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**DoYouKubuntu** · Nov 27, 2011, 09:42 PM

Re: random freezes, touchpad, and all that

Originally posted by ptoche

I don't know why, but I just did a clean install of 11.10... 10.4 was working like a charm, why did I do that?!

I don't know--but I know you're not alone! I recently let the 'version upgrade' thing run on my [now old] laptop, taking it from Kubuntu 10.10 to 11.04, and I immediately regretted it. Lots of problems--wireless not working, sloooooooooooow as molasses plodding through things, just a mess. I "solved" my problem by wiping / and reinstalling 10.10.

If I mispelled rekonq, please don't blame me, what kind of name is that?

I don't actually KNOW this, but I've assumed all along that it's supposed to mean "Konqueror, re-done" or "Konqueror, redux" or something similar, hence "reKonq."

Sorry I can't actually help you, but I'm not running 11.10 on any of my computers (11.04 is the highest I'm using).

**ptoche** · Nov 27, 2011, 11:31 PM

Re: random freezes, touchpad, and all that

Hi! crazy isn't it... my wife says she's never ever updated any of her machines and never had a problem ...

So far today, no freeze, amazing considering that yesterday it would freeze every 2 minutes, on average, barely enough time for me to try to change the grub or synaptics settings. So no freeze.

But a very jumpy cursor. None of my 10.04 options are working as they used to.

So a little while ago I did this:

sudo -i
echo options psmouse proto=exps > /etc/modprobe.d/psmouse.modprobe

I don't know why I did it, but it seemed like a good idea. Lots of people with the HP mini are doing it. I have an HP-DV6 so who knows maybe the touchpad is similar...

And the news is that on reboot I got a message saying that my touchpad was not recognized or not installed (something like that, don't recall verbatim), but then the good news is that the right-click and left-click work again.

Any thoughts?

In case you ask,
cat /etc/modprobe.d/psmouse.modprobe
returns "options psmouse proto=exps"

I don't know what it all means...

**DoYouKubuntu** · Nov 28, 2011, 12:11 AM

Re: random freezes, touchpad, and all that

Originally posted by ptoche

Hi! crazy isn't it... my wife says she's never ever updated any of her machines and never had a problem ...

Yeah, I still have 9.04 running on my mother's computer and she's perfectly happy with it--and that saves me the effort of upgrading her!

So a little while ago I did this:

sudo -i
echo options psmouse proto=exps > /etc/modprobe.d/psmouse.modprobe

I don't know why I did it, but it seemed like a good idea. Lots of people with the HP mini are doing it. I have an HP-DV6 so who knows maybe the touchpad is similar...

Interesting. My old laptop is an HP dv6000 and my new one is an HP dv7t. I've had no issues with either one as far as their touchpads go--but I actually use a trackball instead. I remember when I first got the dv6000, I could NOT figure out what kept happening--I'd be typing away, and then all of a sudden I'd be inserting letters in a completely different part of the page (the same phenomenon you described). I FINALLY accepted that I was inadvertently touching the touchpad, thereby causing this annoying behavior, and I got used to not letting my right hand get too close to it. (I know I could have disabled the touchpad, but every once in a blue moon I'll use it.) But other than that I've never seen the behavior you're describing. But--again--I'm not using 11.10, either!

**ptoche** · Nov 28, 2011, 05:24 PM

Re: random freezes, touchpad, and all that

@DoYouKubuntu

same here, I had no problem whatsoever with 9.04, as I had it installed on a Dell laptop with a very non-fancy touchpad. With 10.04 I spent one or two difficult weeks, but finally found a workaround, to regain control over the touchpad. Unfortunately, that workaround is not working so smoothly with 11.10. It would be very hard not to touch the touchpad, because the touchpad is huge, so either contact will be made or else some wrist problem will develop.

I've had to do real work, so I'm on another OS at the moment, but I plan to get back to Kubuntu in a couple of days.

I just had my power cable die on me. Could that have been responsible for the freezes?

Second cable to die in as many days (on another laptop), is there something wrong with the electric power supply at home!?

if anyone hears of a magic trick to control the touchpad, do drop me a line.

**SteveRiley** · Nov 28, 2011, 11:33 PM

Re: random freezes, touchpad, and all that

Have you installed the package kde-config-touchpad? It exposes some configuration settings that might help you get your unruly touchpad under control.

**ptoche** · Nov 29, 2011, 04:36 AM

Re: random freezes, touchpad, and all that

Have you installed the package kde-config-touchpad

Thanks Steve, no I haven't, all I've done so far is adding/experimenting with touchpad settings saved in the xorg.conf.d folder and processed at logon (editing the file named 50-synaptics.conf). My experience with 10.04 was that gsynaptics, touchfreeze, and all that didn't help, but this may well have changed now, so I'll give it a try. Thanks for reminding me of this.

I haven't had time yesterday and today to experiment more. It can be a time-consuming process, because if I select incorrect settings I can't even move the cursor around at all and need to boot from CD to repair, etc.. very tedious, but I should be more available tomorrow, will get back to you about kde-config-touchpad. The name sounds just right.

