# The Ubuntu Forum Community > Ubuntu Specialised Support > System76 Support > [ubuntu] Galago UltraPro touchpad, keyboard and wifi issues

## powerpleb

I just received by brand new Galago UltraPro laptop. Initially I was impressed by it, but after using it a while I'm starting to notice some very critical problems.
There are three main issues that are seriously bothering me.

1. Because the button for the trackpad is under the sensor, this makes it a hassle to use. When I press the button, it often moves the cursor, often away from what I was clicking on. Quite a lot of the time it ends up in the bottom left corner and I end up opening the trash. This problem is especially annoying given the very fine dpi anyway (buttons, icons, etc are small anyway).

2. The keyboard seems a bit rubbish to me. Often when I think I've pressed a key, even when it gives me feedback and makes a clicking sound, it hasn't actually registered. This makes typing fast on this thing very difficult. I'm constantly looking back over text to notice letters that are missing. This has happened countless times even in typing out this post and made it a slow tedious process!

3. I opted for the Atheros Killer wifi because I wanted the best possible wireless, but it isn't good at all. It is extremely slow and drops out from time to time. I cannot completely discount the possibility that it is due to my connection, but it seems unlikely as I have tried it next to another (older) laptop connected to the same wireless network and the other machine seemed to show no connectivity issues at all. The Galago, on the other hand, is so poor I've had to connect with a wired ethernet cable just to edit this post. I'm only a few feet from my router! I own several wireless devices, (one of them actually another laptop running ubuntu with an Atheros wifi device!!!) and I've never experienced a connection this bad before.

I suppose these are things I could try to get used to, but I don't think that is good enough. Especially not at this price. 
Are there any solutions or work-arounds that people know of? I assume the trackpad issue could probably be solved with the synaptic utilities somehow, but the keyboard and wifi flaws seem inbuilt. 
Unless I can get around these issues, I don't think this laptop is actually useable. I'm a grad student and I purchased this specifically for notetaking and thesis writing. So I need a machine with a high quality, responsive keyboard and a solid wireless connection.

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## propan0

I totaly agree with the complaint about the keyboard (forces you to hit the keys hard), and about the trackpad, when you click a button it stil moves the mouse.

About the trackpad, you can setup for clicking through tapping and that makes it easier (settings -> mouse). Or just use an usb mouse which is what i use. You can disable the trackpad using Fn + F1. As for the keyboard... It seems to get better with use.

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## pj2

Yeah I'm with you on the keyboard. I constantly manage to miss A's when I'm typing fast, it's fairly aggravating.

I know it's easy to remove the keyboard but I've been wondering if it's even possible to find a replacement keyboard, I wouldnt even know where to start looking for said replacements.

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## keith5

I am still waiting for my Galago to ship and so I sent a message to System76 support about the keyboard issues I have been hearing about.  An hour and a half after sending my message, Emma at System76 responded:

"We immediately addressed the keyboard concern and notified our manufacturer of the complaints. They resolved the issue by soldering an extra metal plate onto the bottom of the keyboard so all orders are shipping with the new keyboard. The flex and responsiveness is much better with the new keyboard and we are very happy with the solution. We also sent customers who complained about the keyboard the new keyboard replacement or offered to take the system back for a full refund."

 I would contact System76 support and see if they will offer you a keyboard replacement.  I am hoping mine arrives with the upgraded keyboard.

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## powerpleb

> I am still waiting for my Galago to ship and so I sent a message to System76 support about the keyboard issues I have been hearing about.  An hour and a half after sending my message, Emma at System76 responded:
> 
> "We immediately addressed the keyboard concern and notified our manufacturer of the complaints. They resolved the issue by soldering an extra metal plate onto the bottom of the keyboard so all orders are shipping with the new keyboard. The flex and responsiveness is much better with the new keyboard and we are very happy with the solution. We also sent customers who complained about the keyboard the new keyboard replacement or offered to take the system back for a full refund."
> 
>  I would contact System76 support and see if they will offer you a keyboard replacement.  I am hoping mine arrives with the upgraded keyboard.


