The procedure for modifying touchpad settings has changed in Lucid Lynx. Today I installed the Beta 1 and found that the earlier techniques for configuring touchpad settings in Jaunty and Karmic no longer work. In Ubuntu 10.04, the entire HAL system has died and is replaced with something called udev.
Alternatively, we can change the touchpad settings in the xorg.conf.d folder. Thanks for the tip Jensel!
Let’s look at both techniques
Using Udev
Users can place their configuration files for udev inside “/etc/udev/rules.d” The files have a certain syntax, but of course it’s best to simply copy someone else’s file and just modify it to what you want. I created a file called touchpad.rules (the file must have the extension “rules”). Here is what I put into it:
ACTION!=”add|change”, GOTO=”xorg_synaptics_end”
KERNEL!=”event*”, GOTO=”xorg_synaptics_end”ENV{ID_INPUT_TOUCHPAD}!=”1″, GOTO=”xorg_synaptics_end”
ENV{x11_options.MaxTapTime}=”300″
LABEL=”xorg_synaptics_end”
See the bold section? That’s where you put in your own settings similar to the rules we used to put into our .fdi files. Here are the settings in my earlier fdi file and here is the full list of options you can use.
I had to reboot the system to apply the changes – logging off didn’t work. If I find a better way to do this, I’ll post it here. The command posted on the official instruction page didn’t work for me either.
Using .conf files in xorg.conf.d
This is simple. Go to the folder “/usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d”. In there, find the file that has your synaptics settings. For me it was “10-synaptics.conf”. You can add your synaptics settings after the “Driver” line in the relevant “Identifier” section. My Identifier line was: Identifier “touchpad catchall”
Option “HorizEdgeScroll” “1”
Option “MaxTapTime” “300”
This will change the HorizEdgeScroll and MaxTapTime parameters. Just modify for whichever parameters you want to change. When you log out and log in again, your settings should be applied.
If you learn something more about these rules, be sure to let me know!
Udev! They do find some very interesting sounding names :) Anyway it's all Greek to me:)
In reply to Indian Homemaker
I can imagine! It was to me as well when I first started mucking about with Linux :)
Just for disabling the touchpad i used following command:
gconftool -s -t bool /desktop/gnome/peripherals/touchpad/touchpad_enabled false
To get a list of the options you can change this way, use:
gconftool -R /desktop/gnome/peripherals/touchpad
(Ubuntu Lucid Lynx Beta)
In reply to josquin
Thanks Josquin, it saved my day
In reply to josquin
Thanks Josquin,
After 2 hours of googling, I successfully disabled my touchpad
In reply to josquin
Thanks josquin,
Somehow Ubuntu was mis-recognized the activate touchpad toggle button on my notebook. It display disabled when the status of the indicator of notebook is enabled, and the contrary.
Took me some days have to use external mouse.
Now it works perfectly after using the command line :
gconftool -s -t bool /desktop/gnome/peripherals/touchpad/touchpad_enabled false
In reply to oeyzone
you asked it to be turned off? It worked for me when I said
gconftool -s -t bool /desktop/gnome/peripherals/touchpad/touchpad_enabled true
hello
thank you for this tips, but it's doesn't work on my eeepc 901
how do you name your files ?
The mine is name : /etc/udev/rules.d/90-xorg-synaptics.rules
And I have put into :
ACTION!=”add|change”, GOTO=”xorg_synaptics_end”
KERNEL!=”event*”, GOTO=”xorg_synaptics_end”
ENV{ID_INPUT_TOUCHPAD}!=”1″, GOTO=”xorg_synaptics_end”
ENV{x11_options.EdgeMotionMinSpeed}="110"
ENV{x11_options.EdgeMotionMaxSpeed}="120"
ENV{x11_options.EdgeMotionUseAlways}="1"
LABEL=”xorg_synaptics_end”
When I reboot, the option EdgeMotionUseAlways is not activate, do you do others things ?
do you see something bad ?
thank you
quen57
In reply to quent57
Looks like this doesn't work for a lot of people.
But following up on Jensel's comment below, I've added a new method for changing the settings. Let me know if it works for you
Looks like these rules only for ubuntu, kubuntu seems to ignore them. To get kubuntu to do something similar I have to load kcm-touchpad and change mouse in the system-settings.
Thanks.
Better method: xorg.conf.d, since Xorg will not be udev-aware for long. Placing custom files in /usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d/ works fine in lucid. Documentation is available on the man pages for xorg.conf and the drivers in question (evdev, synaptics)
In reply to Jensel
Thanks Jensel!
Your method does indeed work. Including this in the blog post now.
