FingerWorks - Inventor and Developer of MultiTouch Technology

Frequently Asked Questions
Bugs and Operating System Issues
Pointing, Clicking, Dragging and Scrolling Issues
Issues with Typing
Issues with Gestures that use the Thumb
Firmware Upgrade







I went through the installation instructions for Windows, and some drivers appeared to install, but typing or pointing still do not work.

  1. Unplug your MultiTouch Device, wait 20 seconds and plug it back in. If this does not fix the problem continue to the steps below, which cleans out and reinstalls the USB drivers.
  2. Make sure both your MultiTouch unit and regular mouse are plugged in. Note: If your regular mouse is a generic USB mouse, the procedure below could temporarily uninstall it as well, since both may be identified as 'HID-compliant Mouse' in the Device Manager. If this happens, unplug and replug the mouse, and it should re-install itself.
  3. Click Start Menu->Settings->Control Panel
  4. Click the 'System' icon in the control panel. A dialog box will pop up.
  5. Click the 'Hardware' tab and then the 'Device Manager...' button. Note: In Windows 98, there may not be a Device Manager button--you will already be viewing the Device Manager under the hardware tab.
  6. Expand the 'Human Interface Devices' subtree by clicking it's plus sign. Right click on each 'USB Human Interface Device' entry and select 'Uninstall...'
  7. Expand the 'Mice and other pointing devices' subtree... Right click on 'HID-compliant Mouse' and select 'Uninstall...'
  8. Expand the 'Keyboards' subtree... Right click on 'HID-compliant Keyboard' and select 'Uninstall...'
  9. Remove the Composite driver with one of these methods:
    1. If you've installed the MultiTouch Utilities, the composite driver will be in a new 'MultiTouch USB Devices' subtree. Expand this subtree, right click on each 'iGesture...' or 'TouchStream...' device listed and select 'Uninstall...'.
    2. If you haven't installed the MultiTouch Utilities, the composite device will be in the 'Universal Serial Bus Controllers' subtree... Expand this tree, right click on the 'USB Composite Device' and select 'Uninstall...'
  10. When the uninstall is complete, unplug the MultiTouch Device, wait 20 seconds, and plug it back in. The usual Windows driver installation wizards should come up again, prompting you to reinstall the HID keyboard and HID mouse drivers, etc. Follow each wizard through to Finish (windows should find all the drivers on the hard disk, and NOT ask you to disable the device). If above procedure doesn't work, contact FingerWorks support.

Pointing and clicking works, but the PC does not respond to gesture commands like cut, paste, or save:

Have you Configured your unit for your Operating System? Most MultiTouch units ship configured for Windows. If you are using MacOS or Linux, you must configure your unit for your OS so that gesture input gets mapped correctly to the desired function (e.g., the open gesture should open a file and not do something else). You have to configure your MultiTouch unit because Windows, MacOS, Linux, and Unix operating systems use different key combinations for equivalent functions.

You may also want to enable the third mouse button, or change typing options to improve compatibility with games or other applications.

If you have Windows 2000, Windows XP, Mac OS X, or Linux, you can configure your product with the new Feature Selector included in the MultiTouch Utilities. Otherwise, click below for instructions to configure using special gesture sequences:

TouchStream ST
 TouchStream Mini
 iGesture and Retro

I have a Dvorak TouchStream and the gesture commands like cut, paste, and save are not working (or seem to be generating the wrong hotkeys), or the key layout appears scrambled.

You may have turned on both the TouchStream's internal Dvorak translation and your operating system's Dvorak locale (translation). Learn the proper way to enable just one translation here.

I've installed the MultiTouch Utilities on Windows 2000 (or XP) but when I run any of the utilities the Device Selector list says "No FingerWorks Devices Found."

The most likely problem is that you didn't have administrator privileges when you installed the utilities, and thus the installer was unable to install the driver files. Log in as an administrator and install the utilities again. Then a search of the c:\WINDOWS\ or c:\WINNT\ system directory tree should turn up the following files:

				c:\windows\inf\fingerworks.inf
				c:\windows\system32\jusbFWin.dll
				c:\windows\system32\drivers\fwupdate.sys
				c:\windows\system32\drivers\fwusbstub.sys

Though extremely rare, we have encountered PCs on which these USB drivers are present but simply don't work, possibly due to conflicts between the device and host USB implementations. If you've verified these files are present but the utilities still do not find your device, try:

  • Removing MultiTouch Device and USB Composite Device drivers in the device manager then replugging the TouchStream.
  • Plugging into a different USB port.
  • Plugging in through a USB hub instead of directly into your PC.
  • Installing and running the utilities on a different PC. Only if the utilities fail to find the device on another PC is the TouchStream or iGesture possibly faulty, needing factory repair or replacement.

