I recently compiled (for the first time) a new kernel(2.6.18.1) for my Slackware 11 system using the excellent instructions provided @ http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=174447

I had some problems initially but finally managed to boot into a working system. Everything seems to be working fine except the
touchpad and pointer(I have both on my Evo N600C laptop) are not working at all. When i run kde the pointer doesn't move.

At first I thought maybe it was something to do with my xorg.conf.
So I did a "ctl-alt-backspace" and then ran "links -g www.google.ca"
and the touchpad doesn't work there either.

I rebooted with the old 2.4.33.3 kernel and touchpad/pointer works.

I figure I must have missed something during the "make gconfig" step
but I'm not sure where too look. Is there some way I can boot into the old kernel and check what its loading for a mouse driver and then include that in my "make gconfig"?

I think that you will find your input devices are now using different device nodes with 2.6.x

If your kernel supports: Device Drivers -> Input Device Support -> Event Interface ... it will use different device nodes than in 2.4.x

/dev/input/event#

or

/dev/input/mouse#

/dev/input/mice is a pointer to both nodes

Thanks a lot for your reply dxqcanada. Forgive my ignorance but I have no idea how the information you gave me applies to my situation.

Are you saying that I need to make sure those "device nodes" namely
/dev/input/event# and
/dev/input/mouse# are pointed to by /dev/input/mice? How do I do that?

I reran "make gconfig" and checked under:
Device Drivers -> Input Device Support -> Event Interface
and I have INPUT_MOUSEDEV and INPUT_EVDEV selected.

BTW I should have mentioned but I plugged in a usb mouse and it works under the new 2.6.18.1 kernel but not the old 2.4.33.3 kernel.

I don't expect to be spoon fed an answer but I'm a complete noob who needs to be pointed in the right direction. Can anyone recommend any reading which will enlighten me?

If I cat /proc/bus/input/devices under the 2.6 kernel there are only
a pc speaker and keyboard shown. Under my 2.4 kernel there is no input folder in /proc/bus.

When I do an lsmod under the 2.4 kernel I don't see anything referring to a mouse driver. Can someone tell me where else to look? For example if there is no driver there where would I find it? It has to load somehow cause the touchpad works under the 2.4 kernel.

Success! Well I got it working and it was hard. I thought I'd never figure it out. I never did figure out what the 2.4 kernel was using
but I got the synaptics touchpad driver from:
http://web.telia.com/~u89404340/touchpad/

I followed the documentation that came with it and compiled my very own driver for the first time wheeeeee!

After copying the driver to the /usr/X11R6/lib/modules directory and modifying my xorg.conf per instructions...nothing. What was bugging me still was that cat /proc/bus/input/devices wasn't showing anything. Somehow after much googling I came across a website that said to try: "modprobe mousedev" and "modprobe psmouse"

The first command didn't work but after trying "modprobe psmouse"
cat /proc/bus/input/devices now showed my trackpoint and touchpad!

Also at this point moving the touchpad moved the consoles rectangular cursor so I knew I was on to something. Loaded X touchpad works! but no trackpoint so reread the synaptics driver documentation and found a part that explains how to rectify that.
Now both the trackpoint/touchpad work as well as external USB.

Still have one problem though...How do I get psmouse to load automatically without having to type "modprobe psmouse" everytime.
I'm assuming that if I reboot then I'll have to reissue that command.

got the same problem between kernel 2.6.17.13 and 2.6.18 they dropped the synaptics driver in kernel 2.6.18 i think.
touchpad an trackpoint was working out of the box with 2.6.17.13 (or huge26.s)
i searched a long time in both kernel configs for the driver option but didnt find it so im on 2.6.17.13 since then.

if you want to avoid this mouse problem switch to kernel 2.6.17

or better take your /etc/rc.d/rc.local
add a line:
/sbin/modprobe psmouse
this loads the module during the boot process
campher

Thanks campher!