Ubuntu – How to configure an Apple Magic Trackpad to use with Unity

An update to domster answer for Ubuntu 12.10.

Unity source code has obviously changed, so here is how to achieve the same in Unity 6.8.0. The steps to download Unity source code are the same as before (I will copy & paste domster's snippet):

sudo apt-get build-dep unity
cd /tmp  #It can be done somewhere else, feel free to change the base location.
mkdir unity
cd unity
apt-get source unity

At this point, the file to be edited is only /tmp/unity/unity-6.8.0/plugins/unityshell/src/unityshell.cpp.

Find the method UnityScreen::InitGesturesSupport() (line 3368 for Unity 6.8.0).

Then, comment all the lines starting with gesture_sub_launcher to make it look like:

void UnityScreen::InitGesturesSupport()
{
  std::unique_ptr<nux::GestureBroker> gesture_broker(new UnityGestureBroker);
  wt->GetWindowCompositor().SetGestureBroker(std::move(gesture_broker));
  /*
  gestures_sub_launcher_.reset(new nux::GesturesSubscription);
  gestures_sub_launcher_->SetGestureClasses(nux::DRAG_GESTURE);
  gestures_sub_launcher_->SetNumTouches(4);
  gestures_sub_launcher_->SetWindowId(GDK_ROOT_WINDOW());
  gestures_sub_launcher_->Activate();

  gestures_sub_dash_.reset(new nux::GesturesSubscription);
  gestures_sub_dash_->SetGestureClasses(nux::TAP_GESTURE);
  gestures_sub_dash_->SetNumTouches(4);
  gestures_sub_dash_->SetWindowId(GDK_ROOT_WINDOW());
  gestures_sub_dash_->Activate();

  gestures_sub_windows_.reset(new nux::GesturesSubscription);
  gestures_sub_windows_->SetGestureClasses(nux::TOUCH_GESTURE
                                         | nux::DRAG_GESTURE
                                         | nux::PINCH_GESTURE);
  gestures_sub_windows_->SetNumTouches(3);
  gestures_sub_windows_->SetWindowId(GDK_ROOT_WINDOW());
  gestures_sub_windows_->Activate();
  */
}

Re-build Unity following domster's instructions again:

cd /tmp/unity/unity-6.8.0
dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc -nc
cd ..
sudo dpkg -i *deb

Et voila again! Logout and log back in.

To get this working I had to install utouch:

apt-get install utouch

For details, read:

• https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Multitouch
• https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Multitouch/Architecture
• https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Multitouch/AppleMagicTrackpad