Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

b4nst0n · 2013-08-08 16:44:58

I spent a whole day to 50-synaptics.conf , and still can not make it perfect like under Winodws. Now I have to turn off it because it's really hard to use.
Anyone haved made a perfect conf file about X230's touchpad? I will really thank you if you share it. ;p

Trilby · 2013-08-08 16:47:34

"Perfect"??

Well that's not subjective.

If you can define how you want it to behave, or what you want to change, then maybe you can get help. But you want a perfect touchpad? Keep it disabled, that's my perfect touchpad.

b4nst0n · 2013-08-08 17:29:05

Trilby wrote:

"Perfect"??
Well that's not subjective.
If you can define how you want it to behave, or what you want to change, then maybe you can get help. But you want a perfect touchpad? Keep it disabled, that's my perfect touchpad.

Sorry it's my bad. And English is not my first language, so maybe my description looks a little strange, sorry fot that again. ;p

1. I can never make cursor move smooth during the day. it always moves swayed.
2. the right button which under touchpad(Sorry I don't know how to description the botton,it's under touchpad,not the classic physical right button)doesn't work, and the bottons under touchpad are always in conflict with the tap motion.
3. the classic middle button doesn't work, it's looks like combine classic left button and "Enter" button so strange.

thanks for all reply.

donniezazen · 2013-08-08 19:25:52

Touchpad has always worked out-of-box on my Thinkpad T420i. Do you have xf86-input-synaptics installed? You could also try [1].

[1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Le … #Synaptics

WonderWoofy · 2013-08-08 19:58:12

You have what is called a "clickpad", as the actual buttons are integrated into the touchpad itself. Take a look at the /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf, and towards the bottom there is a section with Identifier "Default clickpad buttons". In that section there is the part about the Option "SoftButtonAreas". That is what will make your clickpad's bottom section work like real buttons. If you want the bottom to work only as buttons there is also the Option "AreaBottomEdge" setting as well that you can uncomment. With what is defined in the example, it will provide left and right button areas (buttons 1 and 3 or "left" and "right" click). It can be configured to also include the middle button, but I find having that set up tends to be a bit hard to use, as it is difficult to determine where exactly on your touchpad you are without looking at it every few seconds.

As far as this "wobbly" movement, I have no idea what it is you mean by that, so I am not sure I can actually help you. FWIW, my touchpad works just fine on my E430, but I rarely use it, as I have most everything set up to be controlled by the keyboard. For the other stuff, I just use the trackpoint mostly.

b4nst0n · 2013-08-09 06:34:50

WonderWoofy wrote:

You have what is called a "clickpad", as the actual buttons are integrated into the touchpad itself. Take a look at the /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf, and towards the bottom there is a section with Identifier "Default clickpad buttons". In that section there is the part about the Option "SoftButtonAreas". That is what will make your clickpad's bottom section work like real buttons. If you want the bottom to work only as buttons there is also the Option "AreaBottomEdge" setting as well that you can uncomment. With what is defined in the example, it will provide left and right button areas (buttons 1 and 3 or "left" and "right" click). It can be configured to also include the middle button, but I find having that set up tends to be a bit hard to use, as it is difficult to determine where exactly on your touchpad you are without looking at it every few seconds.
As far as this "wobbly" movement, I have no idea what it is you mean by that, so I am not sure I can actually help you. FWIW, my touchpad works just fine on my E430, but I rarely use it, as I have most everything set up to be controlled by the keyboard. For the other stuff, I just use the trackpoint mostly.

Really thank you!

I am trying to edit my touchpad conf file again, I will upload it later. But I still have some questions.

1.About "wobbly" movement, it's like sometimes I just want to make a tap, but cursor jump a point to another point itself, not so far but really annoyed. (even I set MaxTapMove to 800)
2.I can not understand the difference between "ClickFinger" and "TapButton"
3.Is The button under touchad maens "Soft Button Area"? How to set the righ button which under touchad to "right click"? it's feature is"left click" now.
4.Option "TapButton1" "1" doesn't work, I tap and it does nothing. But use $ synclient TapButton1=1, it turns to be useful.Why?

Thanks foy all reply.

