular or swapped depending on screen rotation
In portrait orientation, mono sound would probably work best

Vendor's names and articles for this device class use any of convertible, hybrid, or 2-in-1, so I added the terms to title for easier searching

A little update. In the meantime I did create the solution as outlined above, and it works like a charm and super reliably for more than a year now.

It made a Windows-using friend with the same machine envy me because Windows does not do this, and he had been immediately annoyed by this as soon as he used the machine for video watching in tent mode for the first time, being his main purpose.

I have the same with a Lenevo laptop, but is is not clear if there is a workaroud.
When I turn the screen, tablet mode is working fine: phisical keyboard is turned off and virtual one appears. Touchpad get disabled too.

But when I back in laptob mode, keybord is ok, touchpad no: I need to manually re-enable.

What is boring is that sometimes, also when I close the monitor to put pc in standby, it seems the laptop goes in tabled mode and touchpad get disabled.

Is there a workaroud?
IS there info I can provide to help?