[SOLVED] touchpad weirdness dell m65 laptop

stefan1975 · 2008-02-25 21:40:17

Hi all,

i am running arch on my Dell precision M65 laptop with gnome/xfce/kdemod and nearly everything is working fine apart from the laptop's touchpad.

It does work in a way, only the touchpad is an exact replication of the laptops screen. What I am trying to say is that when I reposition my finger on the touchpad the mouse pointer moves to the exact same position on the screen as where i set down my finger, which makes scrolling impossible. The buttons are all fine and so is the thumb thingy that can also serve as a mouse replacement but gives me RSI within seconds.

does anyone know how to fix this minor issue?

thanks,
stefan

Last edited by stefan1975 (2008-02-26 19:54:52)

jbromley · 2008-02-26 07:17:44

Hi,

I've had a similar problem with my Dell Inspiron 9300, which has a ALPS GlidePoint. Anyway, it seems that if you do a default X configuration, sometimes the touchpad gets read through /dev/psaux. I've found that this can leave you in "absolute mode" like you're seeing. Try looking at /proc/bus/input/devices to find what real devices your touchpad is using and then use one of those (preferrably eventX) to configure your system. You first want to find the "N: Name=" line that lists your touchpad and then look at the "H: Handlers=" line in that section.

Perhaps you might post the pertinent section of your xorg.conf file as well, just to see that everything looks OK.

Good luck,
j

stefan1975 · 2008-02-26 16:59:09

Hi there,

thanks for the reply. Here is the output from /proc/.../devices as far as I believe relates to my touchpad:

 I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0008 Version=6337
N: Name="AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio1/input0
S: Sysfs=/devices/platform/i8042/serio1/input/input12
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=mouse3 event12 
B: EV=f
B: KEY=420 0 70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=3
B: ABS=1000003

here is an extraction of my xorg.conf, there doesnt seem to be a specific section for the touchpad here, maybe that is the issue. I generated the xorg.conf through "nvidia-xconfig" and edited it to suit my needs.

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    RgbPath         "/usr/lib/X11/rgb"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "type1"
    Load           "freetype"
    Load           "glx"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "keyboard"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Samsung SyncMaster"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 81.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    Option         "NoLogo" "True"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "Quadro FX 350M"
    Option         "NoLogo" "True"
EndSection

hope this info help solving my problem.

thanks,
stefan.

jbromley · 2008-02-26 18:17:42

Yes, it seems you have no section for your touchpad. Try adding the following to your xorg.conf:

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "ALPS GlidePoint"
        Driver      "synaptics"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/input/event12"
        Option      "Protocol" "auto-dev"
        Option      "SHMConfig" "on"
        Option      "Emulate3Buttons" "on"
        Option      "LeftEdge" "120"
        Option      "RightEdge" "830"
        Option      "TopEdge" "120"
        Option      "BottomEdge" "650"
        Option      "FingerLow" "14"
        Option      "FingerHigh" "15"
        Option      "MaxTapTime" "180"
        Option      "MaxTapMove" "110"
        Option      "EmulateMidButtonTime" "75"
        Option      "VertScrollDelta" "40"
        Option      "HorizScrollDelta" "40"
        Option      "MinSpeed" "0.6"
        Option      "MaxSpeed" "1.2"
        Option      "AccelFactor" "0.03"
        Option      "EdgeMotionMinSpeed" "200"
        Option      "EdgeMotionMaxSpeed" "200"
        Option      "UpDownScrolling" "1"
        Option      "CircularScrolling" "1"
        Option      "CircScrollDelta" "0.1"
        Option      "CircScrollTrigger" "2"
EndSection

Notice I'm using /dev/input/event12 as your touchpad device, this is from the /proc/bus/input/devices that you posted. If it still does not work you may try using /dev/input/mouse3 as the device. Also, you'll need to add a line to your ServerLayout section and modify the existing Mouse0 line. You will need to install the synaptics package if it is not already installed.

Section "ServerLayout"
    ...   
    InputDevice    "ALPS GlidePoint" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "SendCoreEvents"
...
EndSection

Let me know how it goes. Good luck.

Regards,
j

Last edited by jbromley (2008-02-26 18:19:23)

stefan1975 · 2008-02-26 19:25:48

hi,

we must be on the right track because adding the code (both on input12 and mouse3) do change the touchpad's behaviour but only in the way that it won't work at all anymore.

this is the X.org.log0:

(II) Synaptics touchpad driver version 0.14.6 (1406)
(--) ALPS GlidePoint auto-dev sets device to /dev/input/event12
(**) Option "Device" "/dev/input/event12"
(**) Option "SHMConfig" "on"
(**) Option "LeftEdge" "120"
(**) Option "RightEdge" "830"
(**) Option "TopEdge" "120"
(**) Option "BottomEdge" "650"
(**) Option "VertScrollDelta" "40"
(**) Option "HorizScrollDelta" "40"
(**) Option "EdgeMotionMinSpeed" "200"
(**) Option "EdgeMotionMaxSpeed" "200"
(**) Option "FingerLow" "14"
(**) Option "FingerHigh" "15"
(**) Option "MaxTapTime" "180"
(**) Option "MaxTapMove" "110"
(**) Option "EmulateMidButtonTime" "75"
(**) Option "UpDownScrolling" "1"
(**) Option "CircularScrolling" "1"
(**) Option "CircScrollTrigger" "2"
(--) ALPS GlidePoint touchpad found
(**) Option "CorePointer" "False"
(**) ALPS GlidePoint: doesn't report core events
(II) evaluating device (ALPS GlidePoint)
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "ALPS GlidePoint" (type: MOUSE)
(II) evaluating device (Mouse0)
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Mouse0" (type: MOUSE)
(II) evaluating device (Keyboard0)
(II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Keyboard0" (type: KEYBOARD)
(--) ALPS GlidePoint auto-dev sets device to /dev/input/event12
(**) Option "Device" "/dev/input/event12"
(--) ALPS GlidePoint touchpad found
(--) Mouse0: PnP-detected protocol: "ExplorerPS/2"
(II) Mouse0: ps2EnableDataReporting: succeeded
(II) LoadModule: "evdev"
(II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/input//evdev_drv.so
(II) Module evdev: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
        compiled for 1.4.0, module version = 1.2.0
        Module class: X.Org XInput Driver
        ABI class: X.Org XInput driver, version 2.0

hope that helps
stefan

stefan1975 · 2008-02-26 19:54:32

Hi,

it is working now. I just changed some other thing in the xorg.conf (big JAAY for the WIKI by the way".

the thing that did the trick was:

InputDevice "Touchpad" "SendCoreEvents" (and not corepointer)

and of course:
Load "synaptics"

then it was all fine!

thanks a lot!
stefan

Arch Linux

#1 2008-02-25 21:40:17

[SOLVED] touchpad weirdness dell m65 laptop

#2 2008-02-26 07:17:44

Re: [SOLVED] touchpad weirdness dell m65 laptop

#3 2008-02-26 16:59:09

Re: [SOLVED] touchpad weirdness dell m65 laptop

#4 2008-02-26 18:17:42

Re: [SOLVED] touchpad weirdness dell m65 laptop

#5 2008-02-26 19:25:48

Re: [SOLVED] touchpad weirdness dell m65 laptop

#6 2008-02-26 19:54:32

Re: [SOLVED] touchpad weirdness dell m65 laptop

Board footer