Arch Linux

Extreme Coder

Member

Registered: 2008-03-11

Posts: 41

Issues with Fn-keys and Synaptics touchpad on Asus X51RL laptop

Hello,
Since I installed Arch on my laptop, it's been working great. But I still have a few issues:

1) Fn-keys do not work. The brightness Fn-keys work, but I think that's done internally by the laptop, since it works even in the BIOS. The sound Fn-keys don't work, which is the ones I really need. How can I fix this? And I read somewhere that I have to switch from the kbd drivers to the evdev driver, is that true?

2) Since the latest update to the synaptics package in testing, the touchpad lost one-touch tapping, along with some other stuff. I know the solution is to disable hotplugging, but I sometimes need to plug in a keyboard or mouse, so I can't. How can I retain the scrolling and one-touch tapping settings from Xorg.conf AND hotplugging while using the latest synaptics?

3) The pre-configured options for the synaptics touchpad in the archwiki are good, but not that accurate. The size of the scrolling section of the touchpad is a bit too large, among other things. It's a minor problem compared to the others, but it'd be nice to fix it. In Windows, I definitely remember the settings being more accurate. Is there a way to have the Synaptics driver autodetect like the Windows one, or am I missing something here?

Thanks a lot in advance!

Extreme Coder

Member

Registered: 2008-03-11

Posts: 41

Re: Issues with Fn-keys and Synaptics touchpad on Asus X51RL laptop

Bumpity Bump

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: Issues with Fn-keys and Synaptics touchpad on Asus X51RL laptop

Did you search before posting? There are several threads about the synaptics issue e.g. this one.

For the Fn keys, look for the "Extra Keyboard Keys" pages in the wiki.

Extreme Coder

Member

Registered: 2008-03-11

Posts: 41

Re: Issues with Fn-keys and Synaptics touchpad on Asus X51RL laptop

The synaptics issue doesnt bother me as much as the Fn keys issue.
For the FN keys issue:
- It works perfectly on a Mandriva 2009 LiveCD, out of the box.
- I copied Mandriva's Xorg, and used it in Arch.
- Yet the keys are still not working!

I assume this may have to do with Mandriva using an older version than Arch's X.Org's 7.4 and not having that annoying input hotplugging. But I dont have any ideas at all.

Please help me!

QuimaxW

Member

From: Papua New Guinea

Registered: 2006-12-03

Posts: 228

Website

Re: Issues with Fn-keys and Synaptics touchpad on Asus X51RL laptop

Has there been any progress on the Fn keys?

I too found they worked with Ubuntu, but I didn't/couldn't find anything that would indicate why they were working in Ubuntu but I've been unable to figure out what daemon needs to run in Arch to accomplish this.

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"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." -Jim Elliot

Diaz

Member

From: Portugal

Registered: 2008-04-16

Posts: 366

Re: Issues with Fn-keys and Synaptics touchpad on Asus X51RL laptop

if you install the acpi-support package that is the one ubuntu has, it adds a lot of scripts to the system. Analyze those and see if it works for you...

for my asus, the fn-sound keys started working, but wireless stuff and brigthness i cant make them work no matter what. when i have more time i have to look for it with other eyes...

Extreme Coder

Member

Registered: 2008-03-11

Posts: 41

Re: Issues with Fn-keys and Synaptics touchpad on Asus X51RL laptop

Sadly, I didn't find any answer to this problem. I'm just living with it

QuimaxW

Member

From: Papua New Guinea

Registered: 2006-12-03

Posts: 228

Website

Re: Issues with Fn-keys and Synaptics touchpad on Asus X51RL laptop

I have the S62J (Intel verified whatnot version) with this Asus, the brightness keys work. I think they are hard wired though as they work in the BIOS.

I tried the acpi-support, but I haven't had any luck with it yet. I'll have to mess with it some more to see if I'm missing something.

I'm also wondering if there isn't a different keyboard layout I should use. I notice that there is a 30-something-asus-something.fdi (I'm not on the notebook at the moment) on the system, but I don't know if it's being used by anything.

The other observation is that using the Fn button is throwing ACPI calls into my dmesg.log file. I need to research to find out how to use them.

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"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." -Jim Elliot