Last edited by b4nst0n (2013-08-09 07:51:58)

b4nst0n · 2013-08-09 06:37:07

donniezazen wrote:

Touchpad has always worked out-of-box on my Thinkpad T420i. Do you have xf86-input-synaptics installed? You could also try [1].
[1] https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Le … #Synaptics

Thank you, But I'd like to make my own X230 conf because T420i is difference from x230 ;p

b4nst0n · 2013-08-09 07:02:03

Section "InputClass"
        Identifier      "touchpad catchall"
        Driver "synaptics"
        MatchIsTouchpad "on"
        MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
	Option "TapButton1"		"1"
	Option "LeftEdge"		        "1100"
	Option "RightEdge"		"5350"
	Option "TopEdge"		        "800"
	Option "BottomEdge"		"4100"
	Option "FingerLow"		"30"
	Option "FingerHigh"		"35"
	Option "MaxTapTime"		"250"
	OPtion "MaxTapMove"		"800"
	Option "MaxDoubleTapTime"	"300"
	Option "VertEdgeScroll" 	"1"
	Option "HorizEdgeScroll" 	"1"
	Option "CornerCoasting" 	"1"
	Option "VertScrollDelta" 	"100"
	Option "HorizScrollDelta"	"100"
	Option "MinSpeed"		        "4"
	Option "MaxSpeed"		"4"
	Option "AccelFactor"		"0.1"
	Option "LockedDrags"		"0"
	Option "SingleTapTimeout"	"400"
	Option "AreaBottomEdge"	"5200"
EndSection

It's what I set now.

Last edited by b4nst0n (2013-08-09 07:02:30)

WonderWoofy · 2013-08-09 15:15:41

Okay, instead of creating your own config from scratch, I would recommend trying to use what you are given by the synaptics package and then trying to make small modifications from there.

I think what you are experiencing in "wobbly movement" is the inherent way in which a clickpad works. You likely have a finger moving the cursor around, and then it also sounds like you have a finger on the bottom of the clickpad to actually press the button (like you would if you had a traditional touchpad with buttons). So when you navigate the click on something, if you finger for the button use is not precisely in the area for clicking, it is going to register as another thing on the movement area. So it is probably getting confused by the two fingers in the movement area at the same time. It is for this reason that I use the "AreaBottomEdge" option.

Here is what I have for my 50-synaptics.conf: http://ix.io/7a1
You will probably notice that it is nearly identical to the defaults with just a few additions, as well as a few things uncommented (such as the clickpad stuff). I hate the tap to click... it makes me click on just about everything. I prefer two finger scrolling. I never use the middle button. Vertical scrolling was too sensitive for me. Other than that the config is just all the defaults. The defaults are defaults for a reason... they are a sane place to start.

b4nst0n · 2013-08-10 02:26:07

WonderWoofy wrote:

Okay, instead of creating your own config from scratch, I would recommend trying to use what you are given by the synaptics package and then trying to make small modifications from there.
I think what you are experiencing in "wobbly movement" is the inherent way in which a clickpad works. You likely have a finger moving the cursor around, and then it also sounds like you have a finger on the bottom of the clickpad to actually press the button (like you would if you had a traditional touchpad with buttons). So when you navigate the click on something, if you finger for the button use is not precisely in the area for clicking, it is going to register as another thing on the movement area. So it is probably getting confused by the two fingers in the movement area at the same time. It is for this reason that I use the "AreaBottomEdge" option.
Here is what I have for my 50-synaptics.conf: http://ix.io/7a1
You will probably notice that it is nearly identical to the defaults with just a few additions, as well as a few things uncommented (such as the clickpad stuff). I hate the tap to click... it makes me click on just about everything. I prefer two finger scrolling. I never use the middle button. Vertical scrolling was too sensitive for me. Other than that the config is just all the defaults. The defaults are defaults for a reason... they are a sane place to start.

Oh! I just make a little change for my X230 and it works better than my old own. But I still want to learn something.
1. you set TapButton1=0, But in my machine tap register as left click, and doubletap register as double left click(however, I like this feature ;P)
2. the right bottom button works right now. Which options made it? I don't really understand. And hard to understand the parameter of "SoftButtonAreas" and "AreaBottomEdge" even read manpage, can you please explain a little? like their feature and parameter meaning?
3.tap action still make a little "wobbly movement", but it's not so influence now.

And I wanna say thank you again!

Last edited by b4nst0n (2013-08-10 02:30:21)

WonderWoofy · 2013-08-10 03:34:45

The SoftButtonAreas option simply is a way of adjusting how much area of the horizontal space each button is given, as well as how much area from the bottom is alotted to these buttons. The areas are measured consistenly all from the same edge. I am fiarly certain that horizontally these are measured from the left edge (as though you were reading english from left to right). The vertical alottment is measured from the top.

