Ubuntu gets multitouch "sentences" for Maverick Meerkat

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By Nicole Kobie

Posted on 17 Aug 2010 at 08:31

Ubuntu 10.10 will be the first operating system from open source developer Canonical to support multitouch.

Multitouch will arrive in Ubuntu 10.10 - named Maverick Meerkat - following the release of uTouch 1.0, the stack for gesture and multitouch support in Canonical's systems.

"With Ubuntu 10.10 (the Maverick Meerkat), users and developers will have an end-to-end touch-screen framework — from the kernel all the way through to applications," Canonical said in a blog post.

We’re making it possible for basic gestures to be chained, or composed, into more sophisticated sentences

Canonical's founder Mark Shuttleworth said users would need a "four-finger touch or better to get the most out of it."

"Rather than single, magic gestures, we’re making it possible for basic gestures to be chained, or composed, into more sophisticated 'sentences'," Shuttleworth explained in a blog post. "The basic gestures, or primitives, are like individual verbs, and stringing them together allows for richer interactions.

"It’s not quite the difference between banging rocks together and conducting a symphony orchestra, but it feels like a good step in the right direction," he added.

The Dell XT2 is being used as the development environment, so that touchscreen laptop offers the best results today, Shuttleworth said. By the expected October release date, "we expect you’ll be able to use it with a range of devices from major manufacturers, and with addons like Apple’s Magic Trackpad," he said.

While uTouch brings the first support for multitouch, Ubuntu 10.04 supported some basic touch for specific devices.

The touch capability will arrive in all three Ubuntu 10.10 versions - desktop, netbook and Light - with more multitouch features added in subsequent updates.

"It would be awesome to have touch-aware versions of all the major apps – browser, email, file management, chat, photo management and media playback – for 11.04, but that depends on you," Shuttleworth said, calling on developers to help out.