Arch Linux

chiptuned

Member

Registered: 2014-10-14

Posts: 2

Synaptics clickpad: Can't rest finger on button area and move pointer

I have a new laptop with a clickpad touchpad.  I don't like tap to click, so I've disabled that.  I'm trying to get the bottom clickpad area of the touchpad to behave as close to standalone buttons as possible.  On my old laptop I developed a habit of resting my left pointer finger on the left button as my right pointer moved the cursor around.  With this new touchpad, as soon as my finger touches the left button area, the cursor freezes in place ignoring the continued movement of my other finger.

I've tried multiple changes to the synaptics conf but I can't find anything that works.  SoftButtonAreas is set.  It seems like setting AreaBottomEdge should solve the problem, but it doesn't.  The documentation says that setting AreaBottomEdge should "Ignore movements, scrolling and tapping which start below this edge" but touching this area is indeed detected and changes the state of the pad for me even when enabled.

Is this behavior inherent of the driver or is it a quirk related to my specific touchpad?

Does anyone know of a possible solution to remedy this behavior?

xinput -list

⎡ Virtual core pointer                    	id=2	 [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer              	id=4	 [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ ETPS/2 Elantech Touchpad                  id=11    [slave  pointer  (2)]

-

synclient -l

Parameter settings:
    LeftEdge                = 131
    RightEdge               = 3145
    TopEdge                 = 101
    BottomEdge              = 1771
    FingerLow               = 1
    FingerHigh              = 1
    MaxTapTime              = 180
    MaxTapMove              = 166
    MaxDoubleTapTime        = 180
    SingleTapTimeout        = 180
    ClickTime               = 100
    EmulateMidButtonTime    = 0
    EmulateTwoFingerMinZ    = 282
    EmulateTwoFingerMinW    = 7
    VertScrollDelta         = 75
    HorizScrollDelta        = 75
    VertEdgeScroll          = 1
    HorizEdgeScroll         = 0
    CornerCoasting          = 0
    VertTwoFingerScroll     = 0
    HorizTwoFingerScroll    = 0
    MinSpeed                = 1
    MaxSpeed                = 1.75
    AccelFactor             = 0.0530082
    TouchpadOff             = 0
    LockedDrags             = 0
    LockedDragTimeout       = 5000
    RTCornerButton          = 0
    RBCornerButton          = 0
    LTCornerButton          = 0
    LBCornerButton          = 0
    TapButton1              = 0
    TapButton2              = 0
    TapButton3              = 0
    ClickFinger1            = 1
    ClickFinger2            = 3
    ClickFinger3            = 2
    CircularScrolling       = 0
    CircScrollDelta         = 0.1
    CircScrollTrigger       = 0
    CircularPad             = 0
    PalmDetect              = 0
    PalmMinWidth            = 10
    PalmMinZ                = 200
    CoastingSpeed           = 0
    CoastingFriction        = 50
    PressureMotionMinZ      = 30
    PressureMotionMaxZ      = 160
    PressureMotionMinFactor = 1
    PressureMotionMaxFactor = 1
    GrabEventDevice         = 0
    TapAndDragGesture       = 1
    AreaLeftEdge            = 0
    AreaRightEdge           = 0
    AreaTopEdge             = 0
    AreaBottomEdge          = 1535
    HorizHysteresis         = 18
    VertHysteresis          = 18
    ClickPad                = 1
    RightButtonAreaLeft     = 1638
    RightButtonAreaRight    = 0
    RightButtonAreaTop      = 1535
    RightButtonAreaBottom   = 0
    MiddleButtonAreaLeft    = 0
    MiddleButtonAreaRight   = 0
    MiddleButtonAreaTop     = 0
    MiddleButtonAreaBottom  = 0

v1ron

Member

Registered: 2014-11-19

Posts: 1

Re: Synaptics clickpad: Can't rest finger on button area and move pointer

I have Acer Aspire S7 with Archlinux and unfortunately have the same problem. The buttons are hidden under the touchpad area, and it is possible to manipulate only with one finger. No synclient sessings worked for me. Very frustrating.

chiptuned

Member

Registered: 2014-10-14

Posts: 2

Re: Synaptics clickpad: Can't rest finger on button area and move pointer

After further findings, I'll answer my own post:

This behavior is inherent of the driver.  The issue has been known upstream for a little while now:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=66532

There is also a bug open on Ubuntu launchpad with quite a bit of discussion:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour … ug/1026046

Doesn't appear that any major contributor to the synaptics driver is eager to resolve it

Sadly, I haven't found a good solution to this issue for me.  There is an alternative mtrack driver which isn't prone to this, but it has other quirks that bothered me greatly.  I ended up just forcing myself to get used to tap to click.  I still don't like it.