Synaptics touchpad on a Dell Inspiron 2500

[Derek Broughton <dbroughton@attcanada.ca>]

I've got a brand new Inspiron 2500 with an almost working Linux system. 
It runs a 2.2.19pre17 kernel for PCMCIA and a 2.4.9 kernel for X.  It
needs the 2.4 kernel for the intel 815 video, but I haven't managed to
get PCMCIA to work there, yet.

However, I can't get the touchpad to work very well.  It's configured as
a gpm mouse using synps2, but I _must_ define the PS/2 mouse as
"CorePointer" and have it attached before starting X. If I don't the
touchpad is unusable.  If I detach the PS/2 mouse after X starts, the
touchpad is activated (mostly) but has a bad habit of moving the pointer
to the upper right corner of the screen and sending random clicks.  I
have also tried with the Touchpad protocol set to "MouseSystems" which
was slightly less useful.

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"PS2Mouse"
	Driver		"mouse"
	Option		"CorePointer"
	Option		"Device"		"/dev/psaux"
	Option		"Protocol"		"PS/2"
	Option		"ZAxisMapping"		"4 5"
	Option		"Buttons"		"5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Touchpad"
	Driver		"mouse"
	Option		"Device"		"/dev/gpmdata"
	Option		"Protocol"		"PS/2"
EndSection


-- 
Derek Broughton
CCISM Virtual Helpdesk
Athabasca University
mailto: dbroughton@netcom.ca