Hi,
I have installed Slackware 13.0 over my Slackware 12.2 install. ATI drivers do not work. Not that it is a problem, radeon works. I have observed that xorg.conf was missing in /etc/X11. Instead I had xorg.conf-vesa,instead. /var/log/Xorg.0.log shows that the "built-in" settings were being used. But every thing was working fine, except synaptics touchpad. So I copied xorg.conf-vesa to xorg.conf in /etc/X11 and made the usual changes to it, in the "Modules", "InputDevice" and "SeverLayout" section, killed X and restarted it.
However, Vertical Scrolling was not functioning, neither were left click or right click taps. I had to do -
$synclient VertEdgeScroll=1
$synclient TapButton1=1
to get the missing functionality. But middle mouse click button which is usually mapped to Right hand top corner of the touchpad, was still missing.
However each time I reboot, the touchpad again looses its functionality.
Any suggestions?
Thanking in advance,

In Slackware 13.0 this type of configuration has changed.
You most likely do not need any xorg.conf file.
Input stuff is now handled by hal, to edit these settings first copy over /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/10osvendor/11-x11-synaptics.fdi to /etc/hal/fdi/policy
Then take a look at that file, it's fairly obvious if you follow the examples.

2 members found this post helpful.

Ok!

I copied the file to /etc/hal/fdi/policy/ but it is not having any effect. I did
# /etc/rc.d/hald restart
but it did not have any effect. I even rebooted without any effect.
Where am I going wrong?

Hello adityavpratap,

did you make any changes in the 11-x11-synaptics.fdi file? I have an Asus laptop and the configuration of the touchpad works very well for me. If youre not sure about changing the file, please post it here.

Also be aware that your kernel has to support the touchpad of your laptop. There are many special modules available in the kernelsources to support different laptops.

Markus

Thanks for the prompt reply. I am using the default kernel that comes along with Slackware 13 - 2.6.29.6-smp.and I think it supports my touchpad as it is working, but with reduced functionality. I have made changes to the default .fdi file. Here is the file -
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<deviceinfo version="0.2">
<device>
<match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.touchpad">
<merge key="input.x11_driver" type="string">synaptics</merge>
<!-- Arbitrary options can be passed to the driver using
the input.x11_options property since xorg-server-1.5. -->
<!-- EXAMPLES:
Switch on shared memory, enables the driver to be configured at runtime
<merge key="input.x11_options.SHMConfig" type="string">true</merge>

Maximum movement of the finger for detecting a tap
<merge key="input.x11_options.MaxTapMove" type="string">2000</merge>

Enable vertical scrolling when dragging along the right edge
<merge key="input.x11_options.VertEdgeScroll" type="string">true</merge>

Enable vertical scrolling when dragging with two fingers anywhere on the touchpad
<merge key="input.x11_options.VertEdgeScroll" type="string">true</merge>

Enable horizontal scrolling when dragging with two fingers anywhere on the touchpad
<merge key="input.x11_options.HorizTwoFingerScroll" type="string">true</merge>

Enable left click
<merge key="input.x11_options.TapButton1" type="string">true</merge>

If on, circular scrolling is used
<merge key="input.x11_options.CircularScrolling" type="string">true</merge>

For other possible options, check CONFIGURATION DETAILS in synaptics man page
-->
</match>
</device>
</deviceinfo>

What I feel is the .fdi file is not being read.

Ok, I got it now.

The changes that I had made were in the Examples block (I suppose that qualifies me as the dumbest poster on this forum :-) ). Here is what I did, I changed the name of the file from 10-x11-synaptics.fdi to 99-x11-synaptics.fdi and changed the file as follows -


The changes are in italics.

After this I unloaded and reloaded psmouse. And it worked!

2 members found this post helpful.

You two are amazing!!! I just had a similar problem before google sent me here and it was thw quickest fix I've ever had. Thanks for making my life a whole lot easier today.

Jim

Thanks for the information. The touchpad now works the way it did in Slackware 12.2. Unfortunately, after a few minutes of using it I started to hate the tap click functionality along with the sidebar scrolling feature. It kept on getting in my way. So, I disabled it again.

Thanks for the very useful information guys. I have just installed Slack 13.0 for testing purposes on my laptop and discovered that unlike versions 12.0 - 12.2 where the Synaptics touchpad worked fine, some functionality (e.g tap to click) was missing in 13.0.

Well, I'm right there with you because I did exactly the same thing several weeks ago when I was getting the touchpad working as I wanted. Took me an age to realize the entire thing was a comment block. 8^)

Great thread ! worked for me!

FWIW, the reason for the Tap-to-click behavior change was an upstream change (and one which I happen to *strongly* agree with).
In recent build of xf86-input-synaptics, if a touchpad has *real* buttons associated with it, tap-to-click is disabled by default in the driver.

@rworkman

Yes I can see the logic/argument to go that route.

For my needs, on my little netbooks, my buttons are on the 'side' of the touchpad, and their not the best buttons in the world. They're very hard to press and are tiny so for me the touch to click is a must.

Yet, my wife hates it, she always hits/clicks with here palms as she's typing. So yea, I can see the issue/argument here at my place for both sides of the issue.

Hi all,

I have followed this thread with some interest as I decided to treat myself to a new laptop from PCWorld, (where I managed to negotiate a refund for the Windows 7 software, but that's a story for another day).

Anyway, sorry to digress. As I said, have been following this as I too have problems with my touchpad. Specifically with vertical scrolling not operating. I have tried the 11-x11-synaptics.fdi modification, and that kills my touchpad entirely. I have also tried modifying xorg.conf (needed for the ATI 4200HD graphics card) to include the mouse settings, but for some reason, the part of xorg.conf doesn't seem to get read. So at the moment, I am running without vertical scrolling which is a PITA quite frankly.

Now I do know its possible for it to work, as it works under Knoppix, and Suse Live. So I copied their xorg.conf files to slack just to try it out and guess what? no touchpad again. Now removing what's left of my rapidly diminishing hair, so all suggestions gratefully received.

TIA

Thanks lads! Editing the 1-x11-synaptics.fdi file worked like a charm for me. Thank you again!