Linux Tutorial

Improve support the touch pad (touchpad) or set of actions with the unexpected or fingers is possible.

There are several configuration tools.

With GUI

Here are some graphical tools for configuring the Synaptics driver ™. Synaptics ™ is a leading manufacturer of touch pads, not to be confused with the Synaptic package manager used in Gnome.
Mouse Preferences

You can start with a few simple adjustments before opting for more advanced tools. It is possible that this step is sufficient for your needs.

Go to menu System → Preferences → Mouse. Generally a Touch-pad tab will be present.

If you connect an external mouse to your laptop, you may want to disable the touchpad. For that, see below dealing with the deactivation of the touchpad. Note that on some phones, there is the possibility to deactivate and reactivate the touchpad with just a keystroke or a dedicated button above the touchpad.

If the Touch Pad tab is not present in the preferences of the mouse or you want more options, use one of the tools below.

GPointing

Since Karmic GPointing gsynaptics replaces (since Xorg 7.4).

Install the package gpointing-device-settings;
Configure the package via the menu System → Preferences → Pointing Devices,
If the packet does not advance, try to activate SHMConfig as shown below on the page.

On some phones (including Asus), the installation of Gpointing does not appear on the tab “touch pad”. To work around this problem, a solution is proposed on the forum. This operation will make every kernel update.
Otherwise it is advisable to use methods from the command line to fix your settings. If, despite what is shown on this page you can not find solutions, please ask your question on the forum.

Gsynaptics

With Hardy gsynaptics to configure the advanced features of the touchpad.

If you use Ubuntu:
gsynaptics install the package,
Configure via the menu System → Preferences → Touchpad,
If the packet does not advance, try to activate SHMConfig as shown below on the page or use the tools from the command line.

If you use Xubuntu:
install the package gsynaptics-mcs-plugin
Configure via the Xfce Settings Manager,
If the packet does not advance, try to activate SHMConfig as shown below on the page or use the tools from the command line.

For users of KDE desktop:

install the package apt: / / kde-config-Synaptik;
To squeeze the package called “kde-config-touchpad”
Restart the service for Synaptik snaps into place.

The setting appears in System Configuration → Hardware → Peripherals → Input → Automatic Touchpad touchpad control. To disable the touchpad while typing, check Automatically switch off touchpad on keyboard activity.

Command line
Configuration from the command line offers more possibilities of settings with graphical applications. The Synaptics driver is provided in the package xserver-xorg-input-synaptics.

For the options with your touch pad, in a terminal, type:
synclient-l

Since Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

For Lucid and later (Maverick, Natty, …), two methods are possible:

Using udev;
By changing xorg.conf.d.

Warning: It seems that gnome-settings-daemon force touchpad settings regardless of the configuration of xorg or udev, which results in some blocks to have multitouch right click with two fingers and a click of the medium three fingers. If the settings you make in the xorg configuration files (eg 50-synaptics) seems to have no effect, try the following:

Open gconf-editor
Go to the key / apps / gnome-settings-daemon / plugins / mouse /
uncheck the “active”
Reboot for the changes to take effect

This will disable the settings required by gnome-settings-daemon, making your manual settings active. (This action is inspired by what is described in the Archlinux Wiki

Using udev

Create the file / etc / udev / rules.d / touchpad.rules;
Place, for example, the following contents:

ACTION! = “Add | change”, GOTO = “xorg_synaptics_end”
KERNEL! = “Event *”, GOTO = “xorg_synaptics_end”

ID_INPUT_TOUCHPAD ENV {}! = “1″, GOTO = “xorg_synaptics_end”

X11_options ENV {.} =

LABEL = “xorg_synaptics_end”

Which will replace by the name of the desired option, and the value to grasp.
Examples :

To assign the right mouse button in the upper left corner of the touchpad: X11_options.LTCornerButton ENV {} = “3″

To assign the middle button mouse with 2 fingers tapping: X11_options.TapButton2 ENV {} = “2″

To assign the right mouse button to tap with three fingers :
X11_options.TapButton3 ENV {} = “3″

You can add as many options as desired, provided that each option has its complete line.
Reboot for the changes to take effect.

