Tags: trackpads | ubuntu

A few months ago I got hold of a Magic Trackpad. Unless you aren't slightly obsessed by Apple products, this is a Trackpad pointer device from Apple. When I first got it I thought it was very handy, especially for RSI-prone developers like myself. The only problem was I couldn't get it working with Ubuntu Lucid 10.04.

Well now that Ubuntu Maverick 10.10 is out, I've got it working. (Sort of).

First, get the Trackpad working with Ubuntu. You can either follow my instructions, or instructions on the Ubuntu wiki. You can also recurse back to this Blog since Fabian Rodriguez was nice enough to link to this blog.

Then install utouch and input-utils

sudo apt-get install utouch input-utils

Make sure you can move the mouse pointer and click the Trackpad to select items with the Trackpad. Good show if you've got it to work...!

Then use lsutils to see where the Trackpad is connected:

sudo lsinput
/dev/input/event7
   bustype : BUS_BLUETOOTH
   vendor  : 0x5ac
   product : 0x30e
   version : 352
   name    : "Apple Wireless Trackpad"
   phys    : "XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX"
   uniq    : "XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX"
   bits ev : EV_SYN EV_KEY EV_REL EV_MSC

Then log out of your account and log back in. (This restarts X).

You should hopefully have a new section in /etc/X11/xorg.conf. This should be identified with the following:

Section "InputDevice"
     Identifier "Apple Wireless Trackpad"
EndSection

Now comment this out and add a new section:

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier "Apple Wireless Trackpad"
        MatchIsTouchpad "on"
        MatchUSBID "05ac:030e"
        Driver "synaptics"
        Option "SHMConfig" "True"
EndSection

Note that the USBID is taked from the Vendor and Product Id we found above. This should be the same for all Trackpads, but Apple do have a habit of releasing new devices. If your Trackpad doesn't have multi-touch, this is one possible trouble-shooting start-point. (Thanks to Matt who pointed that out in the Comments).

Finally, add the Pointing Devices preferences panel:

apt-get install gpointing-device-settings 

Note that you should match up the MatchDevicePath with the output from lsinput.

Now log out and back in again. You should find that mullti-touch is enabled for the Trackpad. You should be able to right-click by tapping two fingers on the Trackpad...! Now go to the "Pointing Device" preferences, and you should be able to enable vertical scrolling using two fingers.

I still haven't been able to work out how to enable all the Multi-touch taps and swipes on the Trackpad. But when I do, I will post it up here...!

UPDATED : It looks like Middle-Click is working with a Three-fingered tap...! This will give you access to the second Linux Clipboard. (In place copy). I have also added a note about the Pointing Devices preferences that Bobby has highlighted.