OK... Thank you. This is reassuring. I came here first simply because this was the first place System76's support section directed me. So I'll shoot them an email soon.
The wifi issue seems to have abated for now. But the keyboard and touchpad are still a frustration to use. Using tap click for the touchpad does help a bit. Though it has it's own problems... And I suppose when I have time I can try and use the synaptic utilities to disable the movement sensor for the very bottom of the touchpad. I think you can do that?? 

I've just got to assess whether it is worth taking my chances with the new keyboard or try and get a refund and go with a brand I know will deliver a quality product.

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## nkasprak

I'll just chip in here to add that I also got a Galago with the Killer wifi option and I'm having the exact same issues - very slow, connection randomly drops. The issues are intermittent - sometimes it works for around an hour, other times it's basically unusable. Other computers on the same network work fine so it's definitely an issue with the Galago. 

I just put in a support request, so I'm waiting to hear back - I'm glad to learn from the above comments they're replacing the keyboards and hopefully the wifi problems are fixable. I personally don't mind the touchpad now that I'm used to it and have trained myself to click with my pointing figure, but the keyboard and the wifi are a disaster.

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## rorschachwalter

> I've just got to assess whether it is worth taking my chances with the new keyboard or try and get a refund and go with a brand I know will deliver a quality product.


If all they're doing is slapping a metal plate on the back of the keyboard, then I doubt it'll fix any issues, unless your complaint is that it's too wobbly. My GazP9 had keys that didn't register, and it had nothing to do with a flimsy keyboard insert (although the keyboard certainly was flimsy).

The wireless is also an issue they won't troubleshoot -- they first told me wireless issues were Apple's fault, then told me it was GNOME's fault, then told me it was broken hardware. They have no idea what they're doing, no intention of fixing the issue, and seem more than happy to simply say "We can't fix that." To them, it's a driver issue, and as much as they supposedly make their machines work with Ubuntu, I saw no evidence that they were capable or interested in fixing the crappy wireless driver. I know it's Intel's fault, but I guess that's my point here: System76 won't fix it, so no point in waiting and hoping.

The clickpad issues have been mentioned on here before. Just recently a Bonobo owned was complaining about his clickpad's performance, and they told him there was an updated driver fixing the issue. With the Galago, they said they spent lots of time getting the driver to be just right so the clickpad is awesome. In both cases, they essentially lied.

So don't wait on keyboard, wireless, or clickpad fixes. They're not likely to come.

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## chintalapati

I also got Galago ultrapro last week, I have same issues as you mentioned trackpad is jumpy, keyboard is hard to use and main problem is WIFI, I too gone for Atheros Killer wifi, disconnects randomly and asks for wifi password, sometimes network speed is dead slow. I opened a ticket I followed a step they mentioned but it is not working. 

sudo -s
echo "options ath9k nohwcrypt=1" >> /etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf

I am hoping that they will atleast fix wifi problem.

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## nkasprak

I tried adding the nohwcrypt=1 to the configuration file as well and it didn't work.

However, after some more searching around, I found this solution: http://johanv.org/node/207 - adding blink=1 btcoex_enable=1 enable_diversity=1 to the config file as well. Performance is currently much better, and that APPEARS to have fixed my problem for now (though I can't be sure, since it sometimes works for a while and the issue is intermittent.) I'll post an update if it craps out again.

Keyboard still sucks, but I'm reasonably optimistic that the replacements they're sending out will fix the issue (I haven't heard back on my support ticket yet but I would think System76, small as they are, are a Monday-Friday operation.)

*EDIT:* It's been an hour an Wifi is still working great, so I'm pretty confident the fix linked above is the solution. Don't know which option above is what's actually making it work (I suspect it's the enable_diversity=1, since I had already tried disabling bluetooth before) but in any event I recommend anyone having problems with their Killer wifi do this - it's 1000% better now.

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## Ocean Machine

Thanks for the info on the keyboard replacement. I noticed the same issues so just sent off a message to System76 support.

Another bug with the trackpad I've noticed is that clicking doesn't work after waking up from an automatic suspend state. It works fine after waking up from a user-initiated suspend state. Anyone else experiencing this?

