Touchpad

luigidk · **Posted:** Fri Mar 27, 2009 6:11 pm

Just seconding AlanB66's previous message (thanks AlanB66)

I have been having major issues with my touchpad - getting synclient to work as well as syndaemon (disable touchpad while typing). Had some very interesting problems while following several different threads of instructions. The goal was to use fewt's utilities (eeepc-acpi-utilities) to toggle on/off my touchpad and also using the syndaemon -i N command for disabling the touchpad while typing.(actually had an issue where synclient could not toggle on/off my touchpad but syndaemon was working?)).

- I had added this line: <merge key="input.x11_options.SHMConfig" type="string">On</merge> to the /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/20thirdparty/11-x11-synaptics.fdi file. (as stated in this post: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=463&st=0&sk=t&sd=a)

- I had created the /etc/hal/fdi/policy/shmconfig.fdi file as some other threads had recommended

- I added the 'options psmouse elantech=1' line to my /etc/modprobe.d/options file

- I modified my etc/X11/xorg.conf file as recommended

- installed gsynaptics-elantech

After testing all scenarios and combinations of the steps above (within my limited abilities) I found:
- The only things I have kept that allow all my functionality are:
- The modified xorg.conf file
- The modified options file (to include the options psmouse elantech=1 line)
- eeepc-acpi-utilities (fewt's utilities) - only way to toggle on/off touchpad AND use syndaemon to disable touchpad while typing
- Gsynaptics-elantech for controlling touchpad settings (this is optional)

I removed the SHMCONFIG.FDI file and removed the line I had added to the 11-x11-synaptics.fdi file.

My touchpad is still not perfect - but I have the ability to:
- toggle it on and off as needed (I still use my Logitech vx nano mouse 90% of the time)
- use syndaemon to disable the touchpad while typing
- use System>control center>touchpad to control my touchpad settings

What I can not figure out is when I originally switched to eeebuntu v2 I did not think that the xorg.conf file was working to enable SHMconfig. It is what I used in eeebuntu v1 and I had thought that the ability to disable my touchpad while typing was lost in V2. The recommended changes to the shmconfig.fdi and 11-x11-synaptics.fdi files were the 'fix' for V2. I even thought those fixes were at some point - working.

Just too much confusion around the touchpad... I've been running in circles for some time but after testing all the above configuration options feel that I have stumbled on to what at least works for me.

eeepc 1000 w/2gb ram ETPS/2 Elantech Touchpad

AlanB66 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 27, 2009 7:39 pm

LuigiDK ...

Can you double-tap a window border or icon and have the hand stay activated for a move operation?

luigidk · **Posted:** Fri Mar 27, 2009 8:14 pm

Hmmm - I've never tried... I just use my touchpad for very basic functions. I use my external mouse 95% of the time. I only toggle on my touchpad for those times using my mouse is not convenient. When I do use it - I turn off tappiing and just use the touchpad buttons instead...

However - now that the touchpad is at least usable (and my cursor isn't flying all over my page when I type - I'll try using it more.

AlanB66 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 27, 2009 9:03 pm

Is there some special setting to keep the touchpad on and keep it from being so sensitive?
Or, is it just to turn OFF the touchpad when you know you're typing away??

luigidk · **Posted:** Fri Mar 27, 2009 10:14 pm

I'm using the gsynaptics-elantech package that allows me to use the System>Control Center>Touchpad settings to control the sensitivity of the touchpad.

In my testing I did not notice that this package caused any issues - its just a front end that allows settings to be adjusted without using synclient commands (to my understanding).

OF course using the syndaemon command (e.g.: syndaemon -i 1 -d, where the '1' is the amount of time to timeout, in this case 1 second after typing) that disables the touchpad while typing.

I have also turned off tapping.

If you are using fewt's utilities rather than eee-control - his utilities will turn on/off syndaemon disable while typing with the touchpad toggle on/off feature. I believe he has the option to not do this in his configuration.