In reply to bhagwad
Hi,
I tried synaptics customization (in lucid) through udev rules and it did not work … then I tried through xorg.conf.d and … it PARTIALLY worked. I mean, I modified the values of 11 parameters and 7 of them worked and 4 did NOT. Could it be possible any piece of SW to overwrite these values ?
Thanks.
In reply to David
Are any of the values that aren't set in the "gconf-editor" tool?
In reply to Bhagwad Jal Park
Well … after my comment … I unticked touchpad preferences from startup applications and 9 parameters worked (two more than before) … but two other parameters keep ignoring my customization. All the parameters I mean can be listed with “synclient -l” command. I am a newbie so I am not quite sure about the relation between these parameters and “gconf-editor” tool.
Gaining operativeness in two more parameters after unticking touchpad preferences in startup confirmed my suspicions. Some days ago, googling around I had read a bit here and there. I read that customization in “/usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d” could be overwritten … I had also read that for USER customization “/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d” would be a better folder to place “10-synaptics.conf” in order to minimize overwrite issues … Finally I had also read a thread from ubuntuforums … I think it was a girl that created “/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d” folder and copy “10-synaptics.conf” there (leaving just “touchpad catchall” section) … her touchpad revived but … her keyboard died … It was risky … … I unfortunately decided to try it out … now my keyboard has died too and I cannot access Ubuntu (I am now writing from the same laptop but from Windows Vista partition).
As told before I am a newbie in Linux and I am such STUCK. My plan is finding a way to delete the new created “/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d” folder to recover my operativeness. Some weeks ago I set to 0 seconds the wait time for choosing the kernel version at booting time so I am afraid I can not enter the system in ‘safe mode’. I have an Ubuntu 10.04b1 liveCD … could it be possible to delete that folder booting from the liveCD ?
A reflexion : Am I wrong if I think that running into these kind of problems just for tunning my touchpad is a signal of lack for matureness for mainstream users from Ubuntu (or at least from X server) ?
In reply to David
Yes you can boot from live CD an delete this file.
If it's doesn't work run sudo rm or sudo nautilus and it's will delete fine. (but be carfull with un nautilus in sudo)
Good luck
In reply to quent57
Well … I am back … from Ubuntu … I am recovered … THANX … I deleted “/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d” and things went back to normality.
I have double check some things and I can confirm that Touchpad (run from startup applications) is overwriting at least the parameter CoastingSpeed (If you want to activate corner-coasting you need to set CornerCoasting to '1' and CoastingSpeed > '0' ). If I untick Touchpad from startup applications the only two parameters that do NOT follow my customization are RTCornerButton and RBCornerButton.
Which software could be overwriting these two parameters ?
Note: When I untick Touchpad from startup applications I keep more parameters customized but some other parameters' values change. For me, the ideal thing would be keeping Touchpad running from startup applications and then run my customization on top.
What is the relation between “gconf-editor” tool and synaptics parameters ?
Thank you very much. :-)
In reply to David
The "gconf-editor" tools sets some synaptics parameters that will override others. See the comment below.
im using sony vaio e series and scroll is not working. my touchpad is alps. can someon help me to fix this please.. the above method didnt work
In reply to jithin
Hi, just added a new method on the post – let me know if it works for you
how to find the Identifier for my touchpad?
Identifier "Dell Inspiron embedded buttons quirks"
In reply to jithin
For me it was:
Identifier "touchpad catchall"
In reply to bhagwad
i also put the options inside catchall.. but no luck. scroll still is not working. :(
jithin@jithin-laptop:~$ gconftool -R /desktop/gnome/peripherals/touchpad
horiz_scroll_enabled = true
touchpad_enabled = true
tap_to_click = true
scroll_method = 1
config_migration_needed = false
disable_while_typing = true
In reply to jithin
If you need to change the gconf settings, just open the gconf-editor tool, go to desktop/gnome/peripherals/touchpad and change it there
In reply to bhagwad
all i want is to make the vertical scroll of my touchpad work. i am a complete newbie here and cant figure out what to do :(
In reply to jithin
Your vertical edge scroll should work out of the box in this case. Even your gconf settings are fine, so the issue is something else.
Perhaps you can Google a bit more to isolate the issue? Good luck!
In reply to bhagwad
I know it’s really late but try config_migration_needed = true … it worked for me!
sorry for my bad english, I have a vaio but the scroll does not work, edit the file /usr/lib/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-synaptics.conf but it does not work
Section "InputClass"
Identifier "touchpad catchall"
Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "1"
Option "MaxTapTime" "300"
MatchIsTouchpad "on"
MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
Driver "synaptics"
EndSection
is an alps touchpad vaio with with 64bits version uses lucid final
It's work fine for me (eeepc 901) thanks