Lets talk about Ubuntu on Viewsonic 10:) How To's, Tips, Issues, Solutions

[Daskalos]

Ubuntu works great in Viewsonic 10... though got some issues...

How do you perform a right-click using the touchscreen?

Im struggling...

The option "emulate a right-click" when holding a left-click doesn't work with touchscreen (because as you tap the screen using your finger to perform a "left-click" and never let go as to perform the "hold", you don't notice it, but the registering point minutely wobbles under your finger, so the supposedly "right-click" action continually cancels)

any options?

[Sponsors]

[waterhead]

Glad you find Ubuntu on the Viewpad 10 to your liking. I tried it too, but found enough things that I didn't like that I kept trying other distros. I found openSUSE 12.1-Gnome to be to my liking.

What version of Ubuntu did you install? (10.04, 10.10, 11.04, 11.11) I tried 11.11, and although the touchscreen worked great out-of-the-box, I found the window buttons (Close, Minimize, Maximize) to be too small for my fat little fingers. Also, the stock virtual keyboard OnBoard is not at all like the virtual keyboards found in Android. Although, I see that it has Middle-Click and Right-Click keys. (I just booted into the Ubuntu LiveCD, so I could check the right-click problem).

I have been messing with the right-click adjustments. Both in the Universal access and the Mouse and Touchpad settings section. And I cannot come up with setting that will work consistently either.

[waterhead]

Although you didn't mention it, have you been able to get the screen and touchscreen to rotate?

I can manually rotate the screen, but the touchscreen doesn't follow. This makes it impossible to navigate, as the mouse also is screwed up. You can manually rotate the screen using the xrandr command. You will want a USB keyboard attached, then run this command:

xrandr -o right

Then to return:

xrandr -o normal

You can write a little bash script that will rotate the screen, then put it back to normal:

#!/bin/bash

echo 'Rotating Screen To Right For 10 Seconds...'
xrandr -o right
sleep 10s
echo 'Rotating Screen Back To Normal...'
xrandr -o normal

Save that script as "rotate", and then make it executable:

chmod +x rotate

And you should then be able to run it from the terminal.

I think that you can also rotate the mouse/touchscreen using the xinput command. But I don't have much knowledge of that command, and very little is found when Googling it. I may ask my local Linux Users Group, MLUG for some assistance on this. If we can write a script, we can then link it to an icon button and flip the screen at the touch of a button!

[waterhead]

To somewhat answer my own question about screen/touchpad rotating. It seems Ubuntu 11.04 had the option to display a Monitor icon in the upper-right taskbar:

System-->Preferences-->Monitors

Then check the box under "Panel Icon", labeled "Show monitors in panel". An icon will then be displayed in the panel, where you can rotate the display and mouse/touchscreen.

This option has been removed in Ubuntu 11.10.

[Daskalos]

I tried Ubuntu 11.10
It's really frustrating not have a touch right click... any solution? Maybe like a "floating" right click button?

Anyway, I'm trying something else now... I installed Meego 1.2... works great... icons and buttons are finger friendly BUT

- touchscreen not working (though there is an available fix BUT)
- wIFI not working (I can't download the fix for issue #1, cause I need a working internet connection)
- no on screen keyboard (though it cabn be downloaded BUT, again I have problem #2)
- No system/media audio (video codecs working but not audio)

Some reported that 1.1 works great with viewpad, so I downloading it now and will try

[waterhead]

I've been there, done that.

If you want a How-To for installing the touchscreen driver on MeeGo Netbook, see here:

TEGA v2 Support Forum • View topic - Installing Linux Touchscreen Drivers On MeeGo

I never could get a virtual keyboard to appear, so I gave up.

[waterhead]

I found a script/scripts that rotate the screen and mouse, but not the touchscreen. But, I suppose it is a step in the right direction. The scripts are downloaded from this post:

Ubuntu Forums - View Single Post - [all variants] Lenovo Ideapad S10-3t

And the full forum page:

[all variants] Lenovo Ideapad S10-3t - Page 47 - Ubuntu Forums

You need to be a forum member to download attachments.

[waterhead]

EDIT: This is for the Azpen X1. The Viewpad 10 has a different touchscreen.

I made some progress on screen/touchscreen rotation.

Ok, I have openSUSE 12.1 installed, so that is what I tested this on. It should also work in Ubuntu.

First, you need a USB keyboard and mouse installed to reverse the rotation commands. And once you begin entering the commands, the touchscreen becomes temporarily disfunctional. Then open the System Settings-->Displays app, so you can rotate the display. Then open a terminal window, and run these commands one at a time, enter after each one:

xinput set-prop "ILITEK ILITEK Multi-Touch" "Evdev Axes Swap" 1
xinput set-prop "ILITEK ILITEK Multi-Touch" "Evdev Axis Inversion" 0 1

In the first line, "Axes" is the proper term. I did not misspell it.
Now, use the mouse to click on the "Rotation" option of the Displays app, and select "Clockwise" then "Apply". The screen will rotate AND the touchscreen will also be properly orientated. To reverse this, enter these commands:

xinput set-prop "ILITEK ILITEK Multi-Touch" "Evdev Axes Swap" 0
xinput set-prop "ILITEK ILITEK Multi-Touch" "Evdev Axis Inversion" 0 0

Then select "Rotation" again, this time choose "Normal" and the "Apply"

Now, this is way too cumbersome to be usable, but it shows that it can be done. Now to make it into a script that can be attached to a launcher of some kind.

[waterhead]

Anyway, I'm trying something else now... I installed Meego 1.2... works great... icons and buttons are finger friendly BUT

- touchscreen not working (though there is an available fix BUT)
- wIFI not working (I can't download the fix for issue #1, cause I need a working internet connection)

I don't recall having any problems with the WiFi. Maybe I can help you resolve it, but I guess I need to find my MeeGo CD and boot into it first.

[waterhead]

I updated my bash script to include the xinput commands. Once again, this is for the Azpen X1:

#!/bin/bash

echo 'Rotating Screen To Right For 10 Seconds...'
sleep 2
xrandr -o right
xinput set-prop "ILITEK ILITEK Multi-Touch" "Evdev Axes Swap" 1
xinput set-prop "ILITEK ILITEK Multi-Touch" "Evdev Axis Inversion" 0 1
sleep 10s
echo 'Rotating Screen Back To Normal...'
sleep 2
xrandr -o normal
xinput set-prop "ILITEK ILITEK Multi-Touch" "Evdev Axes Swap" 0
xinput set-prop "ILITEK ILITEK Multi-Touch" "Evdev Axis Inversion" 0 0

For the Viewpad 10, you need to know what your touchscreen is being called. Look at the output of this command for that info:

xinput list

I knew that my touchscreen was made by Ilitek, so I used that entry. You need to replace "ILITEK ILITEK Multi-Touch" with whatever you have.