xf86-input-mtrack: The Other Multitouch Trackpad Driver

[blackjay0419]

There are debs for dispad, install them the same way you installed the driver.

The scrolling issue is fixed in the dev branch and will be part of the next release.

Thanks, I have installed the deb for Oneric (though I am using Precise, but the software center said it was installed successfully).
However, how do I start it ?
I type the following command "dispad" on the terminal, and it shows
"[I] using config file: /home/taijan/.dispad"
But I didn't find the config file in the directory ?
Do I miss anything?

[BlueDragonX]

Thanks, I have installed the deb for Oneric (though I am using Precise, but the software center said it was installed successfully).
However, how do I start it ?
I type the following command "dispad" on the terminal, and it shows
"[I] using config file: /home/taijan/.dispad"
But I didn't find the config file in the directory ?
Do I miss anything?

Yes, you did. /home/taijan/.dispad IS the config file. It's not a directory. It's auto-generated on the first run of dispad. You can have your window manager (Gnome/KDE/whatever) start it on login or you can do it manually the way you did it already. To stop it do a "killall dispad" in the terminal.

[nightfrost]

I would like to try to build mtrack from the dev branch (I'm on Precise Pangolin), but I'm not exactly sure how to do it. Does this give me the source code for 'dev'?

git clone https://github.com/BlueDragonX/xf86-input-mtrack.git
cd xf86-input-mtrack
git branch dev
git ceckout dev

and then, is this is how I start, right?

./autoreconf --install --force

Thanks for this driver, by the way! And thanks in advance for any help I might get

[BlueDragonX]

git clone https://github.com/BlueDragonX/xf86-input-mtrack.git
cd xf86-input-mtrack
git branch dev
git ceckout dev
./autoreconf --install --force
./configure && make && sudo make install

You may need to pass --with-xorg-module-dir=SOMEDIR to configure, where SOMEDIR is the install location of the xorg modules.

[nightfrost]

Thanks, BlueDragonX.

make fails though, like this:

./tools/mtrack-test.c:35:5: error: conflicting types for ‘xf86SetIntOption’
/usr/include/xorg/xf86Opt.h:73:22: note: previous declaration of ‘xf86SetIntOption’ was here
./tools/mtrack-test.c:40:5: error: conflicting types for ‘xf86SetBoolOption’
/usr/include/xorg/xf86Opt.h:76:22: note: previous declaration of ‘xf86SetBoolOption’ was here
./tools/mtrack-test.c:45:8: error: conflicting types for ‘xf86SetRealOption’
/usr/include/xorg/xf86Opt.h:74:25: note: previous declaration of ‘xf86SetRealOption’ was here
make[2]: *** [mtrack_test-mtrack-test.o] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/khashayar/Downloads/xf86-input-mtrack-build'
make[1]: *** [all] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/khashayar/Downloads/xf86-input-mtrack-build'
make: *** [build-arch] Error 2
dpkg-buildpackage: error: debian/rules build gave error exit status 2

[nightfrost]

Sorry for the double post, but all of a sudden I'm doubting I get the dev branch using the git commands above.

Here's why: After cloning the git repo, I copied xf86-input-mtrack to xf86-input-mtrack-dev, then:

cd xf86-input-mtrack-dev
git branch dev
git checkout dev
cd ..
diff -Nur xf86-input-mtrack xf86-input-mtrack-dev.

and the results:

diff -Nur xf86-input-mtrack xf86-input-mtrack-dev/
diff -Nur xf86-input-mtrack/.git/HEAD xf86-input-mtrack-dev/.git/HEAD
--- xf86-input-mtrack/.git/HEAD	2012-02-03 13:02:51.155014084 +0100
+++ xf86-input-mtrack-dev/.git/HEAD	2012-02-03 13:23:52.351567897 +0100
@@ -1 +1 @@
-ref: refs/heads/master
+ref: refs/heads/dev
Binary files xf86-input-mtrack/.git/index and xf86-input-mtrack-dev/.git/index differ
diff -Nur xf86-input-mtrack/.git/logs/HEAD xf86-input-mtrack-dev/.git/logs/HEAD
--- xf86-input-mtrack/.git/logs/HEAD	2012-02-03 13:02:51.159014084 +0100
+++ xf86-input-mtrack-dev/.git/logs/HEAD	2012-02-03 13:23:52.351567897 +0100
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 71abf32ba62683de54821329f2470daf9b1e1386 Khashayar Naderehvandi <khashayar@medea.(none)> 1328270571 +0100	clone: from http://github.com/BlueDragonX/xf86-input-mtrack.git
+71abf32ba62683de54821329f2470daf9b1e1386 71abf32ba62683de54821329f2470daf9b1e1386 Khashayar Naderehvandi <khashayar@medea.(none)> 1328271832 +0100	checkout: moving from master to dev
diff -Nur xf86-input-mtrack/.git/logs/refs/heads/dev xf86-input-mtrack-dev/.git/logs/refs/heads/dev
--- xf86-input-mtrack/.git/logs/refs/heads/dev	1970-01-01 01:00:00.000000000 +0100
+++ xf86-input-mtrack-dev/.git/logs/refs/heads/dev	2012-02-03 13:23:48.739567799 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 71abf32ba62683de54821329f2470daf9b1e1386 Khashayar Naderehvandi <khashayar@medea.(none)> 1328271828 +0100	branch: Created from master
diff -Nur xf86-input-mtrack/.git/refs/heads/dev xf86-input-mtrack-dev/.git/refs/heads/dev
--- xf86-input-mtrack/.git/refs/heads/dev	1970-01-01 01:00:00.000000000 +0100
+++ xf86-input-mtrack-dev/.git/refs/heads/dev	2012-02-03 13:23:48.739567799 +0100
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+71abf32ba62683de54821329f2470daf9b1e1386

Shouldn't the contents of those dirs be different?

EDIT: Sorry, found out how to do it:
git clone --branch dev https://github.com/BlueDragonX/xf86-input-mtrack.git

[EnderTheThird]

What gestures are you trying to do? The only supported three and four finger gestures are swiping up/down/left/right.

Sorry, I should have specified. Yes, I was talking about the swiping gestures as mentioned on the github page for the driver.

I've been messing with the xorg.conf more since then, and they seem to be working now that I've set each of them in xorg.conf. I'm now getting it to read "button 10" and whatnot when I test the gestures using xev in the terminal.

If you could be so kind as to answer a few more questions for me, it would make it much easier to finish fussing with this to get it working the way I want:

1. How many "buttons" does this driver support? I'm setting each of the swipe gestures to a button in xorg.conf, but I'm wondering how high up I can go (I'm up to 20+ now with swipe gestures, scale, rotate, etc.).
2. Is there an easier way to apply changes from xorg.conf rather than restarting the machine? I have the 11" MacBook Air, so I've been trying to find a good swipe distance for some of the gestures, and restarting while trying different values is a real pain!
3. Each of the "buttons" I specify in xorg.conf and verify through xev in the terminal, are they seen as mouse buttons? I ask because in CompizConfigSettingsManager I can't get them to work as bindings for things like scale. I specify "Button15" as a mouse binding for a shortcut, but that doesn't work, and doing the gesture won't do anything if I try to enter it as a keyboard shortcut either. What do I need to do to get these gestures working with Compiz so I can re-create the behavior in OS X Lion?

Thanks a ton for all the work you've put into this driver. I can't wait to get it working for me the way I want it to!

[BlueDragonX]

Sorry for the double post, but all of a sudden I'm doubting I get the dev branch using the git commands above.

Here's why: After cloning the git repo, I copied xf86-input-mtrack to xf86-input-mtrack-dev, then:

cd xf86-input-mtrack-dev
git branch dev
git checkout dev
cd ..
diff -Nur xf86-input-mtrack xf86-input-mtrack-dev.

..snip..

Shouldn't the contents of those dirs be different?

EDIT: Sorry, found out how to do it:
git clone --branch dev https://github.com/BlueDragonX/xf86-input-mtrack.git

The "git branch dev" command created a new branch called dev. You should have just done a "git checkout dev" to check out the dev branch.

Or you can do what you ended up doing, which checks out the branch during the clone. The short form of --branch is -b. So:

[code]git clone -b dev https://github.com/BlueDragonX/xf86-input-mtrack.git

How many "buttons" does this driver support? I'm setting each of the swipe gestures to a button in xorg.conf, but I'm wondering how high up I can go (I'm up to 20+ now with swipe gestures, scale, rotate, etc.).