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## chintalapati

> I tried adding the nohwcrypt=1 to the configuration file as well and it didn't work.
> 
> However, after some more searching around, I found this solution: http://johanv.org/node/207 - adding blink=1 btcoex_enable=1 enable_diversity=1 to the config file as well. Performance is currently much better, and that APPEARS to have fixed my problem for now (though I can't be sure, since it sometimes works for a while and the issue is intermittent.) I'll post an update if it craps out again.
> 
> Keyboard still sucks, but I'm reasonably optimistic that the replacements they're sending out will fix the issue (I haven't heard back on my support ticket yet but I would think System76, small as they are, are a Monday-Friday operation.)
> 
> *EDIT:* It's been an hour an Wifi is still working great, so I'm pretty confident the fix linked above is the solution. Don't know which option above is what's actually making it work (I suspect it's the enable_diversity=1, since I had already tried disabling bluetooth before) but in any event I recommend anyone having problems with their Killer wifi do this - it's 1000% better now.


Thanks for sharing this, after having above fix, this problem seems to be fixed (its more stable now)
This is what I have in below file now 

$ more /etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf 
options ath9k nohwcrypt=1 blink=1 btcoex_enable=1 enable_diversity=1

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## CrammitTheFrog

I am having the same issues mentioned: keyboard, clickpad, and wifi connectivity. I have connected to 3 different wifi networks (home, school, and work).

home - This is where I have an issue. Connectivity seems to be spotty at best. Either I can connect for a very short time then it drops or I cannot connect at all. I did try to change some settings on my router related to "n-mode" and channels. I had good results for a day, but it was not consistent throughout the week. My home network uses 2.4 GHz, and all my other wifi devices do not have connectivity issues.

work - No problems. Very fast and consistent speeds. I also noticed that I was connecting to a 5 Ghz wifi network.

school - The semester just started, so I haven't done enough testing for accurate results. My first impression is no problems. I have not checked the wifi frequency band that I connected to.

This is the first time to check the forums about this issue, so I'm glad that I'm not the only one experiencing the issue. I started to believe that the issue is with channel congestion on my home wifi network, because I live in an apartment and only one ISP is available (meaning that everyone is probably using the same wifi router, on the same default settings, and on the 2.4 Ghz band). Reading everyone's post, it looks like it is the wifi NIC.

All my home devices are not 5 Ghz compatible, so it's a little hard to run a 5 GHz test. Either way, the NIC should be able to connect to a 2.4 GHz network without issues.

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## isantop

I don't think the network band is what's causing trouble. If the system won't connect to a specific access point, then typically that's a sign that the network card is incompatible with the router or access point. You can either:

A. Contact us and we can switch you to a different brand wireless card, or
B. Replace the router with a different one, or add a new one "down stream" of the first one.

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## CrammitTheFrog

I thought of that too, but I have a very common router. isantop, has the System76 support team tried nkasprak's solution? Is it recommended?

I opened a support case the first day I received the laptop. The support technician responded very quickly and suggested to replace the wireless NIC. The issue stopped after I made a setting change on the router, so I told the technician to hold off. He also suggested that I try another wifi network. I did and it worked, so I started to troubleshoot my own network. Seeing these posts, I think I may just change the card.

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## screaminj3sus

From the posts I've seen the wifi issue sounds like some sort of weird atheros driver bug that only effects certain access points. 

Typically intel and atheros are the best supported wireless you can get for linux so I don't think system76 is to blame for offering atheros hardware. Would you rather deal with broadcom lol?

If I was system76 though I'd look into applying that workaround mentioned in this thread in the system76-driver.

EDIT: think I found the upstream kernel bug report for it: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=49201 This suggests that it may be fixed in kernel 3.11, but its unclear if the patches are merged yet.

Has this bug been reported to launchpad? Maybe canonical could apply these patches to the ubuntu kernel in a SRU...

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## CrammitTheFrog

screaminj3sus, the is already a bug filed on Launchpad:

Bug #1660188 - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...x/+bug/1160188
Bug #971809 - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...ux/+bug/971809
Bug #1204666 - https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...x/+bug/1204666.

Bug #1204666 states that there should be a fix (may just be a partial) in the current stable release for 13.04. I will try it out when I get home.