AlanB66 · **Posted:** Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:01 pm

Thank you. That was the best explanation to date

luigidk · **Posted:** Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:29 pm

As happy as I am with Eeebuntu and my eeepc 1000 in general - the touchpad has been a MAJOR issue for me for a LONG time... I can't tell you how many times I've tried one 'fix' or the other.

Your final solution was spot on - unfortunately I had to unwind all the other 'fixes' (the .fdi files, etal).

I'm not sure why something this basic and this important creates so much noise - and why there isn't just a set of instructions on how to configure your touchpad.

Probably because there are multiple users on multiple computers wanting multiple solutions...

So I'm just happy it works good enough for my needs now.

HOping that V3 and/or Jaunty fixes these issues as a built-in, not an add-on.

AlanB66 · **Posted:** Sat Mar 28, 2009 2:11 pm

I'm glad I found the solution before I got that deep into making so many manual changes. I took notes for the few things I did carry out so I could reliably undo those things.

Here's a tip to you and everyone else when setting up Ubuntu, Eeebuntu, etc. ... Use PartImage to back up what's working before experimenting with major changes and/or updates:
01. Get your USB drive with Eeebuntu out and plug it into the Eee PC
02. Attach an external drive or have a network drive available, as well
03. Connect an Ethernet cable (in the event you don't have wireless working with the "try first" setup
04. Boot into "Try first" mode of Eeebuntu from the USB installer
05. Once completely booted and in the desktop interface, open a Terminal
06. Type: sudo apt-get install partimage
07. Type: sudo partimage
08. Choose a partition, specify the location where to write the backup (/path/to/sda1.partimg), etc. (there may be more than one partition ... return to step 7 for each partition backup)
09. When all partitions are backed up to different file names, test their validity
10. Re-run partimage, this time RESTORING each IMG you created. BE CERTAIN TO CHOOSE SIMULATION MODE - nothing will be written back to your SSD
11. Once each partition has been backed up AND tested w/o issue, you're safe to shutdown, disconnect all these USB/network peripherals, boot back into your Eeebuntu system

You're now ready, if need be, to experiment knowing you can always get back to your golden configuration

scholarlv · **Joined:** Mon Mar 23, 2009 4:25 am **Posts:** 9

Hi luigidk

I stumbled on the fixes on the top of your post just as you mentioned. I ended up using your exact setup. Works great at that point if you ask me.

Thanks..

i_ated_it · **Posted:** Sun Mar 29, 2009 8:12 pm

Im a newb with this kind of stuff so bare with me, I guess this would be the right thread to ask this in.

I have the gsynaptics installed and everything was working to my liking yesterday, basically all I really want is to have the touchpad clicking disabled. But anyways I turn on my Eee 900a today and the dagone touchpad clicking is once again enabled and when I try to go to the "touchpad" settings thing in the system >> preferences menu It gives me this message:

GSynaptics couldn't initialize.
You have to set 'SHMConfig' 'true' in xorg.conf or XF86Config to use GSynaptics.

The thing is SHMConfig is already set to true. Im not sure what the XF86Config is or how to access it but I went through all the steps I initially took to get the tap to click disabled and everything appeared to as it should be. I dont know if I managed to install a package that overruled all of this or what but if anyone has any ideas I would appreciate the help.

AlanB66 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 29, 2009 9:17 pm

i_ated_it: It seems Fewt's solution (eeepc_acpi_utils) is the way to go for this.

If you have a 901, you should be able to follow my directions.
If you want, make an image backup before you try ... using the method I outlined, a little earlier in this thread, using partimage.

chewsome · **Joined:** Thu Apr 16, 2009 11:23 pm **Posts:** 7

AlanB66 wrote:

Holy Crap, Batman, I got it working!!!!! :!:

NOTE: This is an Eee PC 901-Linux with Eeebuntu 2.0 NBR.

