Synaptics touchpad: multitouch works in Ubuntu, Windows, but not in Fedora.

[premudriy]

Hello everyone,

I just found out that many Synaptics touchpads are capable of multi-touch and it's possible to do 2-finger scrolling and more.

I have enabled this functionality in windows and I am sure now that the touchpad inside my laptop is capable of that.

In Fedora 13 (64-bit), however, I was unable to make it working. I found a guide for Linux (Ubuntu) right here: http://linuxformat.co.uk/content/synaptics-multitouch and booted live Ubuntu 10.04. In Ubuntu it multitouch worked without problems after following the guide.

I first thought that I screwed something up on my Fedora and downloaded/ran live Fedora 13 64-bit disk to see if this trick will work with Fedora intact. After trying that guide in live Fedora CD I quickly found out that I couldn't enable multitouch the same way as on Ubuntu.

I have no idea what could be different. Both Fedora and Ubuntu had Synaptics driver installed on live CDs (and on my installed Fedora too).


Also, it seems that Fedora recognizes the touchpad. Here is the output of "xinput list-props 11" (11 is my Synaptics device):

Device 'SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad':
	Device Enabled (119):	1
	Device Accel Profile (236):	0
	Device Accel Constant Deceleration (237):	1.000000
	Device Accel Adaptive Deceleration (239):	1.000000
	Device Accel Velocity Scaling (240):	10.000000
	Synaptics Edges (241):	1752, 5192, 1620, 4236
	Synaptics Finger (242):	24, 29, 255
	Synaptics Tap Time (243):	180
	Synaptics Tap Move (244):	221
	Synaptics Tap Durations (245):	180, 180, 100
	Synaptics Tap FastTap (246):	0
	Synaptics Middle Button Timeout (247):	75
	Synaptics Two-Finger Pressure (248):	280
	Synaptics Two-Finger Width (249):	7
	Synaptics Scrolling Distance (250):	100, 100
	Synaptics Edge Scrolling (251):	0, 0, 0
	Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling (252):	0, 0
	Synaptics Move Speed (253):	0.400000, 0.700000, 0.009952, 40.000000
	Synaptics Edge Motion Pressure (254):	29, 159
	Synaptics Edge Motion Speed (255):	1, 401
	Synaptics Edge Motion Always (256):	0
	Synaptics Button Scrolling (257):	1, 1
	Synaptics Button Scrolling Repeat (258):	1, 1
	Synaptics Button Scrolling Time (259):	100
	Synaptics Off (260):	0
	Synaptics Guestmouse Off (261):	0
	Synaptics Locked Drags (262):	0
	Synaptics Locked Drags Timeout (263):	5000
	Synaptics Tap Action (264):	0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
	Synaptics Click Action (265):	1, 1, 1
	Synaptics Circular Scrolling (266):	0
	Synaptics Circular Scrolling Distance (267):	0.100000
	Synaptics Circular Scrolling Trigger (268):	0
	Synaptics Circular Pad (269):	0
	Synaptics Palm Detection (270):	0
	Synaptics Palm Dimensions (271):	10, 199
	Synaptics Coasting Speed (272):	0.000000
	Synaptics Pressure Motion (273):	29, 159
	Synaptics Pressure Motion Factor (274):	1.000000, 1.000000
	Synaptics Grab Event Device (275):	1
	Synaptics Gestures (276):	1
	Synaptics Capabilities (277):	1, 0, 1, 0, 0
	Synaptics Pad Resolution (278):	93, 62
	Synaptics Area (279):	0, 0, 0, 0

How can I enable multitouch in Fedora?

[doctorwhite]

Try this: http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showth...ight=synaptics

or

yum install gsynaptics for a frontend

[premudriy]

Thank you for replying, doctorwhite. I forgot to write in my first post that I have already tried gsynaptics with no success. Also, in Fedora 13 gsynaptics is said to be superseded by gpointing-device-settings. The checkboxes that are supposed to turn on 2-finger scrolling in gsynaptics don't actually turn it on, almost like it has no effect at all.