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## moschops

Sorry to say I just received my new Galgo UltraPro today and immediately noticed issues with the keyboard.  The loss of keystrokes is really annoying and this machine is supposed from a new batch - the keyboard surface itself seems firm, unlike many Dell Systems I've used where the keyboard deck bounces up and down.  However a significant number of keys on the right side seems to regularly lose presses in an completely unpredictable way.

I've had no WiFi problems but I didn't go with the killer WiFi.  

Touchpad seems okay - a bit too sensitive to palm presses while typing moving the mouse around even though I have turn off while typing set.

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## javsalgar

I can report the same problem with atheros wifi card. I found that (in several AP's) that the connectivity issues appear just when I get close to the router. In my work, I had the router in the same table where my Galago was and I could not get any connectivity at all. When I moved to another table everything suddenly becomes fine. The exact thing happened in my house.

I will try your config file tweaking solution and see if it works.

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## moschops

As an update - I called System 76 after a couple of days and they were sympathetic but advised me to stick with the machine for a couple of more weeks since they have a 30 day return policy - they said I will both get used to the typing action and the keyboard will also "wear in".  I asked about a replacement keyboard and they said they could send one but it would be identical to what I have.

I don't really want a machine were people using it have to spend two weeks learning to type on it, but if it does actually improve with wear that will be okay.  I guess I will just have to force myself to pound on it for a couple of weeks.  

Trouble is this is a developers machine and I'm a developer - having a *great* keyboard is really important and this is definitely a million miles from great at the moment.  My day to day USB keyboard is actually an Apple keyboard and by comparison it is a dream - even with the funky key layout. Unless something miraculous happens in the next two weeks I think it is going to be so-so at best.  Too bad - the keyboard was actually the one thing that gave me pause for thought - but only because it didn't have a backlight. Now I'm sad.  I'll persevere in key my fingers crossed.  It's going to be a frustrating two weeks having to erase stuff almost as often as I do on my phone keypad!

One other problem I've had - there is a slight bump in the case between the touchpad and the spacebar and it seems to push up against the screen when the lid is closed.  Every time I open the lid I see a one to two inch mark on the screen.  So far a spritz of screen cleaner has removed it so it appears to be just dirt/grease but I'm worried that over time it is going to wear a mark in the otherwise great screen.

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## eightballd

moschops - since more than a few weeks have passed....How's the keyboard now?

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## beru2

> moschops - since more than a few weeks have passed....How's the keyboard now?


  My Galago Ultrapro arrived a few days ago and, let me say, I've had zero problems with the keyboard. Apparently System76 replaced the keyboards a third time, and it works great: no problems with the machine so far.

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## xagent2

I just got mine today. This touchpad BLOWS.

I'm coming from 7+ years of using an IBM / Lenovo Thinkpad. Now those things have the perfect keyboard and touchpad. I just can't get used to this touchpad. The pointer is very inaccurate, and jumps whenever i press the thing to click. Super annoying and innaccurate.

Also, Why doesn't it have 3 buttons like the Lenovo? **** the multitouch. Also, How do I configure the multitouch? I can't figure out how to do a middle click. Very useful feature to paste things, as well as auto-open things in a new browser tab. I tried a 3 finger touch, nothing. Also, a 2 finger touch doesn't do anything. I just now discovered that clicking the bottom right of the touchpad is like right clicking, and elsewhere is left clicking. But in the System Settings -> Touchpad, I don't see any options for configuring buttons. All I see is settings for configuring primary click (left or right), double click speed pointer speed, disable while typing, natural scrolling, tap to click, and enable two finger scroll. 

Seriously, if there's one thing IBM/Lenovo got right, it was the design of their laptops. Those things were tanks, the keyboard had uber-perfect tactile feedback, and the 3 button touchpad was 100x better than using any multi touch pad. I only got a system 76 because I get a Windows 7 Lenovo laptop from work, and wanted a personal laptop with something different

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## moschops

> moschops - since more than a few weeks have passed....How's the keyboard now?


It still blows  :Sad:  but I'm waiting for the replacement from System76 which according to all other reports I've read 100% fixes the problem.  Chops to System76 for persevering with working to resolve this even if it took them a couple of tries.  I just wish their communication could have been more transparent because as lot of people were quite upset about this and probably a bunch didn't buy the UltraPro because of it.  I will be sure to update my negative reports when I have the new KBD installed.

