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Wilsonzaizai
Asked: 2010-10-12 11:52:37 +0800 CST

Multitouch on Acer Aspire 4740

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How can I enable multi touch in Ubuntu 10.10 for my Acer Aspire 4740 notebook ?

Screen 14.1-inch glossy LED-backlit
1366x768 res 
CPU Intel Core i5-430m 2.26GHz 
RAM 1GB DDR3 
HDD 320GB 
Graphics Onboard Intel GMA HD 
USB Ports 3 
DVD Writer Yes 
Gigabit Ethernet Yes 
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n 
HDMI/eSATA/FireWire Yes/No/No 
Multicard Reader Yes 
ExpressCard Slot No
10.10 multi-touch acer aspire

4 Answers

  1. This page describes the necessary steps to enable multi-touch.

    I used it as guide and was able to activate multi-touch on my system.

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  2. If your laptop built with Synaptics touchpad you need to install the synaptics drivers for your environment. To configure, you need gsynaptics configuration tool as well. With tose you can enjoy moultitouch features.

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  3. Multitouch and the synaptics driver are installed and ready for use. Have you checked the touchpad settings under System > Preferences > Mouse and the Touchpad tab?

    If you are not able to activate multitouch like me:

    alt text

    you can force the setting by

    gconftool-2 --set --type=int /desktop/gnome/peripherals/touchpad/scroll_method 2

    If multitouch is not working after this, try a reboot. If it is still not working, try the following script:

    #!/bin/bash
# list of synaptics device properties http://www.x.org/archive/X11R7.5/doc/man/man4/synaptics.4.html#sect4
# list  current synaptics device properties: xinput list-props "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad"
#

sleep 2

xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=32 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Pressure" 10

#   Below width 1 finger touch, above width simulate 2 finger touch. - value=pad-pixels
xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=32 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Width" 7        

#   vertical scrolling, horizontal scrolling - values: 0=disable 1=enable
xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=8  "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling" 1 1   

#   vertical, horizontal, corner - values: 0=disable  1=enable
xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=8  "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Edge Scrolling" 0 0 0       

#   stabilize 2 finger actions - value=pad-pixels
xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=32 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Jumpy Cursor Threshold" 120 

#xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=8 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Tap Action" 0 0 0 0 1 2 0

    If this makes it work, put it in a file, make it executable and add it to your Startup Applications.

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  4. Create the following file with this command

    sudo gedit /etc/hal/fdi/policy/99-x11-synaptics.fdi

    And paste this into it.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
   <deviceinfo version="0.2">
   <device>
      <match key="input.x11_driver" string="synaptics">
         <merge key="input.x11_options.SHMConfig" type="string">on</merge>
         <merge key="input.x11_options.SendCoreEvents" type="string">true</merge>
         <merge key="input.x11_options.VertTwoFingerScroll" type="string">true</merge>
         <merge key="input.x11_options.HorizTwoFingerScroll" type="string">true</merge>
         <merge key="input.x11_options.EmulateTwoFingerMinZ" type="string">35</merge>
         <merge key="input.x11_options.EmulateTwoFingerMinW" type="string">8</merge>
         <merge key="input.x11_options.VertEdgeScroll" type="string">false</merge>
         <merge key="input.x11_options.HorizEdgeScroll" type="string">false</merge>
         <merge key="input.x11_options.JumpyCursorThreshold" type="string">245</merge>
         <merge key="input.x11_options.RBCornerButton" type="string">0</merge>
         <merge key="input.x11_options.TapButton2" type="string">3</merge> <!-- right button -->
         <merge key="input.x11_options.TapButton3" type="string">2</merge> <!-- not functional -->
         <merge key="input.x11_options.FingerHigh" type="string">41</merge>
      </match>
   </device>
</deviceinfo>
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