So in the example I posted, I use whatever the actual units of measurement that synapics uses. But there is the line below it that uses percentages. So in this example:

/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf wrote:

<snip>
Option "SoftButtonAreas" "50% 0 82% 0 0 0 0 0"
<snip>

The various percentages/numbers represent the start of the right buttons left edge, the right button's right edge, the right button's top edge, and the right button's bottom edge for the first four numbers and then it repeats for the second set of four number, but applying to the middle button.

So it means that the right button is going to start at 50% of the way across the trackpad from the left side (horizontally), so it will take up half the space. The other number of significance is the 82%. This simply means that the buttons top edge will start 82% of the way down from the top. So only the bottom 18% of the trackpad will be designated as "buttons".

AreaBottomEdge simply defines the area that is not to be used for movement. So in this case if you uncomment that, the bottom 18% will be used only as buttons, and not as movement area. I prefer this because I don't like it when the trackpad registers both my fingers as being there for movement and then the cursor jumps back and forth. This is what I thought you meant by the "wobbly movement" but I think you are referring to something entirely different.

Could the this wobble be the fact taht you are not tapping the exact same spot as where you lifted your finger from? If this is the case, you might want to adjust the overall movement sensitivity of the trackpad. I *think* this is controlled by HorizHysteresis and VertHysteresis.

b4nst0n · 2013-08-10 06:21:28

WonderWoofy wrote:

The SoftButtonAreas option simply is a way of adjusting how much area of the horizontal space each button is given, as well as how much area from the bottom is alotted to these buttons. The areas are measured consistenly all from the same edge. I am fiarly certain that horizontally these are measured from the left edge (as though you were reading english from left to right). The vertical alottment is measured from the top.
So in the example I posted, I use whatever the actual units of measurement that synapics uses. But there is the line below it that uses percentages. So in this example:
/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf wrote:
<snip>
Option "SoftButtonAreas" "50% 0 82% 0 0 0 0 0"
<snip>
The various percentages/numbers represent the start of the right buttons left edge, the right button's right edge, the right button's top edge, and the right button's bottom edge for the first four numbers and then it repeats for the second set of four number, but applying to the middle button.
So it means that the right button is going to start at 50% of the way across the trackpad from the left side (horizontally), so it will take up half the space. The other number of significance is the 82%. This simply means that the buttons top edge will start 82% of the way down from the top. So only the bottom 18% of the trackpad will be designated as "buttons".
AreaBottomEdge simply defines the area that is not to be used for movement. So in this case if you uncomment that, the bottom 18% will be used only as buttons, and not as movement area. I prefer this because I don't like it when the trackpad registers both my fingers as being there for movement and then the cursor jumps back and forth. This is what I thought you meant by the "wobbly movement" but I think you are referring to something entirely different.
Could the this wobble be the fact taht you are not tapping the exact same spot as where you lifted your finger from? If this is the case, you might want to adjust the overall movement sensitivity of the trackpad. I *think* this is controlled by HorizHysteresis and VertHysteresis.

Really thank you. I am out of home with mobile phone right now, and will read your answer later.Hope you have a good day！

b4nst0n · 2013-08-11 16:46:33

"Could the this wobble be the fact taht you are not tapping the exact same spot as where you lifted your finger from?"

I tap at one point, and I *think* I lifted my finger at the same point, but the cursor just jump to another point. I agree with you that it's about the sensitivity problem, but I cannot find any option to set this parameter. HorizHysteresis and VertHysteresis are default to 0.5, but manual shows it need an integer. I try 4 times to set them both "0.2",or "0.8", or "20", or "80" ,all of this parameter can not fix this problem, I give up now and decide to use trackpoint and physical buttons.

Last edited by b4nst0n (2013-08-11 17:17:06)

WonderWoofy · 2013-08-11 16:54:48

On my machine, the HorizHysterisis and VertHysterisis both default to '8'. Maybe try something outlandish to see if there is an effect? For instance, set them both to 150 and see if you can actually notice a difference. Or more importantly, whether or not you can actually move the cursor effectively, get it to a clickable element, and then see if your tapping to click works without this "wobble". If it does, then you know that the adjustment of these particular elements have an influence on your issue. If they do not, then you can throw that idea out and move on to looking for something else.

IMO, the TrackPoint is an awesome thing. I really do enjoy it, and it works quite well. Have you configured the TrackPoint at all? This is what I have as 20-trackpoint.conf.

