Synaptics touchpad driver for X.Org
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FAQ
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* Is this free software?
Yes, the source code is released under the MIT license.
* When will the driver be included in the XOrg distribution?
It is already.
* How do I use this driver with Linux kernel 2.6.x?
You need to have the "evdev" driver loaded or compiled into the
kernel (CONFIG_INPUT_EVDEV). Set the "Protocol" parameter in the X
configuration file to "auto-dev". Also, if you set the "Device"
parameter to "/dev/psaux", the same X configuration file should
work for a 2.4.x kernel.
When configuring the kernel, enable PS/2 mouse support
(CONFIG_MOUSE_PS2).
* It still doesn't work with a 2.6 kernel.
Some distributions come with an incomplete /dev directory. The
driver needs the /dev/input/eventX device nodes. Try to create
them manually if they don't exist already. (Look at
/proc/bus/input/devices to figure out how many nodes you need.)
# mknod /dev/input/event0 c 13 64
# mknod /dev/input/event1 c 13 65
# mknod /dev/input/event2 c 13 66
...
* How can I configure tap-to-click behavior?
If you set MaxTapTime=0 in the X config file then the touchpad
will not use tapping at all, i.e. touching/tapping will not be
taken as a mouse click.
If, instead, you set MaxTapMove=0 in the X config file, then the
touchpad will not use tapping for a single finger tap (left mouse
button click) but will for the two and three finger tap (middle
and right button click).
* Why did tap-to-click stop working after I upgraded from an old version?
Time is now measured in milliseconds instead of "number of
packets". In practice, this means that if you are upgrading from
an old version, you need to change MaxTapTime and
EmulateMidButtonTime to make "tap to click" work. Good values are
180 and 75 respectively.
* Gnome scrollbars scroll too much when using tap-to-click. Why?
The ClickTime parameter is probably too big. Try setting it to
100. Gnome scrollbars use auto repeat, ie if you press the left
mouse button and keep it pressed, the scroll bar will move until
you release the button. This will lead to problems if the tap time
is longer than the delay before auto repeat starts.
* Vertical and horizontal scrolling events are mixed up. How come?
Probably because some X startup/login script uses xmodmap to remap
the mouse buttons. Correct settings for the touchpad are:
xmodmap -e 'pointer = 1 2 3 4 5 6 7'
You can check the current settings by running:
xmodmap -pp
* Horizontal scrolling doesn't work in some programs. Is it a driver
bug?
No, probably not. Support for horizontal scroll events must be
handled by the application programs. Not all programs do that
yet. Ask the authors of the application in question to implement
support for horizontal scroll events.
You can use the "xev" program to check if the synaptics driver
generates the horizontal scroll events.
If you are having problems with Mozilla, try this link:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-laptop/2004/08/msg00167.html
* Can the driver be used together with gpm?
No, not reliably, if you are using a 2.4.x kernel. The gpm driver
and the X driver both try to read data from the touchpad, and if
they try to read at the same time, both drivers see incomplete
data and don't know how to interpret it.
If you are running a 2.6.x kernel though, there should be no
conflict, because the kernel driver will make sure both user space
drivers receive all events from the touchpad.
* Can I use this driver with an ALPS Glidepoint device?
Yes, see the README.alps file for more information.
* The driver says "reset failed" and the touchpad doesn't work. What
can I do?
This problem has been reported for some Compaq models. It's
currently not known why it happens, but removing the reset command
from the driver appears to make it work. If you use a 2.4 linux
kernel, replace the contents of the ps2_synaptics_reset() function
in ps2comm.c with a "return TRUE;" statement. If you use a 2.6
linux kernel, remove the while loop in synaptics_query_hardware()
in the file drivers/input/mouse/synaptics.c in the linux kernel
source code.
Authors
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Many people have contributed to this driver. Look at the top of
synaptics.c and ps2comm.c for details.
The current maintainer is X.org development team <xorg-devel@lists.x.org>.
Contacts
--------
All questions regarding this software should be directed at the
Xorg mailing list:
http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/xorg
Please submit bug reports to the Xorg bugzilla:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=xorg
The master development code repository can be found at:
git://anongit.freedesktop.org/git/xorg/driver/xf86-input-synaptics
http://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/driver/xf86-input-synaptics
For patch submission instructions, see:
http://www.x.org/wiki/Development/Documentation/SubmittingPatches
For more information on the git code manager, see:
http://wiki.x.org/wiki/GitPage