[ubuntu] Making Ubuntu Finger Friendly

[Dos_Box]

Well I finally get Ubuntu up and running on the RM Slate. W7 was just too awkward to use and I wanted something with a bit of a better tablet interface, so with a little tweaking last night I now have it looking like this:

 

 

I had not used the default onscreen KB but have opted for Florence with the 'Hard' visual option instead which is an easy install from the software centre. I have also installed the MetaGrip theme and Cillop Midnite controls, all available via the 'Contol Center-Appearance-Themes-Get More Themes Online menu'.

The onscreen keyboard (Florence) can be a bit of a pig to configure to have it appear at startup, but so long as you go to 'Control Center-Preferred Applications-Accessability-Mobility' simply set the drop-down box to custom, tick 'Run at start' and type 'florence' in the 'Command' box all will be fine.

I have also installed Ubuntu Tweak which allows you to change many settings such as menu bar sizes etc. from one simple location. This will help in making the small bar icons easier to use. Installation instructions for this can be found in this article: http://www.unixmen.com/linux-tutorials/linux-distributions/linux-distributions4-ubuntu/1540-top-things-to-do-after-installing-ubuntu-1104-natty-narwhal

Not working

 

Typically, there are still some things not working as they should.

 

1. The screen will not rotate. Not a biggie, but screen rotation can be good when reading web pages and documents etc.

2. Can't use multitouch. Ubuntu made a big thing about how Natty Narwhal was multi-touch friendly, but this only extends to multi-touch touchpads, not screens as far as I have found out. I would be happy to be proved wrong.

3. Finger scrolling does not work in web pages, documents etc. so I still have to use scroll bars, but I have seen this done on YouTube, so there must be a tweak somewhere. If anyone can help it would be a great help!

 

In short then, if you have an Intel tablet running Windows I would suggest you give it a spin if you are so inclined. The performance is good and it looks amazing. I just hope I can iron out the remaining niggles.

Edited September 6, 2011 by Dos_Box