Simple fix for natural (reverse) scrolling in Lubuntu 18.04

Here is a simple fix for enabling natural (reverse) scrolling in Lubuntu 18.04

Background

The default trackpad scrolling behavior in Lubuntu is still uncomfortable. When I scroll my fingers up, I want the content to move upward, i.e. I want to scroll down the page. The default on Lubuntu, even in 18.04 is still the opposite. So it can feel very unusual if you're used to another system.

Many solutions I found while googling wanted editing of the /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf file or a similar file, usually via the terminal. None of those methods worked for me. 

But there's a much simpler solution I used. I just added a one-line command to the Autostart apps. This is an easy method because it's basically all done graphically by the GUI.  

Test the code first

First, make sure this method will work for you.

1. Go to a webpage and notice your scrolling behavior.

2. Now open a terminal and paste in this command:

synclient VertScrollDelta=-30

3. Go back and check the scrolling.

Is it the opposite now? Is it comfortable and more like a Windows laptop (or like default Ubuntu)?

If so, great. Now we will just tell Lubuntu to automatically run this command every time we log-in. This is because this change is only applicable for each session. We will simply use Autostart to run the same terminal command automatically and silently. 

Add the entry to Autostart

Add the command to Autostart in LXSession

1. In the main menus, go to Preferences > Default applicaitons for LXSession.
2. Click the "Autostart" option on the left.
3. In the box, paste the same code from above.
4. Click "Add."
5. That's it.

Scroll speed

Personally, I find our test value of -30 to be way too fast. To get a slower scroll, raise (well, technically lower) the number. I feel most comfortable at -200 but adjust it to your preference.

Hope that helps.