I have also tried messing with xorg.conf file and explicitly putting there a section about Synaptics. That didn't work either. Seems like the default section about touchpad in xorg.conf is using a regular "mouse" driver and not synaptics.


The link that you have is useful though. I didn't know about that file. I'll try to modify that and see what I can get.


//------------------
Another thing I found out: I ran Ubuntu again and did "xinput list-props" comparison. In Fedora as in first post I have:

Synaptics Capabilities (277):	1, 0, 1, 0, 0

, but in Ubuntu I have:

Synaptics Capabilities (277):	1, 1, 1, 0, 0

I'm not sure what that means yet, but I would "guess" that some capability is missing in Fedora because the second bit in capabilities is 0.

---------- Post added at 05:41 AM CDT ---------- Previous post was at 05:25 AM CDT ----------

Ok, tried to add the following to 50-synaptics.conf:

Option “VertEdgeScroll” “on”
Option “VertTwoFingerScroll” “on

Rebooted and it didn't work either.

Also, it seems like "System->Preferences->Mouse" settings override any other settings elsewhere. And "Two-finger scrolling" in the standard gnome mouse configuration dialog is grayed out. It was also grayed out in Ubuntu, but doing xinput guide in post 1 works in Ubuntu.

---------- Post added at 06:16 AM CDT ---------- Previous post was at 05:41 AM CDT ----------

And here is a significant problem with synaptics in Fedora that I just found out about: running "synclient -m 100" and putting 2 or 3 fingers on the touchpad doesn't get recognized. The number of fingers on the touchpad is always reported as 1 at most. Is something wrong with the driver?

I think that until I will be able to make synaptics in Fedora recognize 2 finger presses, 2-fingers scrolling will obviously not work. In windows and Ubuntu apparently 2 (and even 3) fingers presses are getting recognized just fine.

I also checked versions of synaptics drivers and seems like fedora has version 1.2.2-6, while Ubuntu has 1.2.2-1. Fedora has newer one, but it's not working...

[knowtown]

I was having the same issues with my HP Pavillion laptop. I tried using the script from the Ubuntu forum that is mentioned in the first post of this thread (thanks for that link, premudriy!) and the touchpad seems to be better. Still not working perfectly but the two finger scrolling is working finally. But I have to keep my two fingers very close together.

The problem I am having is that with this particular trackpad, the buttons are at the bottom of the pad but still part of the pad. So if I try to click and drag the mouse cursor gets all wacky. It is like the trackpad interprets the button area as part of the directional area and so the two fingers at that point work against each other.

In any case, I am farther along than I was. Thanks!

[premudriy]

You're welcome! Even if I won't get 2-finger scroll working on my laptop, at least now my post has helped someone else, and that's very nice. I'm still not loosing hope yet for my touchpad...

[assen]

Hi,

I have 32-bit F13 and Synaptic. Simply went to System - Preferences - Mouse and changed the touch-pad settings (the radio button) to enable two-finger scrolling. Doesn't this work for you?

WWell,

[Falven]

That option is disabled for me, unfortunately :/

[premudriy]

Yeah, same thing for me: that option is disabled/greyed out on my laptop. I have 64-bit Fedora though. Not sure if that option would also be greyed out on 32-bit version.

[Falven]

Also 64 bit here...

[premudriy]

So, maybe it's something related to 64-bit Fedora only? Ubuntu, on which I tried and it worked, was also 32-bit. I didn't try Ubuntu 64-bit.

I'm going to download Fedora 32-bit Live CD and see if that option in mouse settings is disabled there or not and whether the guide from post 1 works for Fedora 32-bit.

