Erratic Touch Pad on Sony Vaio

[MatthewSchenker]

Hello,
I have Kubuntu running full time on my Sony Vaio VGN FS980. Yes, Windows is gone!!I

Everything works great, except one thing -- the touch pad (Synaptic).

I'm experiencing odd behavior from my touch pad. As I moving the pointer, it often selects things on its own, sometimes starting applications or making menu choices I don't want. It can be a real hassle!

I searched the Adept repository and installed the "Touch Pad" application, but I got some weird error about shared memory and needing to add a line of code to something. Then the message went away, so I have no idea what I'm supposed to do.

Anyone know how to fix this problem?

Thanks,
Matt

[SheeEttin]

Re: Erratic Touch Pad on Sony Vaio

Try installing the "ksynaptics" package. This is a GUI for touchpad configuration.

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: Erratic Touch Pad on Sony Vaio

Try installing the "ksynaptics" package. This is a GUI for touchpad configuration.

OK, thanks for the suggestion. I'll give it a try and report back here.
Matt

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: Erratic Touch Pad on Sony Vaio

I installed the KSynaptics application. Adept reported a successful installation.

Then, I went into System Settings > Keyboard & Mouse.

I get the following error box:
Touch pad configuration inaccessible - System
Shared memory is not accessible
Please add the option 'SHMConfig "on"' into the touch
pad section of /etc/X11/Xorg.conf

Can someone tell me how to interpret this? I'm still not very good with these kinds of errors.

Thanks,
Matt

[SheeEttin]

Re: Erratic Touch Pad on Sony Vaio

Back up /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
Now we need to edit it: "kdesu kate /etc/X11/xorg.conf". Find the touchpad section (shouldn't be too hard), and add the line 'Option "ShmConfig" "on"' somewhere in there.

If you get lost, just attach your xorg.conf and I'll take a look.

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: Erratic Touch Pad on Sony Vaio

SheeEttiin,
Thanks for explaining that to me. I had not edited code like that before (my first time using Kate). Now I know how to do it and it makes sense.

OK, here's the section I edited:
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "0"
Option "ShmConfig" "on"
EndSection


The last line is the one I added.

I'm getting an error, however. Kate is telling me I don't have write access when I try to save the file. I'll need to figure that out next.

For now, I saved a copy of the edited file, and I'll use it to replace the real one as soon as I confirm that my edits are correct, and figure out how to get write access!

Thanks,
Matt

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: Erratic Touch Pad on Sony Vaio

OK, I figured out the problem with write access. I opened Kate from the Utilities menu instead of going through the Konsole.

Should have listened to SheeEttin when he said this:

... "kdesu kate /etc/X11/xorg.conf".

I thought it would be the same thing entering Kate from the Utilities menu. Now I know it's not the same!

I have now successfully edited my Xorg.conf file, and my touch pad configuration works! I'm very happy.

Always learning!

Thanks for all the help,
Matt

[SheeEttin]

Re: Erratic Touch Pad on Sony Vaio

Glad to be of service.

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: Erratic Touch Pad on Sony Vaio

I have the KSynaptics application running now, and it helps a lot. I was getting all kinds of unintentional "taps" before. I turned tapping off, and the touch pad works great now.
I'm learning fast that the Kubuntu community always has an answer!
Thanks again,
Matt

[Snowhog]

Re: Erratic Touch Pad on Sony Vaio

You can, if you desire (I did), create additional K Menu entries that are set to run applications as root. A picture is worth a few words, so....

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: Erratic Touch Pad on Sony Vaio

Now that I have my touch pad working properly and was able to turn the annoying "tapping" off, I have one other quick queston:

Does anyone know how to accelerate the movement of the pointer? How can I make it so the pointer moves more rapidly when dragging my finger across the touch pad?

I don't see an option for this in the KSyanptics menus.

Thanks for all the great help! This community is wonderful.

Matt

[MatthewSchenker]

Re: Erratic Touch Pad on Sony Vaio

I hate to bring a topic that seemed solved back up again, however...

My touch pad has tapping disabled (disabled in the touch pad configuration screen in System Settings). But I notice that at certain times (like when I'm doing a sensitive set of operations in some configuration screen) it goes on again!

This can cause some problems, as buttons get pushed and lines get selected and dragged unpredictably.

Is anyone having the same problem with their Synaptic touchpad? Can someone tell me how to once and for all disable tapping?

Thanks,
Matthew