install report + synaptics bug

[Theodore Kisner <kisner@physics.ucsb.edu>]

Greetings everyone,
  I just successfully installed debian-amd64 onto a Compaq R3000 series 
laptop.  It was fairly uneventful, and most of my problems were due simply to 
proprietary hardware.  full report is here if you are interested:

http://cmb.phys.cwru.edu/kisner/linux/compaq-r3000/

One thing I did encounter was a bug in the synaptics X driver.  Basically this 
driver is distributed with a Makefile that uses compile flags suitable for a 
32bit xserver.  This driver WILL successfully compile, but loading this 
driver crashes X.  

If this was only a problem with the upstream source, then it would not 
directly be our problem.  However, the debian package 
"xfree86-driver-synaptics" compiled for amd64 uses the default Makefile and 
has this problem as well.  Basically it should be compiled with the same 
flags that the other X input modules use.

I downloaded the X source package and modified the synaptics Makefile to use 
the same flags.  Now it builds and loads just fine.  I will contact the 
package maintainer and upstream folks soon...

cheers,

-Ted