Assuming it fixes the problem my only other issues would be the lack of support (so far) for track pad palm detection, fragility of the ethernet door, and the disappointing battery life.  However I knew the latter was an issue going into it - it's just a feature of the kick-ass i7 quad core processor and keeping the battery size and hence system weight down to something reasonable.

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## beru2

> It still blows  but I'm waiting for the replacement from System76 which according to all other reports I've read 100% fixes the problem.  Chops to System76 for persevering with working to resolve this even if it took them a couple of tries.  I just wish their communication could have been more transparent because as lot of people were quite upset about this and probably a bunch didn't buy the UltraPro because of it.  I will be sure to update my negative reports when I have the new KBD installed.
> 
> Assuming it fixes the problem my only other issues would be the lack of support (so far) for track pad palm detection, fragility of the ethernet door, and the disappointing battery life.  However I knew the latter was an issue going into it - it's just a feature of the kick-ass i7 quad core processor and keeping the battery size and hence system weight down to something reasonable.


While it sucks there isn't palm detection, disabling the trackpad while typing is a pretty solid solution. I've had my galago for about two weeks, now, and feel completely comfortable thanks to said fix. Damn shame the battery life is so poor, though  :Sad:

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## keith5

> It still blows  but I'm waiting for the replacement from System76 which according to all other reports I've read 100% fixes the problem.  Chops to System76 for persevering with working to resolve this even if it took them a couple of tries.  I just wish their communication could have been more transparent because as lot of people were quite upset about this and probably a bunch didn't buy the UltraPro because of it.  I will be sure to update my negative reports when I have the new KBD installed.
> 
> Assuming it fixes the problem my only other issues would be the lack of support (so far) for track pad palm detection, fragility of the ethernet door, and the disappointing battery life.  However I knew the latter was an issue going into it - it's just a feature of the kick-ass i7 quad core processor and keeping the battery size and hence system weight down to something reasonable.


Now that I have the new keyboard, I love this machine.  Track pad palm detection I am used to from other laptops.  The ethernet door is a dumb design I think.  I plugged it in once and couldn't get it back out and the door ended up breaking off.  So now I just have a hole there, but I don't really care.

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## isantop

Open up a support ticket; we can send you another Ethernet door.

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## kilaka

Can't believe this isn't enabled by default. Even more unbelievable is that this cannot be configured at all!!!

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## kilaka

Can't believe this isn't enabled by default. Even more unbelievable is that this cannot be configured at all!!!




> I just got mine today. This touchpad BLOWS.
> 
> I'm coming from 7+ years of using an IBM / Lenovo Thinkpad. Now those things have the perfect keyboard and touchpad. I just can't get used to this touchpad. The pointer is very inaccurate, and jumps whenever i press the thing to click. Super annoying and innaccurate.
> 
> Also, Why doesn't it have 3 buttons like the Lenovo? **** the multitouch. Also, How do I configure the multitouch? I can't figure out how to do a middle click. Very useful feature to paste things, as well as auto-open things in a new browser tab. I tried a 3 finger touch, nothing. Also, a 2 finger touch doesn't do anything. I just now discovered that clicking the bottom right of the touchpad is like right clicking, and elsewhere is left clicking. But in the System Settings -> Touchpad, I don't see any options for configuring buttons. All I see is settings for configuring primary click (left or right), double click speed pointer speed, disable while typing, natural scrolling, tap to click, and enable two finger scroll. 
> 
> Seriously, if there's one thing IBM/Lenovo got right, it was the design of their laptops. Those things were tanks, the keyboard had uber-perfect tactile feedback, and the 3 button touchpad was 100x better than using any multi touch pad. I only got a system 76 because I get a Windows 7 Lenovo laptop from work, and wanted a personal laptop with something different

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## coffeecat

Closed to prevent further necromancy.

This is a technical support forum, not a chat forum. Please see this sticky:




> System76 forum is provided for SUPPORT questions regarding your hardware and software issues running on System 76 machines.
> 
> Opinion posts have no place here - we provide other sub-forums for chat, notably Ubuntu, Linux and OS Chat and The Cafe.


If anyone needs help with any issue, please start your own support thread.

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