Configure the Synaptic Touchpad - Enable Multitouch Emulation

Source: The Debian Wiki Synaptics Touchpad Article

Written for Debian Squeeze, for the Dell Mini 9/10v & Vostro A90. The touchpad used in these models do not support multitouch gestures but it can be emulated.

Create an xorg
in a terminal:

sudo Xorg :1 -configure

Download my touchpad configuration file
- it contains all the options available for the synaptic touchpad driver.
- horizontal & vertical scroll, double tap and two finger middle click are enabled.

Copy the contents in my content configuration file into 50-synaptics.conf.
In a terminal:

sudo mousepad /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf

- if you do not use xfce replace mousepad with your desktop environment's text editor
- you can edit these values to further configure the touchpad driver to your liking.

Reboot your PC or restart x to apply these changes.
In a terminal:
sudo reboot

To learn what all the options do:
in a terminal:

man 4 synaptics

I don't use two finger Mac-like scrolling but to enable it add these options to your 50-synaptic.conf file:

option     "VertTwoFingerScroll"      "1"     # multitouch

option     "HorizTwoFingerScroll"     "1"     # multitouch

Disable The Trackpad While Typing

To disable the trackpad while typing just run this command in the terminal

syndaemon -i 1 -d

In xfce, if you want to start the touchpad delay at boot go to Settings>Xfce 4 Setting Manager
Under Session and Startup, in the Application autostart tab, click Add

Create an entry for the touchpad delay

Name: Touchpad Delay
Description: delay the touchpad 1 second
Command:

syndaemon -i 1 -d

- hit OK and restart your session for the delay to take effect.

Configure Your Synaptic Touchpad With udev

Editors Note -
Configuring the Touchpad in Debian using udev no longer works. Now you have to configure it through xorg. Use this guide to configure your touchpad settings.

----

xserver-xorg-input-synaptics 1.2.1-1 changed the handling of the synaptic touchpad driver from HAL to udev. Due to the switch, custom configuration files in /etc/hal/fdi/policy/ no longer work. In order to get the touchpad to tap to click, horizontal scroll, vertical scroll etc you need to write a udev rules file.

In a terminal type:

sudo gedit /etc/udev/rules.d/65-xorg-synaptics-hubi.rules

In this file copy:

ACTION!="add|change", GOTO="xorg_synaptics_hubi_end"

KERNEL!="event*", GOTO="xorg_synaptics_hubi_end"

ENV{ID_INPUT_TOUCHPAD}!="1", GOTO="xorg_synaptics_hubi_end"

ENV{x11_driver}="synaptics"

ENV{x11_options.VertEdgeScroll}="true"

ENV{x11_options.HorizEdgeScroll}="true"

LABEL="xorg_synaptics_hubi_end"

In this file you can add options and values for ever aspect of the synaptic touchpad driver and configure it to your finger size and personal preferences.

For a list of options for the synaptic touchpad
In a terminal type:

man synaptics

Here is an example I wrote for the Dell Mini 9/Vostro A90

ACTION!="add|change", GOTO="xorg_synaptics_hubi_end"

KERNEL!="event*", GOTO="xorg_synaptics_hubi_end"

ENV{ID_INPUT_TOUCHPAD}!="1", GOTO="xorg_synaptics_hubi_end"

ENV{x11_driver}="synaptics"

ENV{x11_options.LeftEdge}="1600"

ENV{x11_options.RightEdge}="5000"

ENV{x11_options.TopEdge}="1600"

ENV{x11_options.BottomEdge}="4200"

ENV{x11_options.FingerLow}="24"

ENV{x11_options.FingerHigh}="28"

ENV{x11_options.FingerPress}="255"

ENV{x11_options.MaxTapTime}="180"

ENV{x11_options.MaxTapMove}="220"

ENV{x11_options.MaxDoubleTapTime}="180"

ENV{x11_options.SingleTapTimeout}="180"

ENV{x11_options.ClickTime }="100"

ENV{x11_options.FastTaps}="1"

ENV{x11_options.EmulateMidButtonTime}="80"

ENV{x11_options.EmulateTwoFingerMinZ}="66"

ENV{x11_options.EmulateTwoFingerMinW}="12"

ENV{x11_options.VerteScrollDelta}="100"

ENV{x11_options.HorizScrollDelta}="100"

ENV{x11_options.VertEdgeScroll}="true"

ENV{x11_options.HorizEdgeScroll}="true"

ENV{x11_options.CornerCoasting}="0"

ENV{x11_options.VertTwoFingerScroll}="false"

ENV{x11_options.HorizTwoFingerScroll}="false"

ENV{x11_options.MinSpeed}="0.4"

ENV{x11_options.MaxSpeed}="0.7"

ENV{x11_options.AccelFactor}="0.00995"

ENV{x11_options.EdgeMotionMinZ}="30"

ENV{x11_options.EdgeMotionMaxZ}="160"

ENV{x11_options.EdgeMotionMinSpeed}="1"

ENV{x11_options.EdgeMotionMaxSpeed}="400"

ENV{x11_options.EdgeMotionUseAlways}="0"

ENV{x11_options.UpDownScrolling}="1"

ENV{x11_options.LeftRightScrolling}="1"

ENV{x11_options.UpDownScrollRepeat}="1"

ENV{x11_options.LeftRightScrollRepeat}="1"

ENV{x11_options.ScrollButtonRepeat}="100"

ENV{x11_options.TouchpadOff}="0"

ENV{x11_options.GuestMouseOff}="0"

ENV{x11_options.LockedDrags}="0"

ENV{x11_options.LockedDragTimeout}="5000"

ENV{x11_options.RTCornerButton}="0"

ENV{x11_options.RBCornerButton}="0"

ENV{x11_options.LTCornerButton}="0"

ENV{x11_options.LBCornerButton}="0"

ENV{x11_options.TapButton1}="1"

ENV{x11_options.TapButton2}="2"

ENV{x11_options.TapButton3}="3"

ENV{x11_options.ClickFinger1}="1"

ENV{x11_options.ClickFinger2}="2"

ENV{x11_options.ClickFinger3}="0"

ENV{x11_options.CircularScrolling}="0"

ENV{x11_options.CircScrollTrigger}="0"

ENV{x11_options.CircScrollDelta}="0"

ENV{x11_options.PalmDetect}="false"

ENV{x11_options.PalmMinWidth}="10"

ENV{x11_options.PalmMinZ}="200"

ENV{x11_options.CoastingSpeed}="0"

ENV{x11_options.PressureMotionMinZ}="30"

ENV{x11_options.PressureMotionMaxZ}="160"

ENV{x11_options.PressureMotionMinFactor}="1"

ENV{x11_options.PressureMotionMaxFactor}="1"

ENV{x11_options.GrabEventDevice}="1"

ENV{x11_options.AreaLeftEdge}="0"

ENV{x11_options.AreaRightEdge}="0"

ENV{x11_options.AreaTopEdge}="0"

ENV{x11_options.AreaBottomEdge}="0"

ENV{x11_options.JumpyCursorThreshold}="0"

LABEL="xorg_synaptics_hubi_end"

You can download my 65-xorg-synaptics-hubi.rules here.