Macbook touchpad cursor moving "in steps"

[dman777]

Xorg 1.5 and greater no longer depends on Xorg.conf. (well, unless you use nvidia but still...for touch pad Xorg uses HAL). What you need to do is this:
Install Xorg 1.5 or greater
Install Synaptics Xfree86 driver
Run nvidia-xconfig to get a fresh xorg.conf
Go into xorg.conf and TAKE out any statement with INPUT...this would be the Section "InputDevice" and in the 2 inputdevices in the Section "Server".
Then copy the Synaptics template setting from /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/ to /etc/hal/fdi/policy/. Edit the file to your likeings.

Restart Hal and X and you'll be good to go!

NOTE: I don't know about appletouch(or whatever) driver, but if it's a Synaptics pad then just use Synaptics driver.

[tiagobt]

I tried the steps you mentioned, getting the following results:

Install Xorg 1.5 or greater

Ubuntu comes with Xorg 1.6.0, so there was nothing to install.

Install Synaptics Xfree86 driver

Ubuntu comes with Synaptics 0.99.3, so there was nothing to install.

Run nvidia-xconfig to get a fresh xorg.conf

I have a MacBook 2,1, which uses Intel GMA 950 for graphics. Therefore, the application nvidia-xconfig is not installed. Should I install it anyway?

Go into xorg.conf and TAKE out any statement with INPUT...this would be the Section "InputDevice" and in the 2 inputdevices in the Section "Server".

My xorg.conf has no input statements, as you can see below:

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier	"Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Default Screen"
	Monitor		"Configured Monitor"
	Device		"Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Then copy the Synaptics template setting from /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/ to /etc/hal/fdi/policy/. Edit the file to your likeings.

I was a little confused about this step. There are two folders inside /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy: 10osvendor (several FDI files for different hardware) and 20thirdparty (files 10-wacom.fdi and 11-x11-synaptics.fdi). And there are two files inside /etc/hal/fdi/policy: appletouch.fdi (my touchpad custom settings) and preferences.fdi. What files should I copy? Where should I place them?

Thanks for the help,
Tiago

[dman777]

First thing is remember that we are going to try and abandon the appletouch software all together and just use the Xfree version of Synatpics drivers.(You still get multi touch).

I think the root of your problem is the Synaptics driver. There are 2 kinds: 1) open source and closed source. Use the open source one- xf86-input-synaptics.

In addition, in your kernel make sure evdev support is enabled. I would suggest, as we are problem shooting... to disable the appletouch pad driver. Why use this if we are going to use the Xfree Synaptics one instead? Also, remember...any driver built into the kernel will trump any external loaded driver. Although this may not matter to much since Xorg is useing the Synaptics driver only...not the system. Still, we're trouble shooting. I'll let it be your call. But I suspect the kernel appletouch driver could could be interfering.

See if these things work. If not try this in addditon:

Ok, I thought you had a nvidia card. In this case, try renameing your xorg.conf to something like xorg.conf_NoUse. In otherwards, lets try to see if we can get away without using xorg.conf.

HAL uses both /usr/share/hal/fdi/10osvendor and /etc/had/fdi/policy. Basically, ether or can be used. But whatever is in the later directory takes precedence of whatever is in the earlier directory. So use /etc/hal/fdi/policy. Also, when you up date Hal the config file in /etc/hal/fdi/policy will not get written over.

There should be a config file in /usr/share/hal/fdi/10osvendor/11-x11-synaptics.fdi. copy that over to the /etc/hal/fdi/policy/11-x11-synaptics.fdi. Then edit it and uncomment what you want to be activated. Rename any appletouch files in /etc/hal/fdi/policy to something so they won't get used. When ever you are done editing a HAL fdi file you have to restart HAL and X.

[cyberdork33]

appletouch and synaptics are not the same thing. you cannot trade one for the other.

appletouch is the kernel driver for older mac touchpads. it is the part of the code that make your hardware actually do something. The hardware that uses this driver (and this is the only driver for linux for them) is not "multitouch". This does not mean you cannot do actions with more than one finger, it means that the hardware is incapable on independently tracking multiple touches on the pad at once. You can still two-finger scroll, two-finger tap, etc, just like on older PC touchpads. On newer Mac touchpads, this driver is replaced by the bcm5974 driver and they are true"multitouch" touchpads capable of tracking several (11?) different touches at once. This hardware is what allows some of the more cool gestures like rotation, and zoom.

now then, the Xorg driver that turns the data from the kernel drivers into something useful that you can do on the screen is the synaptics driver. This is the driver that translates: "two fingers moving vertically" to "scroll the active window vertically". It is the same driver that you would use for both of the hardware types mentioned above.

[dman777]

This is issue does not exists on PC's, so is the issue from the xorg synaptics driver interacting with the kernel appletouch driver?

Also, is Macbook touchpad made by Synaptics? If so, then can kernel appletouch driver be bypassed and a pc synaptics driver be used? Logic being, if trackpad is made by the synaptics then there shouldn't be much diff. between the hardware.

[cyberdork33]

This is issue does not exists on PC's, so is the issue from the xorg synaptics driver interacting with the kernel appletouch driver?

I would guess it is a bug with using the appletouch driver with specific hardware.

Also, is Macbook touchpad made by Synaptics? If so, then can kernel appletouch driver be bypassed and a pc synaptics driver be used? Logic being, if trackpad is made by the synaptics then there shouldn't be much diff. between the hardware.

I am not sure who makes them. The newer ones are controlled with a broadcom chip. However, even if it was made by synaptics, Apple likely has their own software interface for it that is unique.

[thecheeks]

Finally got the trackpad with better sensitivity settings, however I am too having the 'movement step' problems too. Makes it hard to hit a radio button or click something specific since it'll literally jump to the side rather than diagonal movements.

[NoBugs!]

I think this may be a hardware problem.
If you start up holding alt/option, the boot select screen has the same cursor jumping problem, and no operating system is started yet.
It seems both Mac os and Ubuntu 9.04 minimize the jumping mouse cursor through their builtin software drivers.

[tiagobt]

I think this may be a hardware problem.
If you start up holding alt/option, the boot select screen has the same cursor jumping problem, and no operating system is started yet.
It seems both Mac os and Ubuntu 9.04 minimize the jumping mouse cursor through their builtin software drivers.

Interesting. The problem is very evident in this screen. Do you know what trackpad driver is loaded when you boot holding alt/option? If this is indeed a hardware issue, then Mac OS X seems to do a very good job in minimizing the problem. Maybe there's some chance of improvement in appletouch as well.

[tiagobt]

Do you think I should I file a bug for appletouch? Where should I report the bug?