Macbook Trackpad Issues

[Alexander Campos]

hey guys new user here. I honestly have no idea what Im doing, heck I
dont even know if Im doing this mailing list thing right (fingers
crossed) so please take it easy on me. Ive got a macbook pro (maverick
I believe?) running ubuntu 11.1. I have been pleasantly surprised for
the most part at the amazing support and ease of use ubuntu has
displayed, particularly with most of the macbooks hardware. However I
have two persistent issues I cant seem to resolve. The lesser of the
two is an odd issue with the "brightness keys" (F1 and F2) on the
macbooks physical keyboard. they appear to do a good job of altering
the brightness but once I have used these keys the macbooks overall
screen brightness lessens dramatically and cannot be altered even from
ubuntus preference pane. Is there any way to keep this from happening?
Secondly Ive found the macbooks trackpad rather difficult to use. Im
amazed at the multitouch support (two finger scrolling and the three
finger drag work better at times than their OSX equivalents) but Ive
found that, due to the unibody design of the trackpad I cannot rest my
thumb on the lower portion of the trackpad whilst simultaneously
moving the cursor with my other finger. The action merely registers as
a two finger scrolling action. Bothersome to say the least. If someone
could work me through these nagging issues or even point me to
references on the web that may help Id really appreciate it.

-Alex C.