How To: Alps touchpad on 2.6.10 Hoary

[JALenon]

Hi, thanks for this thread.

I'm new to Linux and this line is unclear to me.

% sudo cp /boot/config-2.6.10-5-386 ./.config ## or whatever you are currently running--note that there are two dots there, since the file is <dot>config


What goes in place of ## in the line above?

[mendicant]

% sudo cp /boot/config-2.6.10-5-386 ./.config ## or whatever you are currently running--note that there are two dots there, since the file is <dot>config


What goes in place of ## in the line above?

Nothing. It's a comment, so you could just print out the whole line and it would work. The comment itself refers to the fact that config-2.6.10-5-386 might have to change. For example, if you use a 686 kernel, it would be config-2.6.10-5-686.

[dejitarob]

Using basically the same method posted by mendicant, I got the alps/synaptic driver loaded according to my Xorg.0.log. However the sensitivity is very low and immediately after I log into and KDE loads, the touchpad stops working completely. I'm using mlord's xorg.conf, who got it working in this thread.

Update: Ok via the README, adding the "AlwaysCore" and "CorePointer" in the ServerLayout section of my xorg.conf while commenting out the CorePointer options in the InputDevice section fixed it.

[jc3835]

At the request of somebody I helped earlier.

% sudo aptitude install linux-source-2.6.10 kernel-package xorg-driver-synaptics
% cd /usr/src
% sudo tar -x -j -f linux-source-2.6.10.tar.bz2
% cd linux-source-2.6.10
% gunzip -c /usr/share/doc/xorg-driver-synaptics/alps.patch.gz | sudo patch -p1
% sudo cp /boot/config-2.6.10-5-386 ./.config ## or whatever you are currently running--note that there are two dots there, since the file is <dot>config
% sudo make-kpkg --us --uc --initrd --append_to_version "-5-386-alps" kernel_image kernel_headers kernel_source
% cd ..
% sudo dpkg -i kernel*alps*deb

Then just use the template in /usr/share/doc/xorg-driver-synaptics/README.alps for your xorg.conf. To disable tap-to-click while preserving the scrolling behavior on the right edge of the pad, try setting MaxTapTime to 0.

Got to the gunzip line and I'm having an issue...

patching file drivers/input/mouse/Makefile
patching file drivers/input/mouse/alps.c
patching file drivers/input/mouse/alps.h
can't find file to patch at input line 486
Perhaps you used the wrong -p or --strip option?
The text leading up to this was:
--------------------------
|diff -puN drivers/input/mouse/psmouse-base.c~alps drivers/input/mouse/psmouse-base.c
|--- linux/drivers/input/mouse/psmouse-base.c~alps      2004-10-20 20:04:38.190737928 +0200
|+++ linux-petero/drivers/input/mouse/psmouse-base.c    2004-10-20 20:04:38.196737016 +0200
--------------------------
File to patch:

So what exactly is the file I'm patching? Am I missing something really obvious?
Sorry if so...
Help!

Thanks.

[jc3835]

Got to the gunzip line and I'm having an issue...

patching file drivers/input/mouse/Makefile
patching file drivers/input/mouse/alps.c
patching file drivers/input/mouse/alps.h
can't find file to patch at input line 486
Perhaps you used the wrong -p or --strip option?
The text leading up to this was:
--------------------------
|diff -puN drivers/input/mouse/psmouse-base.c~alps drivers/input/mouse/psmouse-base.c
|--- linux/drivers/input/mouse/psmouse-base.c~alps      2004-10-20 20:04:38.190737928 +0200
|+++ linux-petero/drivers/input/mouse/psmouse-base.c    2004-10-20 20:04:38.196737016 +0200
--------------------------
File to patch:

So what exactly is the file I'm patching? Am I missing something really obvious?
Sorry if so...
Help!

Thanks.

OK, so I'm not really supposed to be asking questions here... SORRY.
It's just you're reading the HOWTO, you have QUESTIONS about the HOWTO, and you ask.
:shame:

[mendicant]

It's trying to patch the file called psmouse-base.c, which is in the linux source tree, under drivers/input/mouse/. Do you have that file?

[TmP]

Hey!
It's my first post here.
The problem with the mouse moving by itselfes...
Its normal for touchpoint laptops (in both toshiba and ibm laptops)
its because of a hardware algorythm which centers the touchpoint ( it actually looks like a small joystick in the middle of your keabord).
So when you apply some force to it and keep your hand very steady, it'll think the touchpoint's center got shifted. So it'll stop moving. when you lift your finger, the cursor runs away, but after 3 seconds or so, recognises the new center of weight.

I think it could be resolved by making the time-it-takes-to-center longer. I guess it would be possible only if its in the alps, not the software.
It's mostly annoying , when your using precision tools in gimp.

[TwiceOver]

I have a Toshiba A15 laptop with an Alps touchpad. I followed this instruction and everything seemed to go well. However the right-edge scrolling doesn't work. I think I may have done something wrong in the xorg.conf portion. I did change the "MaxTapTime" to 0 but that didn't help.

What I am wondering is was I supposed to REPLACE the device section in the xorg.conf with the information from the README.alps or just ADD the information? I tried to replace the synaptics device information in xorg.conf with the new input device information in the README.alps file and on reboot x-term failed and dumped me into the prompt. When I just add the information to the xorg.conf everything boots fine.

I can live without the scrolling, at this point it is just force of habit from using it in Windows for the last year. Any help greatly appreciated.

[dontodd]

The alps patch fails on the 2.6.12 kernel source (Breezy). Any ideas?

Thanks!

[ptepper]

For anyone using 5.10 Breezy and searching for answers on this, you should stop reading this thread, I've gone through all these steps, they don't work, but they will take you a long time to get through. Instead, proceed here immediately:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=76585

This worked for me and it's real quick. Make sure you actually reboot when it says to, just restarting X didn't work for me.

-paul

(thanks to Chad Glendenin for pointing me to it)