That said, here are the complete steps:

1. Install eeepc-acpi-utilities Developer's key:

Code:

wget http://www.statux.org/ubuntu/key/statux.pub -O- | sudo apt-key add -

2. Edit /etc/modprobe.d/options **, adding options psmouse elantech=1:

Code:

# Enable double-buffering so gstreamer et. al. work
options quickcam compatible=2
options psmouse  elantech=1

# Default hostap to managed mode
options hostap_pci iw_mode=2
options hostap_cs iw_mode=2

# Stop auto-association.
# LP: #264104
options ipw2200 associate=0

# XXX: Ignore HPA by default. Needs to be revisted in jaunty
options libata ignore_hpa=1

3. Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf to have these two sections (NOTE the Identifier has been changed to Synaptics Touchpad):

Code:

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Synaptics Touchpad"
    Driver      "synaptics"
    Option      "CorePointer"
    Option      "SendCoreEvents"    "true"
    Option      "Device"        "/dev/psaux"
    Option      "Protocol"      "auto-dev"
    Option      "HorizScrollDelta"  "0"
    Option      "MaximumTapTime"        "200"
    Option      "ClickTime"     "50"
    Option      "MaxTapMove"    "320"
    Option      "MaximumDoubleTapTime"  "5"
    Option      "VertTwoFingerScroll"   "1"
    Option      "VertEdgeScroll"    "0"
    Option      "HorizEdgeScroll"   "0"
    Option      "SingleTapTimeout"  "1"
    Option      "FastTabs"          "1"
    Option      "VScrollEmuOff"     "1"
    Option      "VertScrollDelta"   "80"
    Option      "SHMConfig"         "on"
    Option      "CircularScrolling" "1"
    Option      "CircScrollTrigger" "8"
    Option      "CircScrollDelta"   "0.14"
    Option      "TapButton3"        "2"
    Option      "TapButton2"        "3"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier      "Default Layout"
        Screen          "Default Screen"
        InputDevice     "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

It doesn't matter what the Identifier is named, so long as it's (1) unique, and (2) matches the InputDevice value in the ServerLayout section.

4. Reboot

This worked for me too =) It's awesome! Thank you guys.

AlanB66 · **Posted:** Wed Jun 03, 2009 3:03 am

As of 3.0.1 NBR for my 901, I only had to perform Step #3 in my above post and then reboot.

Quote:

3. Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf to have these two sections (NOTE the Identifier has been changed to Synaptics Touchpad):

Code:

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Synaptics Touchpad"
    Driver      "synaptics"
    Option      "CorePointer"
    Option      "SendCoreEvents"    "true"
    Option      "Device"        "/dev/psaux"
    Option      "Protocol"      "auto-dev"
    Option      "HorizScrollDelta"  "0"
    Option      "MaximumTapTime"        "200"
    Option      "ClickTime"     "50"
    Option      "MaxTapMove"    "320"
    Option      "MaximumDoubleTapTime"  "5"
    Option      "VertTwoFingerScroll"   "1"
    Option      "VertEdgeScroll"    "0"
    Option      "HorizEdgeScroll"   "0"
    Option      "SingleTapTimeout"  "1"
    Option      "FastTabs"          "1"
    Option      "VScrollEmuOff"     "1"
    Option      "VertScrollDelta"   "80"
    Option      "SHMConfig"         "on"
    Option      "CircularScrolling" "1"
    Option      "CircScrollTrigger" "8"
    Option      "CircScrollDelta"   "0.14"
    Option      "TapButton3"        "2"
    Option      "TapButton2"        "3"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier      "Default Layout"
        Screen          "Default Screen"
        InputDevice     "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

WARNING: If you do Step #2, you could lock up your touchpad and require a full re-install to get things working again. At least, that's what I had to do.

bader660av · **Posted:** Thu Aug 13, 2009 1:28 pm

Ok,

To confirm you have 3.O NBR running on an Asus 900 and have no Jumpy Mouse and also have the tap click turned off on the touch pad or just have the touch pad disabled when typing?

I have a 900a and I can fix the jumpy muse, but then I can't turn of touch Pad click.

Thanks

Bob

AlanB66 · **Posted:** Thu Aug 13, 2009 1:46 pm

I have a 901 and can turn off the touchpad altogether or just disable touchpad clicks:

Attachment:

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Touchpad

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