On some recent version of linux xorg synaptics driver two-fingers scrolling support has been added. This is a great feature that was first introduced by Apple Macbook laptops and that still the Windows version of synaptics driver for Pavilions does not have. Let’s see ho to enable it!

In GNOME 2.28 this feature can be enabled from

System -> Preferences -> Mouse -> Touchpad

KDE 4.3 ships with it already enabled.

Unfortunately GNOME forces you to either choose two fingers or edge scrolling, whereas in KDE you have both at the same time by default. Other desktop managers may not have any support for enabling this feature, if so you have to enable it in the system configuration files as follows:

add the following lines into the touchpad device section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "InputDevice"
      Identifier  "SynapticsTouchpad"
      Driver      "synaptics"
      Option      "Device" "/dev/psaux"
      Option      "VertTwoFingerScroll"   "true"   # vertical scroll anywhere with two fingers
      Option      "HorizTwoFingerScroll"  "true"   # horizontal scroll anywhere with two fingers
      Option      "VertEdgeScroll"        "true"   # vertical scrolling when dragging along the right edge
      Option      "HorizEdgeScroll"       "true"   # horizontal scrolling when dragging along the bottom edge
EndSection

Note:

• you cannot get the edge scroll if you do not have a touchpad that has support for that (usually those have a marked stripe on the sensitive edge(s)
• Synaptic touchpads all support two fingers scroll, whereas only selected (new) ALPS one do support it
• you have o log out and log in again for the changes to be effective

reference: Touchpad Synaptics – ArchWiki

Related posts:

1. use wacom bamboo tablet as a touchpad with relative mapping
2. nVidia GeForce8 powersaving features
3. Linux Power Saving Tweaks for HP Pavilion laptops
4. Reclaim vertical space in Gnome!
5. HowTo: Ubuntu Linux on HP Pavilion series laptops
6. [EN] Configure HP Pavilion QuickPlay multimedia buttons in Ubuntu Linux
7. nVidia PowerMizer powersaving/cooling in Linux (updated)