Ubuntu on Powerbook G4 (Trackpad Synaptics Two finger scroll multibutton emulation)
November 12th, 2006
After such a long title (mainly for tagging reasons) I suppose I have to write a long article.
One of the things I didn’t really like about Ubuntu standard configuration, was the track-pad.
In fact, although correctly recognized (using the synaptics Xorg driver) default was really poor: the mouse moved so slowly it was unusable. For the first hours you can use an external three button mouse and live happily. However, I wanted to fix my track-pad. I found some articles on the net.
There are plenty of blog posts on this subject and if you use synaptics as a key you find even more. This is a good starting point. However, I strongly advise to read synaptics manual (man synaptics). It is synaptics with a trailing s, not synaptic, the package manager.
If you read the manual, you get a lot of informations about how to configure your trackpad. You also have some GUI configurators (gsynaptics, ksynaptics, qsynaptics). They offer less
Options (but are easier to use).
While I was able to set tracking speed and acceleration correctly (mainly using the link I posted) I’m still somewhat unsatisfied with scrolling facilities. Two finger scroll does not seem to work, and edge scrolling (using the edges of the trackpad to scroll) is far from perfect.
The best thing is that I can use tapping to emulate buttons. Tapping in the right upper corner is a middle click and right lower a right click. Now I can use the powerbook without an external mouse.
I’m to post my xorg.conf. And remember… using ‘radeon’ codecs instead of ‘ati’ should be a good thing (I’ve not investigated, I only read it somewhere)
My XOrg:
# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man /etc/X11/xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg
Section "Files"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc" # path to defoma fonts
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
End
Section "Module"
Load "i2c"
Load "bitmap"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri" #
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10" #
Load "record" #
Load "v4l"
Load "type1"
Load "vbe"
End
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "it"
Option "Xkb
Options" "lv3:ralt_switch"
Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
End
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
End
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "SHMConfig" "true"
Option "MinSpeed" "0.30"
Option "MaxSpeed" "1.10"
Option "EdgeMotionMinSpeed" "200"
Option "EdgeMotionMaxSpeed" "200"
Option "FastTaps" "1"
Option "MaxTapTime" "100"
Option "AccelFactor" "0.030"
Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
Option "VertTwoFingerScroll" "1"
Option "HorizTwoFingerScroll" "1"
Option "CircularScrolling" "1"
Option "CircScrollTrigger" "0"
Option "FingerLow" "1"
Option "FingerHigh" "3"
Option "LeftEdge" "80"
Option "TopEdge" "80"
Option "RightEdge" "850"
Option "BottomEdge" "560"
Option "TapButton1" "1"
End
Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Technologies, Inc. RV350 NP [Mobility Radeon 9600/9700 M10/M11]"
Driver "radeon"
BusID "PCI:0:16:0"
Option "UseFBDev" "true"
End
Section "Monitor" Identifier "Generic Monitor"
Option "DPMS"
End
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "ATI Technologies, Inc. RV350 NP [Mobility Radeon 9600/9700 M10/M11]"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
Default
Depth 24 Sub
Section "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1280x786"
End
Subsection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1280x786"
End
Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1280x786"
End
Subsection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1280x786"
End
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x786"
End
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x786"
End
End
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
End
Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
End
2 Responses to “Ubuntu on Powerbook G4 (Trackpad Synaptics Two finger scroll multibutton emulation)”
1andreas
March 26th, 2007 @ 15:54
Hallo,
why do you use 1280×786. Most Alu-Powerbooks and the latest Ti-Books do 1280×854 but never 1280×786.
2Enrico Franchi
March 27th, 2007 @ 07:09
It’s a typo, I suppose. I do use 1280×854, indeed.
I really don’t understand how it ended up there.
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