Touchpad - No synaptics driver loaded? Slacko 5.3.3

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Bill_Gates
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Touchpad - No synaptics driver loaded? Slacko 5.3.3

#1 Post by Bill_Gates »

I want to turn off the tap feature on my touchpad but when I run flSynclient I get the "Couldn't find symaptics properties. No synaptics driver loaded?". I had this with my old laptop running lupu-511. The work around was to run xorgwizard from a command line which I guess forced the driver to load. Then run flSynclient again. Unfortunately this doesn’t seem to work in Slacko.

I tried adding

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Load "synaptics"
under the Section "Module of xorg.conf – no good!

Under the Section "InputDevice" I get the following

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Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Mouse0"
	Driver      "mouse"
	Option	    "Protocol" "IMPS/2" #mouse0protocol
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/mouse"
	#Option      "Emulate3Buttons"
	#Option      "Emulate3Timeout" "50"
	Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" #scrollwheel
EndSection
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
-Bill

[b][i]"Who needs M$ - Puppy Rules!"[/i][/b] :P

npierce
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#2 Post by npierce »

I'm not familiar with Slacko, so don't know if you need to to anything special to make it happy, but in general I believe you need three items in xorg.conf to get the synaptics driver working.

You've already added the first to the "Module" section:

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        Load "synaptics"
You also need to tell X to use it by adding this to the "ServerLayout" section:

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        InputDevice "Synaptics Mouse" "AlwaysCore"
And then add a new "InputDevice" section for it, like so:

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Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier "Synaptics Mouse"
        Driver "synaptics"
EndSection
I'm surprised that those items were not already in your xorg.conf. Did it work when you first booted from CD, before creating a save file?

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Bill_Gates
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#3 Post by Bill_Gates »

Hello npierce and thanks for your reply. I added the code you suggested however it did not work.

If I'm not mistaken items listed in the "ServerLayout" section and "InputDevice" section of xorg.conf are auto generated each time xorg starts.
-Bill

[b][i]"Who needs M$ - Puppy Rules!"[/i][/b] :P

npierce
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#4 Post by npierce »

Oh, yes, I can see how that would be a problem. :)

Maybe a Slacko user can suggest a way to work around that.

I'm running Racy 5.2.2, and my xorg.conf doesn't get overwritten unless I change hardware or run xorgwizard.

npierce
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#5 Post by npierce »

npierce wrote:I'm surprised that those items were not already in your xorg.conf.
This makes me wonder if your touchpad is being detected.

What output do you get for:

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grep -iEA9 -B1 "Synaptics|Alps|Elantech|touch" /proc/bus/input/devices

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Bill_Gates
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#6 Post by Bill_Gates »

npierce wrote:
What output do you get for:

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grep -iEA9 -B1 "Synaptics|Alps|Elantech|touch" /proc/bus/input/devices
Forgive my ignorance npierce (I'm an old windows guy) but I assume you enter that code into a terminal window???

If I do so nothing is returned.
-Bill

[b][i]"Who needs M$ - Puppy Rules!"[/i][/b] :P

npierce
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#7 Post by npierce »

Yes, you were correct to enter it in a terminal window.

It would seem that none of the touchpads recognized by xorgwizard are listed. And yet it worked in lupu-511? Oh, wait, that was another PC.

Well, let's see what is listed. Try this:

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grep  "N: Name=" /proc/bus/input/devices

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Bill_Gates
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#8 Post by Bill_Gates »

npierce wrote:
Well, let's see what is listed. Try this:

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grep  "N: Name=" /proc/bus/input/devices
That returns the following:

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# grep  "N: Name=" /proc/bus/input/devices
N: Name="AT Translated Set 2 keyboard"
N: Name="PS/2 Generic Mouse"
....
-Bill

[b][i]"Who needs M$ - Puppy Rules!"[/i][/b] :P

npierce
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#9 Post by npierce »

Yup. No touchpads listed.

It may be that the kernel does not recognize your touchpad. There are a few Alps touchpads that are supported by kernel 3.2-rc2 and newer ( commit 2011-Nov-08 ), but not by the 3.1.10 kernel in Slacko. Those are mostly used in Dell PCs. There might be other Alps touchpads that are still not supported. (Apparently Alps isn't open about their specs.)

What make and model PC do you have?

