Configuring Synaptics Touchpad in Ubuntu

If you want to take advantage of the more advanced features of your Synaptics touchpad in Ubuntu, such as two-finger scrolling, multitouch and circular scrolling (or chiral scrolling), then you'll need to know how to configure it.

Open a terminal and type:

synclient -l                                                                      


This will list the current touchpad settings, which might look something like this:

pchelptech@ubuntu:~$ synclient -l

Parameter settings:

    LeftEdge                = 1773

    RightEdge               = 5471

    TopEdge                 = 1665

    BottomEdge              = 4829

    FingerLow               = 24

    FingerHigh              = 29

    FingerPress             = 255

    MaxTapTime              = 180

    MaxTapMove              = 248

    MaxDoubleTapTime        = 180

    SingleTapTimeout        = 180

    ClickTime               = 100

    FastTaps                = 0

    EmulateMidButtonTime    = 75

    EmulateTwoFingerMinZ    = 280

    EmulateTwoFingerMinW    = 6

    VertScrollDelta         = 113

    HorizScrollDelta        = 113

    VertEdgeScroll          = 1

    HorizEdgeScroll         = 1

    CornerCoasting          = 0

    VertTwoFingerScroll     = 0

    HorizTwoFingerScroll    = 0

    MinSpeed                = 1

    MaxSpeed                = 1.75

    AccelFactor             = 0.0353482

    TrackstickSpeed         = 40

    EdgeMotionMinZ          = 29

    EdgeMotionMaxZ          = 159

    EdgeMotionMinSpeed      = 1

    EdgeMotionMaxSpeed      = 452

    EdgeMotionUseAlways     = 0

    TouchpadOff             = 0

    LockedDrags             = 0

    LockedDragTimeout       = 5000

    RTCornerButton          = 2

    RBCornerButton          = 3

    LTCornerButton          = 0

    LBCornerButton          = 0

    TapButton1              = 1

    TapButton2              = 3

    TapButton3              = 2

    ClickFinger1            = 1

    ClickFinger2            = 1

    ClickFinger3            = 1

    CircularScrolling       = 0                                                   
    CircScrollDelta         = 0.1                                                 

    CircScrollTrigger       = 0

    CircularPad             = 0

    PalmDetect              = 0

    PalmMinWidth            = 9

    PalmMinZ                = 199

    CoastingSpeed           = 20

    CoastingFriction        = 50

    PressureMotionMinZ      = 29

    PressureMotionMaxZ      = 159

    PressureMotionMinFactor = 1

    PressureMotionMaxFactor = 1

    ResolutionDetect        = 1

    GrabEventDevice         = 1

    TapAndDragGesture       = 1

    AreaLeftEdge            = 0

    AreaRightEdge           = 0

    AreaTopEdge             = 0

    AreaBottomEdge          = 0

Let's say you want to enable circular scrolling, starting at the top right hand corner, here's how you'd do it:

pchelptech@ubuntu:~$ synclient CircularScrolling=1 CircScrollTrigger=2

For a full list of available functions, check out this page:

http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/karmic/man4/synaptics.4.html