[dd_wizard]

Try this:

[gene@Mobile-PC ~]$ synclient VertTwoFingerScroll=1

It seems to work on my Toshiba laptop running x86_64 Rawhide. You can use synclient -l to see all the options that synclient can set. It's provided by xort-x11-drv-synaptics.

dd_wizard

[knowtown]

I am running Fedora 13 32-bit on my HP Pavillion and the option is grayed out on mine as well. I will try some of the other suggestions and update in the morning.

[premudriy]

Try this:

[gene@Mobile-PC ~]$ synclient VertTwoFingerScroll=1

It seems to work on my Toshiba laptop running x86_64 Rawhide. You can use synclient -l to see all the options that synclient can set. It's provided by xort-x11-drv-synaptics.

dd_wizard

Unfortunately, "synclient" trick also doesn't seem to be working on my system
The VerTwoFingerScroll value is being set to 1 when I do "synclient -l" again, but it has no effect and 2-fingers scroll still doesn't work.

[Falven]

Unfortunately, "synclient" trick also doesn't seem to be working on my system
The VerTwoFingerScroll value is being set to 1 when I do "synclient -l" again, but it has no effect and 2-fingers scroll still doesn't work.

QFT Same :/

[premudriy]

@dd_wizard: would you, please, be so kind to do the following:

1) run ""xinput list-props <dev#>" on your Synaptics device. I'm specifically interested to know what value "Synaptics Capabilities" variable has on your laptop.

2) also run "synclient -m 100" and see if your touchpad recognizer 1 and 2 (maybe even 3) fingers.

---------- Post added at 12:29 PM CDT ---------- Previous post was at 08:16 AM CDT ----------

...or someone else who has his/her touchpad multitouch feature working, please, provide the above info for me.

---------- Post added at 12:40 PM CDT ---------- Previous post was at 12:29 PM CDT ----------

OMG! I reinstalled Fedora from scratch and suddenly the instructions in my first post started to work. I don't know what happened on my previous installation. I must have screwed something up.

I first thought that this is related to SHMConfig being on/off, but now no matter what I do the guide in the first post works.

Now all I need to do is put those 4 lines from the guide link to auto-load on startup and I'm all set.

Thank you everyone for participation!


Unfortunately, I don't have any tips for other people having problems other than re-install Fedora. That's what I did and it worked for me.

---------- Post added at 01:26 PM CDT ---------- Previous post was at 12:40 PM CDT ----------

Ok, after some more experimenting I found out that putting the "xinput..." commands from the guide in .bachrc or in System->Preferences->Autostart Application (with separate script) does not work. The reason for this is that something else overrides the settings on startup.

So, I made a dirty fix by delaying initialization. I customized settings in the script below and put it in "Autostart Applications" list:

#!/bin/bash
sleep 5
xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Two-Finger Scrolling" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling" 8 1 1
xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Pressure" 32 10
xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Width" 32 8
xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Circular Scrolling" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Palm Detection" 8 1
xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Scrolling Distance" 32 200 200
xinput set-prop --type=float "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Circular Scrolling Distance" 0.4
#xinput list-props 'SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad'

Now I have slightly different question: I have a button that enables/disables touchpad in windows and it produces SymCode 191. So, how can I make it in Fedora that when I press that button some script would execute? I would then make a script that queries state of Synaptics pad and enables/disables the touchpad by executing yet another xinput command.

Basically, how do I assign some button to execute something in Fedora?

---------- Post added at 02:40 PM CDT ---------- Previous post was at 01:26 PM CDT ----------

I just discovered a program called "xbindkeys", which allows to run something on a given key press. It works absolutely beautifully with my hot button on the laptop. I wrote this small bash script which is invoked by touchpad on/off button. Maybe it will be useful for someone else as well:

#!/bin/bash
if [ `xinput list-props 'SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad' | grep 'Synaptics Off' | cut -c23-23` -eq 0 ]
then
xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Off" 8 1
else
xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Off" 8 0
fi

Now I can turn my touchpad on/off with a button that was initially designed to do this task