Weird touchpad behaviour

red-bear · #1 16th June 2005, 02:52 PM

Hello,
I have a laptop with Synaptics touchpad running FC4 and Gnome. The drivers for it are installed.
But often it behaves weirdly when I use Firefox. Sometimes when the pointer is hovering over the page and I move it, Firefox goes back. It is as if I pressed the back button, but all I did was to move the pointer.
Does anyone else have the same problem?

sailor · #2 16th June 2005, 03:09 PM

I have noted this behavior as well...the touchpads don't seem to be supported well...
There is a utility called Ksynaptic, which is a control panel for altering the various touchpad options
I used it in FC3 without much success...now I am in FC4 and have not tried it yet.
I usually use a usb optical mouse since I don't really like the touchpad...Radio Shack has a nice one for $20 which I use on both of my laptops.

thomasjpr · #3 19th June 2005, 12:40 AM

Yes, I'm having this exact problem on my Latitude D600. It seems to mostly affect Firefox in the manner that you've described. Very frustrating. The touchpad is also non-functional after a suspend to RAM.

fearism · #4 20th June 2005, 02:28 PM

hi, i think it is a solution for your problem located here

ecman · #5 22nd June 2005, 03:15 AM

I am also having the same problem with FC4 on a Dell Inspiron 5000. I am also seeing the problem when browsing the file system and switching between desktops. I am going to try the drivers from the site mentioned above. I hope that works since an external mouse isn't an option when traveling.

ecman · #6 23rd June 2005, 02:52 AM

Well I gave it a try. It didn't work and now GUI for changing the mouse settings does not work. I found this driver "Synaptics TouchPad for XOrg/XFree86 4.x" at http://web.telia.com/~u89404340/touchpad/ but it seems rather complicated to install and configure. Maybe I'll give it a try this weekend or revert back to FC3. Has anyone else had any luck?

tallfred · #7 27th June 2005, 04:16 PM

Try adding

Option "TapButton1" "0"

to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. This should really be the default.
You will need to restart X. This used to be easiest with a
Ctrl-Alt-Backspace, but now with Fedora 4 it does not seem to
restart for me. I need to switch to a console then "telinit 3"
and "telinit 6" as root. Maybe just logging out is good enough.

x94scorp · #8 27th June 2005, 04:21 PM

I thought this was a feature- I've noticed that if I drag left or right at the very bottom of my touchpad, it will invoke the browser to go forward or back a page? I like it.

Cloud[01] · #9 28th June 2005, 06:54 PM

recent touchpads have on the right the possibility to scroll UP and DOWN.
Some of them at the bottom the possiblity to scroll LEFT and RIGHT

The Synaptics drivers use this capability and the behaviour in firefox is like hitting the back and forward button

some may like it, someother don't... Don't what to change tough...

Cloud

sailor · #10 30th June 2005, 12:55 AM

I used the suggestion: Option "TapButton1" "0" in the xorg.conf and didn't see much change ...I then tried adding psmouse.proto=exps to the kernel boot parameters in grub.conf, which appeared to have an effect.
The touchpad is not doing phantom taps anymore...but the scroll button no longer works(not a big issue with me) The edges of the touchpad no longer have scroll or back/forward function either.
I think overall it has made the touchpad a little easier to use.

peekpt · #11 30th June 2005, 02:24 AM

Ok I did a quick image so you guys understand how it works:

cheers

sailor · #12 1st July 2005, 03:36 PM

Yeah I have noted the functions along the edge of the screen..with my big fingers they better left non-functioning...far too often I was accidentally scrolling or changing screens while typing

iLLNESS · #13 23rd July 2005, 07:12 AM

wow
that diagram really helps

although... the side scroller on the touchpad is retarted... why would there be a scroller on the touchpad when th actually scroller is an inch away...
the menu button is kinda pointless too... once again the button is an inch away...

the back/forward thing is cool.. but **** is it ever sensitive.. maybe if it wasnt so sensitive itd be a nice feature...

#14 30th July 2005, 09:09 PM

The (Option "VertScrollDelta") "100" in xorg.conf tells your the movement you have to do to scrooll. Try it. I am trying to get this my self, the fc4 std config of the synaptics driver sucks.

#15 30th July 2005, 09:17 PM

In the attchement you can see tne commands for the synaptics setup in the xorg.conf file.