Macbook/Synaptics Trackpad Configuration

A while back I upgraded my Macbook to Ubuntu Feisty Fawn. The installation was extremely smooth, and everything just worked.

But I have tweaked my TrackPad configuration. Make sure to edit the ServerLayout section to use the MacBook Touchpad input device.

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier      "MacBook Touchpad"
        Driver          "synaptics"
        Option          "AccelFactor"           "0.015"
        Option          "BottomEdge"            "310"
        Option          "Device"                "/dev/psaux"
        Option          "FingerHigh"            "30"
        Option          "FingerLow"             "20"
        Option          "HorizScrollDelta"      "0"
        Option          "LeftEdge"              "100"
        Option          "MaxDoubleTapTime"      "180"
        Option          "MaxSpeed"              "0.88"
        Option          "MaxTapMove"            "220"
        Option          "MaxTapTime"            "150"
        Option          "MinSpeed"              "0.79"
        Option          "Protocol"              "auto-dev"
        Option          "RightEdge"             "1120"
        Option          "SendCoreEvents"        "true"
        Option          "SHMConfig"             "on"
        Option          "TapButton2"            "3"
        Option          "TapButton3"            "2"
        Option          "TopEdge"               "50"
        Option          "VertScrollDelta"       "25"
        Option          "VertTwoFingerScroll"   "true"
EndSection

There are several advantages to this configuration, including mimicking the Mac OS X two finger scrolling and two finger tapping for a right click. But most importantly: SHMConfig is activated; and so we can enable syndaemon (at startup)

syndaemon -i 2 -t -d

syndaemon is a program that monitors keyboard activity and disables the touchpad when the keyboard is being used. The -i option specifics the time in seconds to wait after the last keypress before enabling the touchpad; -t disables only tapping, not mouse movements; there are -k and -K options to ignore modifier keys or modifier+key combinations; finally, -d starts the program as a daemon.