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Laptop touchpad in a live session

Thu Jan 10, 2013 1:28 pm

Post-Lenny, laptop touchpads seem to need manual configuration. The Debian wiki http://wiki.debian.org/SynapticsTouchpad says to do this in xorg.conf or xorg.conf.d

xserver-xorg-input-synaptics (in Squeeze) has tapping disabled by default for touchpads with one or more physical buttons

That method is most inconvenient for a live session (but maybe necessary for some hardware or more advanced capability).

Here a simple autostart script that calls "synclient" works well in most cases. It can be included in a live image.

How does anyone else sort touchpads?

Re: Laptop touchpad in a live session

Fri Jan 11, 2013 8:54 am

I ignore the problem.
If someone would tell me how to deal with the problem, and in plain words, i would deal with it.

Re: Laptop touchpad in a live session

Fri Jan 11, 2013 1:59 pm

Tested on many different laptops here, this one-liner (as normal user) works in most cases:

Code:
synclient TapButton1=1 LBCornerButton=2 RBCornerButton=3 MaxTapTime=140 SingleTapTimeout=140 MaxDoubleTapTime=140


"synaptics" touchpads seem the most common types, I don't know if that or similar works for others

Re: Laptop touchpad in a live session

Sat Jan 12, 2013 10:28 am

I put that command into a script and added that script to the autostart applications, un-checked it so it's not active, but it's there if you need it. Will that work, or are you stuck with no way to get to it except to plug in a mouse?

Other way to start it is to run touchpad_on from command line. And in the next beta, you'll be able to hit alt-F2 and then Enter to get a terminal on the desktop.

Re: Laptop touchpad in a live session

Sat Jan 12, 2013 1:24 pm

Not yet seen a laptop where the actual buttons and scrollpad don't work for a (debian-) live session, the annoyance is the "tap" function never does.

Here is a more detailed "run once" script I use, which will test first for a synaptics device:

Code:
#!/bin/bash

# script name: synaptics.sh
# script location: /usr/local/bin
# set up synaptics touchpad with basic defaults
# not tested on other than synaptics
# run once (after login) then is automatic on relogin

# check for NOT root
   if [[ ! $EUID -ne 0 ]]; then
    echo "This script should not be run as root" 1>&2
      exit 1
   fi

if ! grep -iq "synaptics" /proc/bus/input/devices; then
echo "No synaptics touchpad was found"
exit 0
fi

####### xfce autostart
if [ -d ~/.config/autostart ]; then

if ! [ -f ~/.config/autostart/synaptics.desktop ]; then
cat > ~/.config/autostart/synaptics.desktop <<EOF

[Desktop Entry]
Comment=Enable synaptics touchpad
Encoding=UTF-8
Exec=/usr/local/bin/synaptics.sh
Hidden=false
Name=synaptics
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Version=0.0.1

EOF
fi
fi

# execute now
echo "starting synclient..."
synclient TapButton1=1 LBCornerButton=2 RBCornerButton=3 MaxTapTime=140 SingleTapTimeout=140 MaxDoubleTapTime=140


I would like to know if something similar can work for other than "synaptics" types but got nothing here to test that. Apparently some HP machines use a different type.

A key combo to get a shell is an excellent idea.

Re: Laptop touchpad in a live session

Sat Jan 12, 2013 6:30 pm

Thanks. After I posted, I was wondering about testing for a Synaptics touchpad, and you've already done it. I replaced my script with yours and turned it on in autostart apps.
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