If you think you might have an Alps "GlidePoint", it might be worth trying a distro with a 3.2.0 or newer kernel to see if it is recognized. (Although it is still in beta test, you might try Precise Puppy beta7, which has a 3.2.29 kernel.)

ICPUG
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#10 Post by ICPUG »

I'm no expert on this but I suspect the running of Xorgwizard with lupu forced an xorg.cnf file that did not get overwritten every time.

I suggest trying to pick a specific video driver when Slacko boots up rather than default. Hopefully this will create the relevant xorg.cnf file and, if flsynclient still doesn't find the necessary, try editing like suggested above.

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Bill_Gates
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#11 Post by Bill_Gates »

npierce wrote:What make and model PC do you have?

If you think you might have an Alps "GlidePoint", it might be worth trying a distro with a 3.2.0 or newer kernel to see if it is recognized. (Although it is still in beta test, you might try Precise Puppy beta7, which has a 3.2.29 kernel.)
Thanks npierce. I gave Precise Puppy a try but unfortunately I had the same problem. While trolling the ubuntu forums it would seem that the lack of support for the touchpad on my Dell E6420, as well as many newer Dell laptops, is a "Knonw Issue". There are some workarounds listed on the ubuntu forums but I havent been able to figure them out... Yet!

So I guess I will have to live with my touchpad problems for now! :(
-Bill

[b][i]"Who needs M$ - Puppy Rules!"[/i][/b] :P

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01micko
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#12 Post by 01micko »

Bill_Gates,

Maybe it's fixed in a cutting edge kernel. There are 2 possibilities here. Dpup-Exprimo by Pemasu (here)or the latest Slacko Beta (PAE version k3.5.5 (here)).

If you could test either of those and report it would be cool. The Slacko version has the latest stable xorg-server and drivers too.
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Bill_Gates
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#13 Post by Bill_Gates »

01micko wrote:Bill_Gates,

Maybe it's fixed in a cutting edge kernel. There are 2 possibilities here. Dpup-Exprimo by Pemasu (here)or the latest Slacko Beta (PAE version k3.5.5 (here)).

If you could test either of those and report it would be cool. The Slacko version has the latest stable xorg-server and drivers too.
Thanks 01micko, I tried both distros as you suggested and I’m pleased to report that both recognized the touchpad in my e6420 as a Synaptics Mouse :D

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Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier "Synaptics Mouse"
	Driver "synaptics"
	Option "SHMConfig" "on"
EndSection 
I was able to run FlSynclient to turn Off Tap, adjust Cursor Speed and Touch Sensitivity, etc. I did not try to setup edge scrolling or any other finger gestures as I generally don’t use them.

I noticed that powerapplet_tray DOES NOT work in Slacko 5.3.3. (HERE) Nor does it work in Slacko Beta PAE version k3.5.5, or Dpup-Exprimo by Pemasu on my system either. I removed powerapplet_tray and installed vattery in /Startup and vattery works fine.

I also found that ‘fixmenus’ doesn’t work in the Slacko Beta. I like to add items to the tray menu by editing _root_.jwmrc which is how I discovered ‘fixmenus’ didn’t work. I copied it over from slacko 5.3.3 and it worked fine. Is there an newer/updated version in the Beta?I did not try fixmenus in Dpup-Exprimo.

Thanks for your help! I'm running Slacko PAE version from a USB stick now.
-Bill

[b][i]"Who needs M$ - Puppy Rules!"[/i][/b] :P

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01micko
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#14 Post by 01micko »

Good to hear BIll_Gates

fixmenus uses a different mechanism in slacko-5.3.6.0 so editing _root_.jwmrc has no effect. It's by design

I think I have vattery in the slacko PPM, I have to edit it so it auto disables the default battery app which usually works. Must be a newer hardware type of issue.

There is a prog installed that makes adding launcher icons to the tray very easy and works. See the Menu>Desktop>Settings>JWM Configuration prog.

Any further discussion about slacko-5.3.6.0 should take place in that development thread for the good of all.

Cheers
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beekster
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#15 Post by beekster »

Funny :o

I just had a similar problem with my Dell Vostro 1510 running Slacko 5.3.3, booted from USB. I managed by plugging in USB mouse/keyboard, When I rebooted, that problem went away. This is the first time it's come up. Right now the touchpad is OK. :?

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