By changing xorg.conf.d

Edit the file;
If you use Lucid: / usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-synaptics.conf,
If you use Maverick: / usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf.
Add options in the first section under the line Driver “synaptics”

Section “InputClass”
Identifier “touchpad catchall”
MatchIsTouchpad “on”
MatchDevicePath “/ dev / input / event *”
Driver “synaptics”
Option “” “”
EndSection

Which will replace by the name of the desired option, and the value to grasp.
Examples

To assign the right mouse button in the upper left corner of the touchpad: Option “LTCornerButton” “3″

To assign the middle button mouse with 2 fingers tapping: Option “TapButton2″ “2″

To assign the right mouse button to tap with three fingers : Option “TapButton3″ “3″

You can add as many options as desired, provided that each option has its complete line.
Reboot for the changes to take effect.

Ubuntu 9.10

Create the file / etc/hal/fdi/policy/99-x11-synaptics.fdi;
Add:

true
3

To assign the middle button mouse with 2 fingers tapping:
2

To assign the right mouse button to tap with three fingers
3

You can add as many options as desired, provided that each option has its complete line.
Reboot for the changes to take effect.

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS

Edit the file / etc/X11/xorg.conf;
In the Module1), add:

Load “synaptics”

Add your options in the section identified by “Synaptics Touchpad”

Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “Synaptics TouchPad”
Driver “synaptics”
Option “SendCoreEvents” “true”
Option “Device” “/ dev / psaux”
Option “Protocol” “auto-dev”
Option “HorizScrollDelta” “0″
Option “” “”
EndSection

Which will replace by the name of the desired option, and the value to grasp.

Examples
To assign the right mouse button in the upper left corner of the touchpad:
Option “LTCornerButton” “3″

To assign the middle button mouse with 2 fingers tapping:
Option “TapButton2″ “2″

To assign the right mouse button to tap with three fingers
Option “TapButton3″ “3″

To disable the “touch to click”

Option “MaxTapTime” “0″

To enable scrolling:

Option “HorizScrollDelta” “1″

You can add as many options as desired, provided that each option has its complete line.
Reboot for the changes to take effect.

With synclient

To configure Synaptics, we can use the command line tool supplied with synclient Synaptics. It allows the fly to see the reactions of the touch pad to set the options you need.

Changes made with synclient are not retained on reboot. You can include the commands in a startup script or in System → Preferences → Startup Applications.

It is possible for you to activate synclient SHMConfig. In this case, see SHMConfig dealing with this on this page.

To view the Synaptics configuration:

synclient-l
Parameter settings:
LeftEdge = 1200
RightEdge = 5800
…

To observe the events received by the touchpad, determine the area covered (intervals x and y value), the number of fingers present and other actions:

synclient 100-m
time multi gl gm gr xyzfwlrudm GDX gdy
0,000 5212 2853 1 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 00000000 0 0 0 0 0
0,728 2948 2425 68 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 00000000 0 0 0 0 0
…

To dynamically change the value of configuration parameters and Synaptics to test:

synclient TopEdge LeftEdge = 1200 = 1200

Examples

To assign the middle button mouse with 2 fingers tapping
synclient TapButton2 = 2

To assign the right mouse button to tap with three fingers
synclient TapButton3 = 3

Enable SHMConfig
They are tools to configure the touchpad as:
synclient;
syndaemon;
gsynaptics;
ksynaptics;
qsynaptics;
…

For them to work, they need to access the shared memory driver synaptics touchpad. This is achieved by placing the SHMConfig option to “True” (true) in the server configuration graph or hal (depending on your version of Ubuntu).
When this option is enabled, the tools mentioned can change the configuration of your touchpad on the fly, without restarting the X server

Warning: this option completely legitimate on a personal computer or family, not suitable for shared environments because each user can change settings and possibly making the touchpad unusable. In this case, it would be better to set a correct configuration of the touch pad hard in the configuration file (xorg.conf or hal / fdi depending on your version of Ubuntu).

