Ubuntu – How to make touch-screen scrolling work in Firefox Quantum

firefoxtouchscreen

Using Firefox quantum 57 and Ubuntu 17.10, I am unable to scroll a web page by touching the screen and sliding the page. However this works in Chrome browser.

How to make touch-screen scrolling work in Firefox Quantum?

Best Answer

The same solution for Firefox 50 and Ubuntu 16.xx still works for Firefox Quantum 57 and Ubuntu 17.10: Ubuntu 16 and touchscreen scrolling in FireFox

The solution is to launch firefox using:

env MOZ_USE_XINPUT2=1 firefox

You can make this permanent by modifying the launcher using the following:

sudo sed -i "s|Exec=|Exec=env MOZ_USE_XINPUT2=1 |g" /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop

To undo this change, use:

sudo sed -i "s|Exec=env MOZ_USE_XINPUT2=1 |Exec=|g" /usr/share/applications/firefox.desktop

Comparing touch scrolling in Firefox Quantum, using this solution. with touch scrolling in Chrome:

  • Scrolling is one finger only; two finger scrolling causes the web page to zoom. This is different from Chrome, where you can scroll using two fingers, but still pinch to zoom or un-zoom.
  • You can only scroll vertically or horizontally, depending on which direction your initial motion is in; this is different from Chrome, where you can scroll horizontally or vertically (or in circles) without lifting your finger(s).
Related Question