How to adjust Acer Travelmate touchpad in Xenialpup?(Solved)

[greengeek]

FD does not respond to taps anywhere.
Mouse clicks are on the bottom dead area and respond only to one finger.

In that case I think we should (for now) ignore the idea of having tap-to-click enabled on the Xenial touchpad. We need to find a way to turn off tap-to-click on the majority of the Xenial touchpad and only enable the clicking on the bottom section of the touchpad. We should also turn off the multitouch recognition on the Xenial touchpad (for now at least...)

As far as I can tell:

1) Fatdog is too different to Xenial for it to donate any software or config info.
2) The driver setup in FD and Xenial result in totally different functionality on the touchpads.
3) You like the FD functionality so we should try to duplicate it in Xenial (despite the different driver and config).

I think we should try to make some major changes to your Xenial touchpad behaviour using synclient commands.

Are you ok with that?

First - some testing:

- It is important to know if the behaviour of the touchpad is identical over it's whole surface. In many cases the top right corner has special "rightclick" functions. This is an inbuilt function of some kernel defaults. Please go to an empty desktop, place the mouse pointer in the centre, and try a one-finger click all over the touchpad (paying special attention to the top right corner). The single finger click should create a leftclick everywhere. However - on many clickpads a single finger tap in the region of the top right corner will generate a rightclick instead of a leftclick - and this will result in the puppy menu popping up. Does this happen or not?

- Some threads suggest that your Xenial touchpad will be setup to recognise a "drag/highlight" function. Try this: Open a text document. Press your thumb on the bottom left of the touchpad (normal leftclick area), and use another finger to drag the mouse over some text. Does this work??

See the image below:

[number77]

I have backed uo .flsynclient.

A click on whole area of touchpad is the same, no menu.
The drag and highlight function does work.

[greengeek]

The fact that the drag/highlight function works confirms that your touchpad is running with the multitouch driver enabled. Some users would find this behaviour more useful than the FatDog behaviour - but the question is can we solve the hyperactive mouse without losing these nice multitouch functions. Maybe not.

I still have some questions to clarify in my mind:

Your synclient settings showed:

Code: Select all

RTCornerButton = 2 
RBCornerButton = 3 

In theory this means that the top right corner of your touchpad is allocated as middleclick when tapped with a single finger. More importantly, it also means that the bottom right corner is allocated as a rightclick when tapped with a single finger.

Could you try this?

We now know that a two-finger tap over most of the touchpad gives a rightclick function (ie puppy menu pops up on an empty desktop) - my question is whether that also occurs with a single finger tap at the bottom right corner. Does the pup menu pop up?

(these bits of info are important because they determine which configuration changes are most likely to work.

*******************************

After you have tested the behaviour above, could you try the following change:

Code: Select all

synclient ClickPad=0

Have your spare mouse handy as this may lock out the whole touchpad - on the other hand it may switch off the multitouch clickpad behaviours and let us configure mouse buttons separately. The question is - can the touchpad still be used for mousing when ClickPad=0

After trying that, set ClickPad back to 1 and try the following instead:

Code: Select all

synclient PressureMotionMinZ=60

This increases the minimum pressure require to move the mouse (previously PressureMotionMinZ=30) and i thought this may reduce the mouse jumpiness you experience when trying to click the mouse button.

[number77]

Single finger tap does not bring up Puppy menu
clickpad=0:- The touchpad still works but I now cannot drag the cursor on text when a button is pressed.
I couldn't detect any change with synclient PressureMotionMinZ=60, even when up to 100.

[greengeek]

clickpad=0:- The touchpad still works but I now cannot drag the cursor on text when a button is pressed..

Did you have any control over mouse clicking anywhere on the pad when testing clickpad=0? Or was click functionality lost everywhere?

I will be busy with family funeral arrangements for a few days but i am hoping I may have access to a travelmate B115 when i return. Hopefully it will be similar to the B113 and I might be able to spot some settings that help.

[number77]

With clickpad=0, functionality was lost everywhere.
No hurry for me here.

[number77]

Update on touchpad problems:
I have given the Acer to my partner and she uses windows. Win 10 still has some problems with the touchpad, its a rotten idea realy, no dedicated mouse buttons.
Thank you greengeek for all your effort on this problem, as a spin off I have learnt alot about the control of the touchpad for future use. I am sorry to hear of your family problems and hope they are resolving.
All the best number77
P.S.
Thanks Mike Walsh and Mikeslr also.
I know this is the easy way out.

[greengeek]

Sorry to be late back - I did find some info that I think could be useful for anyone having this same issue of mouse jumping around when making mouseclicks or tapping on clickpads.

See this thread:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/128023/ ... en-i-click

It suggests a couple of changes you could try within the synclient settings:

If you are using synclient, you might try to increase the FingerLow value.
here is how I did with my computer:

Code: Select all

synclient | grep FingerLow
    FingerLow      = 30
synclient FingerLow=35

Note that FingerLow cannot be higher than FingerHigh. So change this value as well if needed.

And also:

After digging through the available options to synclient it would seem that

Code: Select all

Option "HorizHysteresis" "40"
Option "VertHysteresis" "40"

effectively prevents the pointer from "skipping" when I click.

