I have installed Knoppix 3.6 on my Toshiba P10-792 laptop.
I was running Kernel 2.6.8.1 and ALSA 1.0.7rc2 because it had support for the software modem of my laptop , with 2.6.x before 2.6.9 when i restart or switch off the laptop i can turn it on again only if i remove the power cable and put it back , with 2.4.x there was no such a problem , something nasty is happening . With 2.6.9 this problem was fixed, also the snd_attiixp_modem is included in the kernel but the touchpad stopped working .

With 2.6.8.1 or 2.6.7 , with cat /proc/bus/input/devices i get :
I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0001 Version=0000
N: Name="PS/2 Generic Mouse"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio4/input0
H: Handlers=mouse0 event0 ts0
B: EV=7
B: KEY=70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=3

I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0001 Product=0001 Version=ab41
N: Name="AT Translated Set 2 keyboard"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio0/input0
H: Handlers=kbd event1
B: EV=120003
B: KEY=4 2000000 3802078 f840d001 f2ffffdf ffefffff ffffffff fffffffe
B: LED=7

I: Bus=0003 Vendor=046d Product=c50a Version=2010
N: Name="Logitech USB Receiver"
P: Phys=usb-0000:00:13.0-1/input0
H: Handlers=mouse1 event2 ts1
B: EV=20007
B: KEY=ffff0000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=103
B: LED=fc00

I: Bus=0010 Vendor=001f Product=0001 Version=0100
N: Name="PC Speaker"
P: Phys=isa0061/input0
H: Handlers=kbd event3
B: EV=40001
B: SND=6


With 2.6.9, with cat /proc/bus/input/devices i get :

I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0001 Product=0001 Version=ab41
N: Name="AT Translated Set 2 keyboard"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio0/input0
H: Handlers=kbd event0
B: EV=120013
B: KEY=4 2000000 3802078 f840d001 f2ffffdf ffefffff ffffffff fffffffe
B: MSC=10
B: LED=7

I: Bus=0003 Vendor=046d Product=c50a Version=2010
N: Name="Logitech USB Receiver"
P: Phys=usb-0000:00:13.0-3/input0
H: Handlers=mouse0 event1 ts0
B: EV=20007
B: KEY=ffff0000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=103
B: LED=fc00

The touchpad has disappeared

The same modules are loaded in both cases
snd_pcm_oss 52264 0
snd_mixer_oss 19968 1 snd_pcm_oss
md5 4096 1
ipv6 258176 6
lp 11436 0
autofs 16896 1
snd_atiixp_modem 17320 4
8250_pci 18048 0
snd_atiixp 20136 1
snd_ac97_codec 70864 2 snd_atiixp_modem,snd_atiixp
snd_pcm 95624 5 snd_pcm_oss,snd_atiixp_modem,snd_atiixp
snd_timer 25348 1 snd_pcm
snd 53732 15 snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_atiixp_modem,snd_atiixp,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore 9952 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 9992 3 snd_atiixp_modem,snd_atiixp,snd_pcm
shpchp 99556 0
pciehp 96228 0
pci_hotplug 33712 2 shpchp,pciehp
ati_agp 8588 1
agpgart 33832 1 ati_agp
af_packet 22408 0
8139too 26240 0
mii 5120 1 8139too
crc32 4480 1 8139too
parport_pc 40256 1
parport 40904 2 lp,parport_pc
eth1394 22152 0
8250 21568 1 8250_pci
serial_core 23168 1 8250
ohci1394 34948 0
ieee1394 321848 2 eth1394,ohci1394
ds 18564 2
yenta_socket 21248 0
pcmcia_core 61708 2 ds,yenta_socket
thermal 13320 0
processor 18728 3 thermal
fan 4100 0
button 6800 0
battery 9476 1
ac 4996 0
ide_scsi 17028 0
rtc 12728 0
tsdev 7488 0
evdev 9344 0

I have compiled as modules tsdev , evdev in both kernels.
With Kernels 2.6.7 , 2.6.8.1, 2.4.27 the touchpad is working fine on X 4.0.3 with synaptic driver and the ps2 driver also .
I can not find was it is going wrong.
If you have any idea please post it .
Thank you