FingerWorks: MultiTouch Technology

MultiTouch Utilities w/ MyGesture Editor and XWinderTM

v1.6.0       February 11th, 2005

Table of Contents

Changes and New Features

What's Included

System Requirements

Windows Installation Notes

Mac OS X Installation Notes

Linux Installation Notes

Troubleshooting Upgrade Interruptions

Feedback



CHANGES AND NEW FEATURES


WHAT'S INCLUDED


SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

These utilities only work on Mac OS X, Linux, Windows 2000, and Windows XP.

A Java 2 JRE/JVM/SDK version 1.4.1_02 or higher is required to use the Gesture Editor.  Mac OS X users may need to upgrade to at least OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) and install Java 1.4.1 from Apple System Update.

If you are a Mac OS 9, Windows 98 or Windows ME user with access to a newer Mac OS X, Linux, Windows 2000 or Windows XP PC, you can install these utilities on the newer PC, apply the upgrade to your MultiTouch unit, and then return your unit to its older PC for normal operation.


WINDOWS INSTALLATION NOTES

These utilities require Windows 2000 or XP. Once installed, you can run the utilities from Start->FingerWorks->MultiTouch Utilities.

The installation process sometimes causes Windows to install or re-install drivers. This has several consequences:


MAC OS X INSTALLATION NOTES

Requires Mac OS X version 10.1.2 or higher. The FingerWorks/ folder may be installed within /Applications/ or within your home directory depending on your installation wizard choices.  Once installed, launch /Applications/FingerWorks/MultiTouch_Utilities.

Using fwMTSdetector for automatic Mac Mode switching

The fwMTSdetector daemon is only useful to you if you occasionally move your MultiTouch Product between Mac OS X and a Windows or Linux PC. If running, fwMTSdetector automatically puts your unit into Mac Mode, so it generates Mac instead of PC-style hotkeys, upon plugin to your Mac but reverts to Windows or Linux mode upon plugging in to a PC.

Though it can be started at any time from a Terminal with:

cd FingerWorks/fwMTSdetector
./fwMTSdetector  trace

you'll probably want it to start automatically at every bootup. The following procedure sets up fwMTSdetector to start automatically during boot:

From now on, fwMTSdetector will switch any MultiTouch product into Mac Mode upon plugin to your Mac.

With this procedure, fwMTSdetector becomes a daemon, a program that runs continuously in the background (using minimal resources). A few things to keep in mind:


LINUX INSTALLATION NOTES

Linux Kernel version must be at least 1.4.04 with USB and usbdevfs modules installed. Due to immaturity in the USB Device File System, early Linux kernel versions may not work at all. Please report your experiences with different Linux kernels to us.

Linux users must either run the utilities as root or set up the /etc/fstab file to have your /proc/bus/usb entry use the devmode=0666 option.

Assuming you've had setupfw.bin unpack into ~/FingerWorks/, a directory listing of ~/FingerWorks/ should show:

     LICENSE.TXT README.HTML lax.jar 
MultiTouch_Utilities* MultiTouch_Utilities.lax
doc/ fbin/ lib/ sdk/ user_config/ app_config/ UninstallerData/

You can ignore the .lax files. To run MultiTouch Utilities from a terminal window:

The MultiTouch_Utilities script will then launch Java and the utility. You can ignore any Font warning messages you seen in the terminal as a colorful dialog window for the chosen utility pops up.

If the script reports that it cannot find Java, you may need to download and install the larger setupfw.bin that includes Java 1.4. If the script fails with an error referring to USB or jUSB or failed library loading, you probably need to check your usbdevfs installation. Make sure /proc/bus/usb/devices and /proc/bus/usb/drivers exist and include listings for any FingerWorks devices that are plugged in. If /proc/bus/usb does not exist, install kernel modules for or recompile your kernel with at least USB, HID, and USBDEVFS support.


TROUBLESHOOTING THE FIRMWARE UPGRADE PROCESS

Interrupted Upgrades

There is no need to panic if the upgrade process gets interrupted, either due to loss of power or to an unrecoverable data transmission error (leading to an 'Upgrade Aborted' message). Upon replugging, your unit will either revert to its original firmware or to 'Firmware Upgrade Mode,' awaiting reapplication of the upgrade. Just restart the MultiTouch Upgrader so the upgrade process can complete.

Replugging after Upgrade

In most cases, the Operating System (OS) can automatically reset the unit once the upgrade is verified, so that the unit starts running the upgraded firmware. However, automatic reset does not work on some systems, so you may be prompted to manually unplug and replug the USB cable before continuing. Please replug if prompted to.

Loss of Configuration Settings

The upgrade process wipes out any previous settings you may have made via the 4-corners config gesture. The Feature Selector runs automatically at the end of the upgrade process to let you quickly re-customize your unit. Mac and Linux users will need to re-select their OS, and users with the DVORAK or QWERAK alternative key layouts will need to re-select those on the Typing settings page. Game mode and TouchStream application gesture sets must be re-enabled if desired. See the 'Feature Help' page for a description of each configurable feature.


FEEDBACK

Please report any problems with the Utilities or suggestions for improvement to FingerWorks Support:

Web form: http://www.fingerworks.com/support.html

Email: support@fingerworks.com