Since Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

Edit the file;
If you use Lucid: / usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-synaptics.conf,
If you use Maverick: / usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-synaptics.conf.
Add the line

Option “SHMConfig” “true”

below the line Driver “synaptics”

Section “InputClass”
Identifier “touchpad catchall”
MatchIsTouchpad “on”
MatchDevicePath “/ dev / input / event *”
Driver “synaptics”
Option “SHMConfig” “true”
EndSection

Reboot for the changes to take effect.
Ubuntu 9.10

Edit / etc / hal / fdi / policy / shmconfig.fdi, create the file if it does not exist;
Add the line

true

which gives, for example:

true

Save and restart the service HAL:

sudo / etc / init.d / hal restart

Under certain conditions, the restart of HAL is not enough and a server restart xorg is required. In this case, restart for the changes to take effect.

Despite this, if HAL does not take into account your new settings. This is because he continues to use the data in its cache rather than your new. Empty the cache HAL with the following command:

sudo rm / var / cache / hald / fdi-cache

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS

Edit / etc/X11/xorg.conf;
Locate the following lines:

Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “Synaptics Touchpad”
Driver “synaptics”

Add the line:

Option “SHMConfig” “true”

Reboot for the changes to take effect.
Enable the “multitouch”

This section applies only to supporting multitouch touchpads.

Management multitouch allows you to assign actions based on the number of fingers that are present on the touchpad. By default, the two-finger tap is equivalent to a click of the dial. The three-finger tap is equivalent to a right-click.

Tapping two fingers can, for example in Firefox, opening of hyperlinks in a new tab or closing tab. To enable these two taps please use the following commands:

synclient TapButton2 TapButton3 = 2 = 3

For more information and add other options, you can look under synclient of this page.
Contact problems palm

If it happens that the palm of your hand makes contact with the touchpad while typing at the keyboard and this causes unwanted clicks, there are solutions!
With GPointing

In the “General” tab of GPointing, enable the detection of the palm.
With gsynaptics

In the “General” tab of gsynaptics, decrease the sensitivity of the touchpad.
With TouchFreeze

TouchFreeze like syndaemon (below), but when one is acting in a window. To use it, install the package TouchFreeze
With Syndaemon

Syndaemon The program is a service designed to disable the keypad as you type.

To start it, run the command:

syndaemon-d-t-k-i 0.5

The options are:

-D: start as a daemon;
-T: disables only the clicks and scrolling, not mouse movement;
-K: can not recognize the special keys (CTRL, ALT, SHIFT …) as an activation of the keyboard;
-I: time (in seconds) to wait after the last key pressed before turning clicks.

To keep the settings, add this command to launch your session to activate automatically.
Disable the touchpad
Temporarily

There is an applet that allows you to deactivate / reactivate the touchpad quickly. To install, simply add to your software sources ppa PPA: lorenzo-carbonell/atareao2), reload the package list and then install the package touchpad-indicator. Finally, disable the PPP as a precaution.
Finally

If the touch pad is internally connected as an external PS / 2 (old standard for decision of mouse / keyboard), you can block the module at boot by adding.

Edit / etc / modprobe.d / blacklist.conf;
Add to end of file:

blacklist psmouse

On Asus laptops that have no direct function to disable the touchpad by fn, the procedure is simple, efficient and allows you to disable the touchpad without disabling the USB mouse.
The touchpad does not work

Sometimes the touchpad hangs permanently after pressing the “button lock” the phone, even after restarting.

The problem may be related to Gnome. In a terminal, type the command:

gconftool – type bool – set / desktop / gnome / peripherals / touchpad / touchpad_enabled true

The touchpad does not work

To address this concern, it is generally sufficient to add the kernel parameter i8042.nopnp.
“Pointer crazy”

It may be that:

The touch pad or mouse does make his own way, that the pointer moves in any direction and click around on your screen;
The cursor moves correctly but the clicks are disabled except on certain elements of the active window.

This problem of “pointer crazy” has been reported on laptops Dell, Acer, Hercules, Nec and also on other Linux distributions (Fedora, …).

To address this concern, it is generally sufficient to add the kernel of a parameter combinations include:

i8042.nomux = 1
i8042.reset = 1
i8042.nomux i8042.reset = 1 = 1