Sometimes after powering up my PC the surface does not work until I replug the USB cable.

Try downloading the MultiTouch Utilities and upgrading your unit to the latest firmware. If you still have problems, plugging in through a USB hub rather than directly to your PC's USB port usually helps. If you cannot use a hub, contact FingerWorks support for further assistance.

My iGesture or TouchStream cannot wakeup my computer after it has gone to sleep or standby.

FingerWorks products manufactured prior to September 2004 were incapable of waking up a PC (from pointing on the surface). Our more recent USB hardware has this capability, but still some computer systems cut all power to the USB ports in standby so that wakeup from a USB device impossible. In these cases, the power/sleep button on the front of the PC is the only way to wake the system.

Occasionally during use my iGesture unit or one half of my TouchStream becomes unresponsive to typing, pointing and/or gesture. The cursor may also do a little jitter-dance on the screen, especially if I've just sat down at the computer and discharged static on the surface. The unit comes back to life if I replug or wait a couple minutes.

In most cases there is no need to reboot or even to replug. The surface may have accumulated some static electricity that confuses the hand imaging system. Use this hand-flattening gesture to refresh the imaging system and immediately restore normal operation:

 

  • Flatten a hand on the surface so it covers and touches the surface continuously from top edge to bottom edge. Lift the hand quickly.
  • Only a brief, light touch is needed.
  • The mouse cursor should trace a diamond pattern on screen as the imaging system refreshes.
  • For TouchStreams, try flattening on either surface half, as necessary.

If the procedures above do not work, try replugging the unit, and as a last resort, rebooting. If in general you find that the single hand-flattening gesture seldom helps, you have upgraded to the latest firmware, and you must still resort to frequent replugging or rebooting, run the MultiTouch Diagnostics utility and contact FingerWorks support for further assistance.

Try an Anti-Static Surface Cleanser! You may be able to avoid future static buildup by wiping the surface with an anti-static cleanser like this Master Luthier Cleaner. Don't be fooled that it's a guitar cleaner--it's also used to clean expensive optics and jet fighter canopies. Won't dry or yellow plastics, leaves the touch surface very slippery and has anti-static additives to ward off wintertime static buildup. Be sure to rub the cleanser completely dry so it does not leave a residue.

SIMULATING REPLUG: With firmware v1.25 and up, quickly repeating the above flat-hand gesture 5 times in a row will cause a full USB connection reset, equivalent to replugging the USB cable. The cursor will trace squares on the last few flat-hand touches, then the unit will become unresponsive for a couple seconds as your operating system re-detects it and reloads the USB drivers. This simulated replug is only useful when a USB driver has lost the connection, an extremely rare occurence on good operating systems!

The left (or right) half of my TouchStream ST/LP has stopped working or works intermittently.

  1. First try the flathand static reset procedure above.
  2. If that doesn't resolve the problem, run the diagnostics within the MultiTouch Utilities.
  3. If they report left half sensor failures, turn the unit over and check whether the central ribbon cable is still fully inserted in its sockets in both halves. (Dropping the LP from a height of several feet can cause a cable pullout).
    1. If the cable has pulled out, you may be able to reinsert the ribbon cable by aligning it with the socket and pushing evenly. (It will NOT go in if you try to push one corner into the socket before the other!) If you cannot get the cable re-inserted, contact support for a repair.
  4. If the diagnostics indicate sensor failures but the central cable appears firmly inserted, contact support, copying and pasting the text from the diagnostics window into the support form. Your unit has likely developed a loose connection requiring factory repair.
  5. If the diagnostics indicate all sensors are OK, run them a few more times when the unit is misbehaving to see if an intermittent failure eventually shows up.

 

What version is my FingerWorks MultiTouch Product? Which new features and bugs are in my version?

If you know when your unit shipped, you can tell by the ship date. Major bugs, fixes, and feature additions are listed here in the Firmware History.

Your unit's version number should also appear in the device selector dropdown of the MultiTouch Utilities.
When I try pointing with two fingers, the pointer motion is jumpy or sometimes unresponsive.
  • Don't squeeze your fingertips together. Pointing works best with your two fingertips slightly separated. This applies to dragging and scrolling as well.

Once in awhile the mouse cursor starts jittering even when I am not touching the surface.

I have trouble getting a reliable mouse click.

  • Make sure you're tapping the surface with just two fingertips, that both touch the surface simultaneously, and that they aren't squeezed together. The tapping motion must be fairly quick--your fingertip pair must lift off the surface within about half a second of touching for a mouse click to be issued.

When I'm trying to double-click, I get a right click (popup-menu), or vice versa.