Unrelated matter number one: do you use a two-column explorer? can you tab back and forth with Dolphin? I used to love Krusader but it's not working at all for me now. Double Commander works well but is, well, "esthetically challenged". Any suggestions?

Unrelated matter number two: what editors do you use? I'm okay with Kate, but how do you pull down the menus with a keyboard touch? pressing ALT doesn't do it. Any suggestions there? (I have eclipse, but it's overkill most of the time, I have gedit, is that recommended?)

thanks Steve.

**SteveRiley** · Nov 30, 2011, 01:24 AM

Re: random freezes, touchpad, and all that

Originally posted by ptoche

all I've done so far is adding/experimenting with touchpad settings saved in the xorg.conf.d folder and processed at logon (editing the file named 50-synaptics.conf). My experience with 10.04 was that gsynaptics, touchfreeze, and all that didn't help, but this may well have changed now, so I'll give it a try. Thanks for reminding me of this.

Later versions of *buntu are moving away from xorg.conf. My touchpad settings are now stored in various files in ~/.config/synaptiks. I'd suggest deleting that 50-synaptics.conf file you have and instead letting the KDE package handle the configuration for you.

Originally posted by ptoche

Unrelated matter number one: do you use a two-column explorer? can you tab back and forth with Dolphin? I used to love Krusader but it's not working at all for me now. Double Commander works well but is, well, "esthetically challenged". Any suggestions?

I don't typically do a lot of file management, so I haven't had the need to explore various managers. However, just now I experimented with Dolphin's columns mode. I was able to move back and forth with just the left and right arrow keys. That's actually pretty neat, and sure beats mousing around through lengthy folder hierarchies.

Originally posted by ptoche

Unrelated matter number two: what editors do you use? I'm okay with Kate, but how do you pull down the menus with a keyboard touch? pressing ALT doesn't do it. Any suggestions there? (I have eclipse, but it's overkill most of the time, I have gedit, is that recommended?)

I use Kate. For keyboarding through menus, press [Alt] plus the underlined character...for example, [Alt]+F to pull down the File menu.

Gedit is built with Gtk+ and is for GNOME-based environments. Featurewise, I suspect it and Kate are comparable. But I guess real programmers use butterflies

**ptoche** · Nov 30, 2011, 12:56 PM

Re: random freezes, touchpad, and all that

Thanks Steve,

Later versions of *buntu are moving away from xorg.conf. My touchpad settings are now stored in various files in ~/.config/synaptiks. I'd suggest deleting that 50-synaptics.conf file you have and instead letting the KDE package handle the configuration for you.

I see, good to know that, thanks.

All this investment in xorg.conf knowledge soon to go up in smoke :-(

At this point, my touchpad is used merely as a psmouse, a consequence of typing:

Code:

sudo -i
echo options psmouse proto=exps > /etc/modprobe.d/psmouse.modprobe

All the touchpad features have been disabled --- that's not a problem for me as I only use the touchpad to move the cursor and apply a single left click (I don't use 2- or 3-finger touches or scrolling). The main problem that remains is excessive sensitivity to accidental palm touch while typing. And none of this can be controlled by the xorg.conf file now.

So to use synaptiks I'll need to reverse the changes in the psmouse.modprobe file, to turn the touchpad into a touchpad again, as well as deleting the 50-synaptics.conf file...

**ptoche** · Nov 30, 2011, 01:41 PM

Re: random freezes, touchpad, and all that

@Steve

thanks for taking the time to share your experience.

had another freeze and crash today. It happened after I disconnected the power supply. Since I've just had one of my power supply cables die on me, I wonder if the frequent crashes I had the other day were related to that cable playing up...

On the other, minor points

I experimented with Dolphin's columns mode. I was able to move back and forth with just the left and right arrow keys.

it's not working for me, very strange, I just tried it again... I use double commander and krusader as alternatives (krusader is having problems at this time though)

I use Kate. For keyboarding through menus, press [Alt] plus the underlined character...for example, [Alt]+F to pull down the File menu.

that's what I thought, well it's not working here, not with firefox either... I haven't remapped my keyboard yet (but that's one of my priorities after the touchpad), I'm using the standard Dvorak layout, I wonder what's wrong with ALT...

**ptoche** · Nov 30, 2011, 01:59 PM

Re: random freezes, touchpad, and all that

cause and effect,

I reconnected the power supply and the laptop froze and crashed, so yes this is a reproducible problem, and it makes sense now that it was being caused by a faulty power cable (now replaced), since my battery life is about 2 hours I can expect a crash every 2 hours, perfect for bathroom breaks I suppose...
for some reason, the ALT key had been tampered with in the global shortcut settings, I have no idea why, this particular oddity fixed now.

**ptoche** · Nov 30, 2011, 02:16 PM

Re: random freezes, touchpad, and all that

psmouse-based temporary workaround to jumpy cursor

until I find an elegant fix to the touchpad, disabling it and using it as a psmouse together with making the mouse very insensitive is a little bit better (but still not great),

Mouse - System Settings
pointer acceleration 20.0
pointer threshold 20 pixels
double click interval 400 msec
drag start time 2000 msec
drag start distance 20 pixels
mouse wheel scrolls by 1 line

**SteveRiley** · Dec 01, 2011, 01:12 AM

Re: random freezes, touchpad, and all that

So were you not able to get kde-config-touchpad working? It seems from your most recent post that you're still trying to adjust psmouse settings.

