Synaptics Touchpad - PC-BSD Forums

emmex · #1 11-09-2012, 07:56 PM

An usable touchpad with scroll regions is essential for laptop usage and I have found a solution that, hopefully, can be applied to many laptop models.

I am writing this thread because I take 9 months for finding this simple solution for my laptop, but now the Synaptics touchpad in my Compaq Presario works as in Windows :-)

Note that the information in the FreeBSD wiki (http://wiki.freebsd.org/SynapticsTouchpad) is outdated.

1) Install the x11-drivers/xf86-input-synaptics. My laptop need version 1.5.0.

2) Enable the driver, adding this line in /boot/loader.conf

Code:

hw.psm.synaptics_support="1"

.

3) Disable moused as it conflicts with the Xorg synaptic driver. In /etc/rc.conf put or change the line
moused_enable="NO".

4) In /etc/X11/xorg.conf, add

In Section "ServerLayout"

Code:

InputDevice "Synaptics_Touchpad" "AlwaysCore"

In Section "Module"

Code:

Load "synaptics"

The next session depends on the hardware, for the Compaq Presario CQ61-408SL , I added
Section "InputDevice"

Code:

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier "Synaptics_Touchpad"
    Driver "Synaptics"
    Option "TapButton1" "1"
    Option "UseShm" "true"
    Option "SHMConfig" "on"
    Option "Protocol" "psm"
    Option "Device" "/dev/psm0"
    Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
    Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
#    Option "TapButton2" "2"
#    Option "TapButton3" "3"
#    Option "FingerLow" "26"
#    Option "FingerHigh" "51"
#    Option "FingerPress" "254"
#    Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "1"
    Option "MinSpeed" "0.5"
    Option "MaxSpeed" "1"
#    Option "RTCornerButton" "2"
#    Option "RBCornerButton" "3"
    Option "RightEdge" "5300"
    Option "AccelFactor" "0.03"
EndSection

For a Thinkpad 410s you can see this thread in the FreeBSD forum, where I grab the idea for this one. Thanks again ctaranotte.

I hope that someone else put his/her Xorg.conf here so the installation of this touchpad can be simpler for the new PC-BSD users.

For debugging the Synaptics touchpad I have used the synclient command:

Code:

synclient -m 50

that will monitor the touchpad state every 50 ms and output the changes.

emmex · #2 11-09-2012, 08:01 PM

This info in for my laptop.

I use only vertical scroll and I need a bigger scroll area for my big fingers:
above in /etc/X11/xorg.conf the line

Code:

Option "RightEdge" "5300"

move the right margin on the left.
In /etc/sysctl.conf I added this line

Code:

hw.psm.synaptics.margin_right=10

(default is 200) so I can scroll near the touchpad right border.

mariostg · #3 Yesterday, 10:30 PM

I used that exact same setting as described in post #1 for my Acer Aspire One netbook and that worked fine. It would require some tuning but with all the issues there seem to be with server syncs I flushed my fresh install for now. Maybe I will come back later.