KDE and Touchpad

[NotoriousREV]

Under Gnome, my touchpad works fine but under KDE I don't seem to have any touchpad options, specifically I want use use the "Enable mouse clicks with touchpad" option. Any ideas? Thanks.

[bbfuller]

Hello NotoriousREV

Yes, it's a problem with KDE.

Personally, I do this:

Copythe file:

/usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/20thirdparty/10-synaptics.fdi

into "/etc/hal/fdi/policy:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

<!-- DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE IN PLACE.
     This file will be overwritten with the next update. If you need to add
     custom options, copy the file into /etc/hal/fdi/policy/ first. 
     
     See https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Input_device_configuration -->

<deviceinfo version="0.2">
  <device>
    <match key="info.capabilities" contains="input.touchpad">
        <!-- To add custom options for the touchpad, modify the examples below
             to suit your needs. The available options are listed in the
             "synaptics" man page. After modifyfing this file, you must
             restart HAL. Check the output of lshal whether your modifications
             have been merged successfully.

             Note: Options must always be type "string".
             The following examples enable left, right, middle clicks on
             single, double, triple finger tapping, respectively.

             <merge key="input.x11_options.TapButton1" type="string">1</merge>
             <merge key="input.x11_options.TapButton2" type="string">2</merge>
             <merge key="input.x11_options.TapButton3" type="string">3</merge>
        -->
	<merge key="input.x11_driver" type="string">synaptics</merge>
	<merge key="input.x11_options.TapButton1" type="string">1</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.TapButton2" type="string">2</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.TapButton3" type="string">3</merge>
    </match>
  </device>
</deviceinfo>

Add the lines coloured red and reboot. Incidentally, they need to be in that exact place in the file.

That should fix it.

There are other options available for scrolling and indeed, some Alps touchpads need other configuration options.

Post back if you want to discuss those.

[NotoriousREV]

Thanks bbfuller! I'll give it a go and let you know how it goes. I'm having wireless network problems so don't want to reboot right now

[NotoriousREV]

That worked perfectly, thank you!

[jaybone]

Thanks bbfuller, this fixed the problem I was having with my touch pad not responding to being tapped. Everything else was working (double finger scroll and cursor) before but the left-click "tap" was not responding. Now everything works properly.

[Tigrrr]

Does this work for XFCE too?

[bbfuller]

Hello Tigrrr

I'm sure that it makes the changes available whichever desktop you use, though I haven't actually tried it.

I would make sure that you are comfortable with the idea of reversing the changes from the command line just in case it caused a problem though.

[Tigrrr]

Tried it, works like a charm! AWESOME, thanks!!!

[CDzhao]

Hello bbfuller,
Could you share your options for scrolling? That is very useful.

[bbfuller]

Hello CDzhao

Welcome to the forum.

The parameter for scrolling is:

VertEdgeScroll

So the line to add to the merge options above is:

<merge key="input.x11_options.VertEdgeScroll" type="string">True</merge>

There is a similar command:

HorizEdgeScroll

I've an OpenOffice document here that lists about 30 or 40 various options.

If you want a copy I'll post it as an attachment.

[CDzhao]

Hi bbfuller,
Thanks a lot for your feedback.
That would be great if you post the attachment here.

[bbfuller]

Hello CDzhao

Here's the document.

I've saved it as plain text which has messed up the formatting a bit, but I think it's still readable.

Do be aware, I've not tried may of these parameters. I just came across the document when I was looking for a way to enable vertical scrolling.

Advice as always is to make sure you can edit any changes you make out of the file from the command line if X fails to start.

[CDzhao]

Hello bbfuller,
Thank you for your advice.

[AlexDudko]

Nice work! This will also enable tapping in login screen in both kde and gnome.