Otherwise, you can just stop using the tap to click functionality If you have the buttons set up on the bottom of the trackpad and also have the AreaBottomEdge set up, then it should work like a normal trackpad with buttons.

b4nst0n · 2013-08-11 17:15:48

WonderWoofy wrote:

On my machine, the HorizHysterisis and VertHysterisis both default to '8'. Maybe try something outlandish to see if there is an effect? For instance, set them both to 150 and see if you can actually notice a difference. Or more importantly, whether or not you can actually move the cursor effectively, get it to a clickable element, and then see if your tapping to click works without this "wobble". If it does, then you know that the adjustment of these particular elements have an influence on your issue. If they do not, then you can throw that idea out and move on to looking for something else.
IMO, the TrackPoint is an awesome thing. I really do enjoy it, and it works quite well. Have you configured the TrackPoint at all? This is what I have as 20-trackpoint.conf.
Otherwise, you can just stop using the tap to click functionality If you have the buttons set up on the bottom of the trackpad and also have the AreaBottomEdge set up, then it should work like a normal trackpad with buttons.

Ok I will try other options tomorrow, it's 01:12AM here .
BTW, I don't set a trackpoint.conf, and it moves great, I just use it to move cursor and use touchpad to scroll, that's awesome except sometimes I touch touchpad by accident while I'am using trackpoint

Last edited by b4nst0n (2013-08-11 17:19:50)

WonderWoofy · 2013-08-11 18:46:30

What I have in my settings for my Trackpoint make the middle button the "scroll" button. That is, when it is held, the Trackpoint will then scroll instead of moving. Since I am not a "middle button user" it works great for me. But I know that there are people who use the middle click for pasting and whatnot.

WonderWoofy · 2013-08-12 05:22:55

I wonder if "MaxTapMove" might be what you are looking for...

b4nst0n · 2013-08-12 07:24:38

WonderWoofy wrote:

I wonder if "MaxTapMove" might be what you are looking for...

No it isn't cause I have tried it. It seems just to set how many units you move so the system register it as a tap, but this option can not control cursor's movement.

I improve "FingerLow" and "FingerHigh", and the problem seems be better a bit, but still not perfect. I said "not perfect" because the cursor's move style is jumping several units. We suppose here are A B C D E 5 points and the cursor is at A now, I move my finger from left to right *a bit*, and the cursor just *jump* to C or D instead B.

And here is the wikipage about this problem. Maybe it's the same problem as I faced? But I don't really understand what it means exactly.

 Cursor Jump

Some users have their cursor inexplicably jump around the screen. There currently no patch for this, but the developers are aware of the problem and are working on it.

Another posibility is that you're experiencing IRQ losses related to the i8042 controller (this device handles the keyboard and the touchpad of many laptops), so you have two posibilities here:

1. rmmod && insmod the psmouse module. 2. append i8042.nomux=1 to the boot line and reboot your machine.

Last edited by b4nst0n (2013-08-12 07:25:29)

WonderWoofy · 2013-08-12 14:06:46

Have you tried these workarounds yet? Or is that the part you don't understand?

b4nst0n · 2013-08-12 14:58:15

WonderWoofy wrote:

Have you tried these workarounds yet? Or is that the part you don't understand?

I don't understand the step "2. append i8042.nomux=1 to the boot line and reboot your machine. " Where should I add it? /boot/grub/grub.cfg or something else?

Arch Linux

#1 2013-08-08 16:44:58

Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

#2 2013-08-08 16:47:34

Re: Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

#3 2013-08-08 17:29:05

Re: Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

#4 2013-08-08 19:25:52

Re: Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

#5 2013-08-08 19:58:12

Re: Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

#6 2013-08-09 06:34:50

Re: Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

#7 2013-08-09 06:37:07

Re: Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

#8 2013-08-09 07:02:03

Re: Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

#9 2013-08-09 15:15:41

Re: Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

#10 2013-08-10 02:26:07

Re: Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

#11 2013-08-10 03:34:45

Re: Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

#12 2013-08-10 06:21:28

Re: Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

#13 2013-08-11 16:46:33

Re: Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

#14 2013-08-11 16:54:48

Re: Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

#15 2013-08-11 17:15:48

Re: Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

#16 2013-08-11 18:46:30

Re: Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

#17 2013-08-12 05:22:55

Re: Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

#18 2013-08-12 07:24:38

Re: Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

#19 2013-08-12 14:06:46

Re: Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

#20 2013-08-12 14:58:15

Re: Anyone use Thinkpad X230 and make the touchpad perfect?

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