unexpected levels of jank remain in the #Linux desktop experience: my laptop touchpad's middle button stopped working, but it started working again after I changed to another TTY then back
Sounds like a crash from a memory leak.
@jmw150 ok. I didn't think that much went into switching TTYs. figured it was more like clearing a screen buffer and redirecting some device events. honestly this is the first I've really thought about it at all in 14 or so years of using Linux
@2ck
Hmm, then again maybe not. I do not know.
TTY change would cause a recheck and possible reboot of related drivers. Sudden random failure without user interaction likely means the program reacted poorly to something in its environment that changed.
I am not sure why that driver would need concerns about heap though, on second thought. But, these days you can fit a whole OS on small hardware, like SSDs have one. The hardware shop could have a check to see that they are working on a licensed board, or whatever. Plenty of space for random nonsense.