# touchpad

## dgrabow

Does anyone know how to setup 'hotspots' for a touchpad, so that you can tap the edge to activate a scrollbar, two fingers for the second button and things like that?

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## delta407

Most of the time touchpads are shown to the computer like a normal mouse; configuration would have to be done in the BIOS or by some proprietary Windows program.

That is, if it can be configured at all...  :Wink: Last edited by delta407 on Fri Jun 21, 2002 9:58 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## dgrabow

Actually I think these hotspots are configured in the driver.  There is something called tpconfig which is supposed to work for two different touchpads.  Has anyone integrated this and gotten it to do anything useful.  This installation instructions looked a little cryptic, so I haven't tried it yet.

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## alec

http://compass.com/tpconfig/

 *TP Config Website wrote:*   

> tpconfig is currently supported as a command-line configuration tool. The PS/2 port does not currently support sharing. Therefore the tpconfig utility will not work while any other mouse driver is loaded (gpm). This also means that you cannot use tpconfig while X Windows is running. The suggested use of tpconfig is to run it from a startup script ('touchpad' .. installed for run leves 3 and 5 and provided in the rpms) before gpm is started. 

 

My touchpad (Compaq 1800T Synaptics) went haywire.  It's not a messy compile - worked right out of the box with a ./configure and make (I didn't install - I fiddled around with making an ebuild for a while, but haven't had time to finish it).  Anyway, I disabled tap-clicking once and now everything works (including tap-clicking) - no idea what I did.  In any event, I never used an rc-script and even have deleted it from my box.  Good luck.

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## dc

I'm using the drivers from http://www.mobilix.org/touchpad_driver.html for my Synaptics touchpad and it works like a charm! It supports all features including the scrollbuttons, edges etc.

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## Hypnos

 *dc wrote:*   

> I'm using the drivers from http://www.mobilix.org/touchpad_driver.html for my Synaptics touchpad and it works like a charm! It supports all features including the scrollbuttons, edges etc.

 

I have a four-way scroll jog-button-type-thing on my Compaq 2800 ... I should try this out.

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## Hypnos

I tried the XF86 Synaptics driver, and edge scroll and click-and-drag gestures work well.  Unfortunately, my 4-way-scroll-button underneath the touchpad itself acts quite funny -- all four movements seem to send button 5 events; however, when doing verbose logging on the xserver, those events don't show up.

I've written the driver maintainer ... we'll see what happens.

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## Hypnos

 *Hypnos wrote:*   

> 've written the driver maintainer ... we'll see what happens.

 

Stefan Gmeiner gave me a beta which lets me use the up and down on the 4way scroll button ... left and right forthcoming ...

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## Rafet

ok, would you like to share it with us   :Wink: 

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## Hypnos

 *Rafet wrote:*   

> ok, would you like to share it with us  

 

Since it's beta you should ask him directly -- very nicely.  He may not think it's ready for primetime yet, but he's likely looking for more testers.

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## Floppe

Hi,

mobilix.org is down.   :Sad: 

Can someone send the driver?

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## Hypnos

You can get the touchpad driver here:

http://www.tuxmobil.org/touchpad_driver.html

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## Acrid

I tried to compile it and load it, but got a whole string of dependency errors when it loaded. No specific missing funcitons were listed, just that they were unresolved. Any clues? I tried the already compiled version and it locked up my display. Not fun.

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## Hypnos

I haven't had to mess with the driver in forever, even after I upgraded X.   I might be able to help you if you post the following info:

What the error messages actually are

What versions of X and the kernel you are running

What hardware you are trying to run with the driver (e.g., laptop make and model

Also, I suggest you take the follow steps if you have not done so already: a) make sure that you have following the instructions provided with the driver to a T, and b) look on the web to see what others have accomplished with your hardware ... http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/ is a good start.

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## Acrid

Symbol  from module /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/input/synaptics_drv.o is unresolved!

Actually repeated about 82 times.

X version 4.2.1

Sony Vaio PCG-FXA49. ATI Rage Mobility driver from gatos.

Linux 2.4.20 with ACPI patch r8.

The weird thing that is stumping me is that there is no symbol listed. There are two spaces between Symbol and from. Strange. I tried to use the binary and it totally locked up X. Wouldn't even crash. I logged in from another system and killed it. I'll be checking out as many items as I can, but I'm a little short on answers myself.

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## Hypnos

Try adding the "-g" option in the Makefile in the compiler options, and see if you get any debugging symbols.

It seems that a library or object is not getting linked.  Could you try posting all the build output, or at least starting some lines before where the errors start?

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## Acrid

Actually these errors are not on link, but on loading X. I also noticed something strange in the log:

Not loading .rodata.str1.1

Not loading .rodata.str1.32

Symbol  from module /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/input/synaptics_drv.o is unresolved!

I built it with -g and there ended up no difference after the linker got through with it. Know any way to tell the linker to leave debugging info in it?

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## Hypnos

Hmm.... that's weird ... as soon as my webserver is back up, I'll post the source code for the driver I'm using -- hopefully you'll have better luck with that.

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## Hypnos

you can get the tarball for the touchpad driver revision I use at:

http://www.sourav.net/synaptics-0.11.3.tar.gz

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## paranode

I installed this driver and placed the binary in the location the install doc specified and it works great!  I just need to figure out how to disable the tap click, I don't care much for it...

*Edit - You can disable it by setting MaxTapTime to 0.

I am noticing that you have to click the mouse button a little longer to register a click with this driver, I'll try and find the setting to fix this...

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## Hypnos

Reading the docs in the tarball, perhaps you could screw with the parameters (like "MaxTapTime") to eliminate careless brushes, etc.

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## paranode

Argh, I can't stand the slow click response, I have to go back to the regular mouse driver.  Anyone know how to adjust this for the synaptics one?  None of the options in the documentation seem to be related.

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## Hypnos

Maybe try the finger pressure parameters ... seems correlated to how long you have to keep your finger on the pad.

I only use the touchpad when I travel, and I've been pretty happy with its action so far.  I haven't made any tweaks, so can't help you there ...

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## paranode

Actually it's the pressing of the physical button that is responding slower.  I disabled the tapping of the pad for clicking.  When I switch back to regular PS/2 it registers the clicks as soon as I press the button, but with this synaptics driver it seems to take about a half second of holding it down before it clicks.  I guess it's tolerable for the trade-off of using the scrollbuttons but it is a little annoying.

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## Hypnos

weird ... I don't have that problem.  I wonder if the touchpad models are different .... I'm on a Presario 2800T, which is about 8 months old.

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