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Barkerto
Asked: 2012-04-28 14:11:16 +0800 CST

How can I personalize my MacBook Pro Touchpad?

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I'm running Ubuntu 12.04 LTS on a MacBook Pro 5.5. I'm just wondering if there is something that takes all the kinks out of the touch-pad. It works good, but it feels sluggish, double tap works about 75% of the time and sometimes while I it somehow selects something on a different page (although I'm not sure if that has to deal with the touch-pad and not weird laptop bugs for a new LTS)

If there are any programs, apps, commands aside from the built in system preferences > mouse and track-pad > touch-pad menu that allow someone to "optimize" touch-pad potential.

touchpad synaptics macbook

5 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    You can modify the relevant section of the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf. If the file doesn't exist, create one. An example file to show you the proper format is this:

    Section "InputClass"
    Identifier         "Touchpad"
    Driver             "synaptics"
    MatchIsTouchpad    "on"
    Option         "ClickFinger3" "2"
    Option         "HorizTwoFingerScroll" "1"
    Option         "VertScrollDelta" "85"
    Option         "HorizScrollDelta" "85"
    Option         "TapButton1" "0"
    Option         "TapButton2" "0"
    Option         "TapButton3" "0"
    Option         "FingerHigh" "8"
    Option         "FingerLow" "8"
EndSection

    You can delete, modify, or add option lines. Here are some frequently used options. (The link refers to another file, but don't worry about that; the path I gave will do the same thing)

    Since it's cumbersome to restart each time to test your configuration, I recommend using synclient at the command line. Here's another Arch wiki link that explains how to use synclient. Besides using it to test values for options, you can also see what the default values are for the options you didn't set.

    • 18

  2. Just use

    sudo apt-get install gsynaptics
gpointing-device-settings

    Graphical interface to control your touchpad. Much easier.

    • 4

  3. Great adjustement Chan-Ho Suh, you can do this changes to get "Natual scrolling":

    Option "VertScrollDelta" "-85" and Option "HorizScrollDelta" "-85"
    • 3

  4. I used the following: make the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file as recommended above:

    # /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier         "Touchpad"
    Driver             "synaptics"
    MatchIsTouchpad    "on"

    then do this:

    $ sudo sh -c "synclient -l | sed 's/    \([a-Z0-9]*\) *= \([0-9.-]*\)/\tOption \"\1\" \"\2\"/' >> /etc/X11/xorg.conf"

    this should dump your current touchpad settings into the file and save you a lot of time, just adjust the values from what shows up as a result. Double check the resulting syntax or you may break your X server. This will also dump the "Parameters..:" something like that line that synclient outputs, you'll need to remove that. I'm not sure how to filter it at the command line level. and dont forget to add EndSection at the end.

    edited for better version of shell command.

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  5. I found an excellent solution in the forums a couple of days ago specifically for macbooks, if it doesn't feel sensitive add this to your startup

    synclient FingerLow=10; synclient FingerHigh=20

    Place any name and add that as your command and that's it.

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