  • When tapping 3-fingertips for double-click, make sure all three fingertips lie in a row--make sure your index finger isn't out of the row towards your body.
  • When tapping the thumb and 2 fingertips for middle or right click, either use the flat side of your thumb, or make sure your thumb is a couple inches (5-6cm) away from the fingertips.

I'm trying to drag an object across the screen, and my 3 fingertips hit the edge of the surface before my object reached its target. How do I keep dragging?

  • Without lifting your fingertips, reach and touch your thumb towards the center of the surface. Now without lifting your thumb, lift your fingertips and put them back down toward the center of the surface. Now you should have room to drag again. Your object is never 'dropped' as long as at least one finger remains on the surface.
After rebooting my computer, the mouse motion sensitivity adjustments in Windows' Mouse/Pointer Control Panel are grayed out.
  • You may have Microsoft's IntelliPoint mouse driver installed, which conveniently disables mouse motion adjustments when a non-Microsoft pointing device is connected. Uninstalling the IntelliPoint drivers (ControlPanel->Add/Remove programs?) should restore the generic OS mouse driver and let you adjust motion sensitivity again.
When I try to scroll in Internet Explorer, the screen moves slowly or unevenly, with an annoying lag.

Microsoft's 'smooth-scrolling feature' was designed for coarse wheel-mice, and actually interferes with the finer scrolling control offered by MultiTouch. Turn 'smooth-scrolling' off by going to:

  • Tools(in the menu bar)->Internet Options(submenu)
    • (notebook dialog pops up)
    • Select the 'Advanced' tab.
    • The last element in the 'Browsers' section of the option tree should be "Use Smooth Scrolling" UNCHECK its box.

The scrolling motion sensitivity seems way too high. The slightest motion makes my screen jump several lines.

  • Make sure the mouse wheel settings in your OS's mouse control panel or browser control panel are 1 line per wheel notch. (Even though your surface doesn't have a mouse wheel, it emulates the wheel for scrolling and zooming). Also, try rolling your fingers up and down rather than sliding them.
My hand gets tired of holding fingers above the surface.
  • Remember you can drop all 5 fingers to the surface and rest them at any time. The unit will ignore your fingers until you start a zooming motion or lift and drop a fingertip pair (while the other fingers remain touching) to enter pointing mode (example). Generally you should rest your hands this way between operations.
  • You can start pointing or clicking from the 5-finger resting position by just lifting two of the five fingers and putting them back down simultaneously.
  • Also, once you've started pointing, dragging, or scrolling with the appropriate number of fingertips, you can drop the rest of your fingers to the surface and your selected operation will continue uninterrupted.
Issues with Gestures that use the Thumb

The numper pad on my (iGesture Pad, TouchStream ST, TouchStream LP) does not work and I am using MacOS!
Issues with Gestures that use the Thumb
The unit seems to be mistaking my Back/Forward gestures for scrolling, or my Right-Click for a Double-click, or my Copy for a Click.
  • Always start these gestures with your thumb about 2 inches (5 cm) away from the nearest fingertip. Touching with the flat side of your thumb also helps your unit distinguish the thumb from a finger.
I can't get pinch gestures like Cut, Paste, Search, Replace, or Save to work.
  • When performing these 'pinch' or 'flick-out' gestures, try to move your thumb at about the same speed (but opposite direction) as the fingers. That is, don't just keep your thumb in one place on the surface while the fingertips move away from or towards it. Also, don't pinch really fast. A relaxed, moderate speed works best.
I can't get rotate gestures like Open, Close, Search Next, or Search Previous to work.
  • First, don't exaggerate the rotation. You're not cranking a Model T here. Only a slight twisting motion is necessary, as if turning a loose nut.
I can't get Open, Close, or Save to work in Notepad or other simple programs.
  • A few applications, especially Notepad on Windows 98, don't respond to the standard hotkeys that your unit generates in response to these gestures. To check this, compare the hotkey mappings of applications the gesture does work in with any hotkeys (e.g. Ctrl+O) listed next to the desired command in your application's menu system. Some applications may let you modify their hotkey/command mappings to better match the gesture/hotkey mappings of your unit. Search for 'keyboard mapping' or 'remapping' in your application's help system.
The 'Close' gesture closes files, documents, and subwindows, but what gesture lets me exit an application?
  • A clockwise rotation of thumb, index, middle, and ring fingers with neutral arrangement issues the file 'Close' command, while a similar clockwise rotation with thumb, middle, ring, and pinky spread toward the edges issues the application 'Exit' command.

The firmware in all of our products is fully upgradeable via the USB device firmware upgrade specification. To download the upgrade utilities, click here. To see if an upgrade might fix a problem you are having, check the firmware version history in the utility release notes.