touchpad automatically redirects in Fluxbox?

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Walt H · #1 Post by **Walt H** » Thu 20 Jul 2006, 04:07

I'm using Puppy 1.09CE on an old laptop, and it works great except for one annoying feature. If I leave the cursor over any spot on the screen where an action can take place, that action is automatically taken after a second or two. If the cursor is on a web page link, it automatically redirects me to that page. if the cursor is on the 'X' for closing a browser tab or application, it closes almost right away.

Is there a file I can edit or a menu option I can change to either end or delay this behavior? I tried a forum search, but I'm not quite sure which search terms to combine. (I don't want to simply search under mouse or touchpad. I don't have that much time to wade through what I suspect will be a good number of results.

) Thanks for your help.

Walt H · #2 Post by **Walt H** » Sat 22 Jul 2006, 22:40

I gather from the deafening silence

that no one else has experienced this problem. Either that, or there is no cure. Still, there must be a file I can look at and/or edit to set some sort of delay before I am redirected just by having my cursor in the wrong spot. Thoughts on this? Anyone? Thanks.

GuestToo · #3 Post by **GuestToo** » Sun 23 Jul 2006, 03:13

it might be a hardware problem ... a switch may be closing erratically when it is not supposed to be ... perhaps because of noise in the circuits, because of a bad connection, or a bad transistor or diode or resistor or capacitor ... the mechanical microswitches on a mouse button can get like that

if it's a hardware problem, it might not be worth trying to fix it ... though using an external mouse might be a workaround

or it might be a software problem

does the touchpad work properly in another operating system?

Walt H · #4 Post by **Walt H** » Sun 23 Jul 2006, 05:40

GuestToo wrote:it might be a hardware problem ... a switch may be closing erratically when it is not supposed to be ... perhaps because of noise in the circuits, because of a bad connection, or a bad transistor or diode or resistor or capacitor ... the mechanical microswitches on a mouse button can get like that

if it's a hardware problem, it might not be worth trying to fix it ... though using an external mouse might be a workaround

or it might be a software problem

does the touchpad work properly in another operating system?

I normally did use a mouse with the machine when it was my primary machine, but now that I can use it as a mobile machine, I am hoping to only have to haul around the laptop itself and not a bunch of peripherals.

The touchpad does work fine with Feather Linux, which is what is installed to the hard drive but which no longer satisfies. Nor do I remember having this problem in 1.0.7 for what that's worth.

SnowDog · #5 Post by **SnowDog** » Sun 23 Jul 2006, 12:12

Hi Walt.
I wonder if I could bother you for your hardware details?
I may be able to emulate your setup (if I have a hardware match) & see if it is a machine specific thing.

I've had a similar experience running 2.x series on machines with touchpads (Compaq), which makes the pad unusable after the machine goes into sleep mode (or whatever it does), when it wakes up.

#6 Post by **Flash** » Sun 23 Jul 2006, 14:01

If it were caused by bad switches or the like, then it should happen in any OS. If it only happens in Puppy it must be something in Puppy. Walt, have you tried another OS on that machine lately? Maybe something in the machine has failed since you started using Puppy 2.

Walt H · #7 Post by **Walt H** » Mon 24 Jul 2006, 02:13

Flash:

I'm actually in 1.0.9CE as I couldn't get my wireless configured in Puppy. I still have Feather Linux installed on this machine, and I booted into it a week or so ago for a little while thinking I would try to get wireless working on it, and everything seemed to work fine. I will, though, give it another try just to be sure.

SnowDog:

The touchpad annoyance is constant, whether Puppy has gone into sleep mode or not. As for hardware, I'm not sure what to tell you or how to get the information. The processor is a Celeron 400 w/ 256mb RAM. I don't see any information about the touchpad when I go into Xproc. I do see from the Mouse/keyboard wizard that there is no option regarding touchpad. I set the mouse type as PS/2 in case I did want to use the mouse I have (somewhere) for this machine.

Thanks for the input.

SnowDog · #8 Post by **SnowDog** » Mon 24 Jul 2006, 02:30

Walt.
What I meant by hardware was, the make model etc., of your machine.
I have had quite afew of these touchpads mis-behave in puppy and have no idea what to do to fix it. I just thought if I had a machine the same, I could see if it was specific to yours, or common to the brand/make etc.

Walt H · #9 Post by **Walt H** » Mon 24 Jul 2006, 03:02

SnowDog wrote:Walt.
What I meant by hardware was, the make model etc., of your machine.
I have had quite afew of these touchpads mis-behave in puppy and have no idea what to do to fix it. I just thought if I had a machine the same, I could see if it was specific to yours, or common to the brand/make etc.

Sorry. I have a ProStar laptop (a 3500, I think - it doesn't say anywhere on the machine). There's CD-ROM read-only drive, a 10GB Toshiba brand hard drive, floppy, wireless card (not sure what you want, so I'm listing anything I can think of), no external keyboard or mouse (not one connected anyway), and two-button touchpad (no little button that looks like an eraser embedded in the middle of the keyboard). What else can I tell you?

SnowDog · #10 Post by **SnowDog** » Mon 24 Jul 2006, 04:00

Walt, I haven't got one of those.
Sorry I couldn't be more help.

Walt H · #11 Post by **Walt H** » Mon 24 Jul 2006, 16:03

SnowDog, Flash -

Thanks for your help. I think the problem is in Puppy 1.0.9CE. I rebooted the machine in Feather Linux last night, and the touchpad behaved correctly. I even left the cursor over a Close Application button to see if it would act without my directing it to, and it did not.

Another thought occurs to me: could this be something in Fluxbox? I started running it because the menu in JWM would close on me before I could navigate anywhere. I would often have to launch the menu three or four times before it would stay open for me. I don't recall now whether the touchpad problem existed in JWM. Something else to check.

SnowDog · #12 Post by **SnowDog** » Mon 24 Jul 2006, 16:28

That's a good thought (jwm flux)
I have had strange touchpad behaviour in jwm & ice, have not tried flux. But similarly. the machines operate just fine with other O/S's.

Walt H · #13 Post by **Walt H** » Tue 25 Jul 2006, 00:40

Apparently this problem is specific to Fluxbox on my machine, as it does not take matters into its own hand when I am in JWM. Anyone have any guess as to why that would be?

GuestToo · #14 Post by **GuestToo** » Tue 25 Jul 2006, 00:57

no, but fluxbox does have some problems in Puppy ... for example, it does not really play well with Rox ... i like flux, but i usually run Icewm, because it seems to work well with Puppy

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

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touchpad automatically redirects in Fluxbox?

touchpad automatically redirects in Fluxbox?

anyone?