Re: Novice user having problem with extremely slow touchpad on laptop after Debian Etch installation

[Andrei Popescu <andreimp@rdslink.ro>]

On Sun, 15 Jan 2006 22:45:16 -0500
resonant evil <air.lightz@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi there all.  I'm a novice Linux user having just a bit of a problem after
> installing Etch through a net install..  My touchpad on my laptop basically
> seems like the sensitivity is down 90%..  Large, swift movements that should
> easily zip across the screen only moves a couple of cm. across the screen..
> I don't know if this is a problem with the Gnome that comes with the stock
> install, or with the Xorg, or how to fix it for that matter :-(
> 
> Other than that I love it so far, but I'm stuck using the
> "eraser-head-pointer" to navigate in X and I haven't a clue how to go about
> fixing it
> 
> Any help would be greatly appreciated :-)
> The laptop is a Dell D600 Latitude
> 
> Thanks all :-)

I didn't configure my touchpad at my last install so now you reminded me to do it (i have a usb mouse :D ).

1. Install xfre86-driver-synaptics and a configurator (ksynaptics or qsynaptics)
2. Edit /etc/X11/xfree.conf (you might want to read the notes at the start of the file)
	In Section "Module" add
		Load "synaptics"

	In the Section "InputDevice" with 
		Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad" (if you don't have it you'll need to create it)
	add this:
	Option "SHMConfig" "on"

3. Restart Xorg (a reboot is the simplest way)

Now the configurator should work and you can adjust all parameters. qsynaptics will tell you right away if you have everything set-up correctly, haven't used ksynaptics.

You will find more details about this in /usr/share/doc/xfree86-driver-synaptics/


HTH
Andrei
-- 
If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough. (Albert Einstein)