It's however many Xorg supports. I don't know what the upper limit on that is, but I'm sure it's bounded by whatever data type it is. So I'd just keep going until it stops working

Is there an easier way to apply changes from xorg.conf rather than restarting the machine?

All of the config is modifiable via the xinput command, though anything you change there won't be saved across a restart of Xorg.

Just by logging out and logging back in your changes will be committed, since doing so restarts of Xorg. And if that still doesn't work you can restart it manually.

Each of the "buttons" I specify in xorg.conf and verify through xev in the terminal, are they seen as mouse buttons? I ask because in CompizConfigSettingsManager I can't get them to work as bindings for things like scale. I specify "Button15" as a mouse binding for a shortcut, but that doesn't work, and doing the gesture won't do anything if I try to enter it as a keyboard shortcut either. What do I need to do to get these gestures working with Compiz so I can re-create the behavior in OS X Lion?

All of them are mouse buttons. The limitation you're running into is in Compiz Settings Manager (or whatever it's called), not the driver, Xorg, or even Compiz itself. The settings manager won't save values greater than a certain number to the Compiz config, so you have to change it using gconf. Don't recall the specific values in gconf to change, a bit of Googling should get you what you need.

Thanks a ton for all the work you've put into this driver. I can't wait to get it working for me the way I want it to!

You're welcome

[EnderTheThird]

All of them are mouse buttons. The limitation you're running into is in Compiz Settings Manager (or whatever it's called), not the driver, Xorg, or even Compiz itself. The settings manager won't save values greater than a certain number to the Compiz config, so you have to change it using gconf. Don't recall the specific values in gconf to change, a bit of Googling should get you what you need.

First, thanks for the reply. I've been googling for a while now, and I ran into posts regarding what you were talking about as far as the button limit for CCSM, but I don't think that's what I'm running into. I checked with gconf-editor, and the bindings are as I left them. That doesn't appear to be the problem.

I have noticed, however, that when I enter a gesture button as a binding in CCSM, that button no longer registers when I do the gesture in xev. Not sure if that's expected or not.

To be honest, I'm kind of at a loss. In case anyone has found a way to do this and can help me out, I'm basically just trying to recreate Lion's gestures with the following:

• Swipe4UpButton: Scale --> Initiate window picker.
• SwipeLeftButton: Back button (as in browser)
• SwipeRightButton: Forward button (as in browser)
• SwipeDownButton: Page Down.
• SwipeUpButton: Page Up.
• Swipe4DownButton: Either Run dialog or the main Unity menu.
• Swipe4LeftButton: Go to previous tab in web browser (Ctrl+Shift+Tab).
• Swipe4RightButton: Go to next tab in web browser (Ctrl+Tab).

The closest I got was with using commands in CCSM and executing keyboard commands with "xdotool", but still ran into issues with repeating buttons with a single gesture. For example, I got Scale working, but it would go in and out of the Scale plugin as I swiped up with 4 fingers because it would register multiple "button" presses unless I got the distance just right. I checked the driver documentation, and I didn't see a way to keep gesture buttons from repeating within a certain timeframe or anything like that. But if anyone can think of a way to do keep the touchpad from sending multiple button presses with certain gestures, I would be totally OK setting everything up through xdotool.

I've been using Ubuntu for about 6 years now, and I'm not huge on Lion, but I really loved the multitouch gestures. I'm dying to get those stinking things working with a few personalizations in Ubuntu!

[vsanchez1961]

Hi,

I am very happy with mtrack (the problems with cursor jumping when typing is much minimized). However, I have a problem that is driving me crazy and it is that if I use my thumbs to click then the cursor moves too much loosing the position. I guess the large area of the thumb is making the centroid move when pressing as the thumb print increases... what parameter do I need to tweak to try to minimize that????

These are my current settings:

MatchIsTouchpad "on"
Identifier "Touchpads"
Driver "mtrack"
Option "ThumbSize" "35"
Option "PalmSize" "55"
Option "ClickTime" "25"
Option "ScrollDistance" "300"
Option "TapButton1" "0"
Option "Sensitivity" "0.85"
Option "TapButton2" "0"
Option "TapButton3" "0"
Option "ScrollDistance" "175"
Option "FingerHigh" "10"
Option "FingerLow" "10"
Option "IgnorePalm" "true"