> Check what you have set currently.
>
> gsettings get org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.mouse
> middle-button-enabled
>
> If this returns false then you can turn this on.
>
> gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.mouse
> middle-button-enabled true
>
> Alan

Thanks for this Alan, do you know what the KDE equiv of this?
Sorry for the dumb question but I've already googled for things like this.

Also, I've run the Scientific Linux Live DVD and my touchpad works fine. It's 
a drastic solution swapping distributions, but so far I haven't found an 
alternative

Try to use xinput for both mouse and touchpad.

 xinput list
# xinput list_props "$device_name_or_number"
xinput list-props 10
Turn on three button emulation.
xinput set-prop 10 "Evdev Middle Button Emulation" 1


Alan