And from this other thread:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/127829/ ... tu-12-04-u

One poster said use:

Code: Select all

synclient FingerLow=35
synclient FingerHigh=40

and another:

You may want to try entering "synclient" in the terminal to see what your FingerHigh & FingerLow values are. In my case, the movement was occurring with taps being recognized as released too early. You can see explanations of the different synclient values here: http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/luc ... ics.4.html Note that FingerLow can't be set higher than FingerHigh, so both will have to be changed as you adjust FingerLow. I used
FingerLow=55
&
FingerHigh=60
which eliminated the issue for me. If this fixes the malfunction, you will need to create an executable script to run at startup and resume

but also:

had a similar problem on my Toshiba Satellite and followed the above instructions. However, 35-40 didn't help and 55-60 was too much and the touch pad wasn't responsive at all. I figured out the following works best for me.

FingerLow = 45
FingerHigh = 50

[number77]

I haven not given up but there a few things I need to sort out before I try your suggestions.
Win 10 installed itself to the whole partition so no room for xenial until I partition the hdd and as its the first uefi hdd I have used I am working on that. Also none of my boot usb keys work so I am working on that too. Another also is I do not have sole use anymore.
I will get back.

[bigpup]

Use Lick to install alongside Windows 10.
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=61404
No need to partition or do anything but use Lick to do the install.

[number77]

Use Lick to install alongside Windows 10.
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=61404
No need to partition or do anything but use Lick to do the install.

I will try that bigpup when I get the Acer away from my partner.

[number77]

Is it going to matter that lick 1.3.1-win32 is 32 bit and the win10 on the acer is 64 bit.

[number77]

Use Lick to install alongside Windows 10.
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=61404
No need to partition or do anything but use Lick to do the install.

I used lick to install xenial64-7.5 iso on a blank partition on the acer but do not get any choice of os. What have I forgotten

[bigpup]

Need to ask this in the Lick topic.

This is from the Lick readme
UEFI Systems with Secure Boot

Windows 8, 8.1 and 10

Windows 8 and up have a feature called 'Fast Startup'. This cannot be enabled if LICK is installed. LICK disables Fast Startup upon installation.

LICK supports secure boot, but requires a manual step during the first reboot.

On the first reboot, if you see a blue screen with writing, press enter to select OK.
Press enter again to select Enroll Hash.
Use the up and down arrow keys to highlight loader.efi, and press enter.
Press the down arrow to select Yes, then press enter.
Use the down arrow to highlight Exit, then press enter.

On subsequent reboots, these steps will not need to be taken.

[greengeek]

Hi Number77 - a couple of questions:

1) When the travelmate is turned off can you hear and feel any clicking if you press down on the touchpad?

2) When running windows does your touchpad perform a rightclick when you press firmly at the bottom right hand corner? (and what about the top right corner?)

3) When running windows, what happens if you use a non conductive object (plastic pen or ruler etc) to press down on the centre of the touchpad? Does it behave like a left click?

(ok that's more than a couple of questions but hey, it's nearly christmas).

[number77]

1) Yes there is a definite click when off.
2) Right click works in the bottom corner only.
3) The non conductive pen does nothing at all, it needs a finger.

I am still trying to get puppy loaded without destroying win 10 and am working through bigpups suggestions. Why the world seems hung up on win 10 I don't know as it is really awful and I think its up to 40gb now on the hdd.

[greengeek]

1) Yes there is a definite click when off.
2) Right click works in the bottom corner only.
3) The non conductive pen does nothing at all, it needs a finger.

Based on the answer to Q1, i feel that the touchpad should definitely be responding to a firm press from a non-conductive object.
Could you try the test from Q3 again - but pressing at bottom left of the touchpad (rather than in the centre). You will need to place the cursor over something "activatable" (like a menu button) and see if a firm press on the touchpad creates a left click. Use a blunt-tipped object as you will have to press as firmly as you did when you got an audible click when clicking the pad in Q1 when power was off)

Sorry to be focusing on this point but it is critical to getting your touchpad properly configured.

[number77]

bigpup
lickgrub.cfg is installed in C: drive but I am not asked what os to use, it boots straight into win 10.
Before I got your second half of message telling me about the blue screen and press enter I tried it, didnt know what the blue screen meant so it timed out and went straight on to win 10. I did un install the iso with lick, rebooted and reinstalled the iso. Still no choice of os. Any ideas.

[number77]

1) Yes there is a definite click when off.
2) Right click works in the bottom corner only.
3) The non conductive pen does nothing at all, it needs a finger.

Based on the answer to Q1, i feel that the touchpad should definitely be responding to a firm press from a non-conductive object.
Could you try the test from Q3 again - but pressing at bottom left of the touchpad (rather than in the centre). You will need to place the cursor over something "activatable" (like a menu button) and see if a firm press on the touchpad creates a left click. Use a blunt-tipped object as you will have to press as firmly as you did when you got an audible click when clicking the pad in Q1 when power was off)

Sorry to be focusing on this point but it is critical to getting your touchpad properly configured.

Non conducting object has no effect at all. The blunt end of biro does not do anything at all, the touchpad clicks but nothing else.
My wife has a pointer to work her tablet but that also has no effect at all.

[bigpup]

You need to ask this on the Lick topic.
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=61404