**ptoche** · Dec 03, 2011, 08:08 AM

Re: random freezes, touchpad, and all that

Hi Steve, thanks for your concern!

you're right, I have procrastinated a little, as I try to get real work done. The psmouse workaround is not much of a workaround in the end, still getting the undesirable jump-about behaviour about half of the time (the optimist will see it as a huge improvement).

As I write this, I'm trying to remember what I need to do, so I'm reading our exchange again, and will apply the steps immediately. But before I do so, let me make this exchange worthwhile for you:

A few days ago the charger on my backup laptop failed. No problem as I have another charger and it's only my spare, emergency laptop. Stiff upper lip. But then two days later the charger on my main laptop failed. A bit of problem this. But I do have a spare charger. Now, by the way, if I may advertise a product I have no stake in, it's the ultra-light 120w charger sold by Kensington, and it's a great, great thing to have, ultra slim and versatile as it works on any machine (it comes with adapters for all models). Okay, so I went to my favourite ebay store and found one company that sold the original HP charger (or so they claimed). I did ring HP themselves, but there was a 2 weeks wait for the charger (I'm in Hong Kong, we occasionally feel like a bit of a stranded island), so I ordered from ebay instead. The charger was here the next day. I was happy.

My happiness lasted only 5 minutes, that's the time it took for the charger to start burning, right there in my living room, nearly taking the sofa with it. So that's three chargers in about a week, see a pattern? Gosh I don't know what's causing all this, but the fear of being left without a fully functioning charger and seeing my laptop catch fire prompted me to go out and buy another laptop. I was planning to do that in the spring anyway, so I made the move a few months earlier than planned. So now I'm going to set up Kubuntu on this new laptop and the touchpad issues I'm having here with the HP-dv6 are suddenly less pressing (but you bet I'll have other issues with the new laptop...)

On an unrelated matter, I'm now using the gnome file manager (the latest krusader release, my favourite two-column manager in normal circumstances, is very, very buggy on my system, for some unknown reason; the double commander is not bad, but I couldn't make it look pretty and even worse couldn't get it to launch from the run prompt; the midnight commander was alright but not too pretty either with large fonts; the Dolphin won't let me use the tab key to navigate), it launches fast, switches columns with the tab key, and after I removed all the toolbars it wasn't so ugly (the biggest challenge was finding out that I wanted "%Y-%m-%d" in the dates display option).

**ptoche** · Dec 03, 2011, 12:05 PM

Re: random freezes, touchpad, and all that

And so 4 hours later, I can report on kde-config-touchpad.

I'm afraid it does not help in solving the main issue, which is that the touchpad does not seem to be properly set up, in addition to the erratic movements : right-clicking works like a left-click. Right-clicking works when psmouse is used instead. [EDIT: got my left and right mixed up]

Are you able to control the touchpad's regions?

According to this help page, if I understand correctly.
http://packages.ubuntu.com/natty/kde-config-touchpad
kde-config-touchpad IS synaptiks. So below I report on my attempts to use synaptiks.

As far as I can see, synaptiks opens a window with the same options that are available in Settings -> Input Devices -> Touchpad (is that because synaptiks has already taken over the system settings?)

I didn't see anything there that would allow me to visualize the touchpad's regions, which is something that might help here.

So far my best shot at controlling the touchpad is via xorg.conf, the way I used to do it in Kubuntu 10.04. It works in that it's picked up by the system and changes to it affect the touchpad's behaviour. The problem is that I do not know what numbers to select to make the touchpad works, assuming it would work with the right settings.

Below are what I think are my most important options in the xorg.conf file. The numbers for RightEdge, LeftEdge, TopEdge, BottomEdge are what I had with Kubuntu 10, but I can't remember where they come from, were they the default, did I copy them from somewhere, are they the result of some clever calculations?

Possibly relevant to my problems, are the options RTCornerButton, RBCornerButton, LTCornerButton, LBCornerButton, AreaLeftEdge, AreaRightEdge, AreaTopEdge, AreaBottomEdge.

Any idea how to select these numbers?

Code:

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier   "Synaptics Touchpad"
	Driver     "synaptics"
	Option     "SendCoreEvents"     "true"
	Option     "Device"         "/dev/psaux"
	Option     "Protocol"        "auto-dev"
    Option     "SHMConfig"        "on"     # allows configuration of touchpad with synclient, synaptiks, etc.
    Option     "LeftEdge"        "1752"    # X coordinate for left edge.
    Option     "RightEdge"       "5192"    # X coordinate for right edge #If set SpecialScrollAreaRight is ignored.
    Option     "TopEdge"        "1620"    # Y coordinate for top edge.
    Option     "BottomEdge"       "4236"    # Y coordinate for bottom edge.
    Option     "JumpyCursorThreshold"  "100"     # Set the threshold above which movement events are ignored on single-touch.
EndSection

Thanks!

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