FingerWorks - Inventor and Developer of MultiTouch Technology

Frequently Asked Questions
Configuring for your OS
Configuring Mouse Buttons
Configuring Typing

NOTE: The iGesture NumPad can be customized either with the Feature Selector control panel (part of the MultiTouch Utilities on Mac OS X, Linux, Windows 2000 and Windows XP), or manually with the gesture sequences described below.

  • Step 1: Open a simple text editing program like Notepad.exe and place the text cursor on the page. You don't need to edit anything so any program that accepts keyboard input will do. You might want to make sure that keyboard input will be displayed by typing a few characters. They should appear on your screen.
  • Step 2: Using your thumb and index fingers from both hands touch the four corners of the MultiTouch surface and hold them there for a second. The following message should appear in the text editing program:
    /* Enter a Gesture Map: 1=Mac 2=Win 3=ThreeButton 4=KDE 5=Unix/BeOS ...

All MultiTouch systems are shipped configured for Windows and 2-button mouse emulation. If you are using Windows then you don't have to do anything. For other operating systems, do the following.

  • Step 1: Execute the Configuration Routine.
  • Step 2: Tap the number key corresponding to your operating system on the keypad of your MultiTouch surface, not on other mechanical keyboards attached to your computer. The message then completes telling you which configuration you have enabled. For example, if you are configuring for Linux/KDE, after pressing 4 the total message would be:
/* Enter a Gesture Map: 1=Mac 2=Win 3=ThreeButton 4=Linux/KDE ... Linux/KDE enabled */

You may reconfigure your MultiTouch unit whenever you switch the unit to another operating system.

Horizontal Palm Slides for switching OS mode.Starting with firmware v1.15, you can quickly but impermamently switch between Mac and Windows modes with horiontal palm slides. Once enabled via the Configuration Routine then tapping Insert, the slides work like this:

  • Mac mode  <--  Slide palm heels --> Windows mode.

Key Disabling Palm Switches -- With the Feature Selector utility, you can also configure these horizontal palm slides to toggle all surface keys on/off instead of switch OS modes.  


3-Button Mouse Emulation (automatically enabled with Linux/Unix modes, optional for Mac/Win users)-

  • Step 1: Execute the Configuration Routine.
  • Step 2: Press 3 on the surface number pad to toggle three-button mouse emulation. The following message will print out:
/* Enter a Gesture Map: 1=Mac 2=Win 3=ThirdButton 4=Linux/KDE ... ENABLING: Thumb+Index+Middle for Middle Button, Thumb+Ring+Pinky for Right Button */

or if disabling 3-Button Mouse the following message will print out:

/* Enter a Gesture Map: 1=Mac 2=Win 3=ThirdButton 4=Linux/KDE 5=Unix/BeOS ... Third Mouse Button DISABLED for Win/Mac */

Note: When 3-button emulation is enabled, the thumb & two-fingertip chord splits:

  • thumb+index+middle:
    (with thumb 2 inches or 4-5cm from index) emulates the middle mouse button
  • SPREAD thumb+ring+pinky:
    (with thumb 3-4 inches or 7-10cm from ring) activates the right mouse button

Button Swaps.  With the Feature Selector dialog of the MultiTouch Utilities, you can swap the mouse buttons for compatibility with left-handed mice.    

Five Finger Pointing. Five-finger pointing lets you start pointing with all five fingers instead of starting with two.  You must still click using two fingertip taps, but if all five are already touching you can just lift and tap the index & middle fingertips. To toggle five-finger pointing on and off:

  • First perform the Configuration Routine (see begining of this page).
  • Then press Enter.
  • Variable-Speed Typematic (ships disabled). With this feature enabled, held keys repeat faster if you press harder or flatten your fingertip pulp on the key. As you begin to lift off, the key repeats slow down, so you are less likely to overshoot your intended number of repeats.
    • First execute the Configuration Routine (see begining of this page).
    • Pressing * on the surface numberpad enables variable-speed, pressure-sensitive typematic with the message: ...Variable typematic enabled.
    • To disable variable-speed typematic, press / on the numberpad, producing the message "...Variable typematic disabled."

      NOTE: With variable-speed typematic turned on, the MultiTouch unit, rather than the operating system, decides how fast to repeat the key. The operating system does not actually know that your finger is held on the key; the OS thinks the key is just getting tapped very quickly. This may cause compatibility problems with games and other applications that need to know exactly when your finger actually touches and releases the key. If this happens, disable variable-speed typematic.

  • Independent NumLock Toggling (ships disabled) To do this you do the Configuration Gesture and then hit the NumLock key. Now hit the NumLock key again and the number pad will work. You do not need to repeat the configuration for Independent NumLock toggling unless you want to disable it.