Driver for synaptics touchpad

[seaken]

Is there a way to install a driver for my touchpad? The VASM does not have a choice for touchpad - only USB, etc. I have a synaptics touchpad and want to turn off the tap-to-click feature. But when I go to xorg.conf the synaptics driver is not being used.

I don't know how to add a driver in Vector. I have seen references to a synaptics driver. Is it compatible with Vector SOHO 5.8?

Thanks,
Sean

[bigpaws]

This may help:

http://www.beranger.org/index.php?page=3k&article=2854

http://red.caek.org/slack-dv6258se.html#synaptics

http://www.linuxpackages.net/pkg_details.php?id=9835

Bigpaws

[seaken]

I was able to successfully install the driver and the touchpad is working. I disabled the tapping. Thanks for the help.

Unfortunately, while the touchpad does work, it does not work well. It is choppy and sometimes goes wild. At least the accidental tap-clicks are gone. I thought I found a solution in Ksynaptics. I found a package at a mirror site. I used Gslapt to install it. I thought I was so clever, having been thoroughly confused about how to "install"  stuff in Linux. So, the good news is that I am starting to figure out how to use Gslapt. But the bad news is that the Ksynaptics package does not work. In fact, it disabled the touchpad altogether.

When the Vector GUI sign-on screen comes up, it works. I am able to move the cursor with the touchpad normally. But after KDE starts up the touchpad is dead. So, apparently this version of Ksynaptics is not compatible with VL5.8SOHO.

I found it at http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/vectorlinux.com/veclinux-5.0/packages/.

That site is obviously for VL5.0, not VL5.8.

My question is this: Is there a current package for KDE on VL5.8 SOHO that I can use to configure this synaptics touchpad? I searched on keywords "synaptic", "synaptics", "touchpad" and got nothing. Does that mean that VL packages are not available for Ksynaptics anymore?

Is there a Slackware 11.0 package that will work? I'm still shakey with installing stuff but I am willing to learn. Once I get this touchpad thing worked out I think I will have found my way to the best OS, Vector Linux.

Thanks for the help,
Sean

[emi]

>My question is this: Is there a current package for KDE on VL5.8 SOHO
>that I can use to configure this synaptics touchpad?

Have you tried using synclient, the command line configuration utility that comes with the driver? You can use it to test out various configurations before writing them to xorg.conf.

[seaken]

>My question is this: Is there a current package for KDE on VL5.8 SOHO
>that I can use to configure this synaptics touchpad?

Have you tried using synclient, the command line configuration utility that comes with the driver? You can use it to test out various configurations before writing them to xorg.conf.

Thank you. No, I hadn't tried it. I did not know it existed.  This is one of the problems with many linux programs. The documentation is either absent or cryptic. I have yet to find a manual for this program that explains what each of these settings does. I guess it is intended that we experiment. Which is fine. But sometimes I just want to get stuff done without the long experimental process. I suppose things would be better in this respect if the manufacturer of the hardware supported more operating systems. I know it's not the fault of linux developers.

Anyway, thanks for the lead. I will try to play with this program and see what happens. I'm still not sure how to actually change a setting but I suppose I will figure it out. In the meantime I will use the USB mouse. This synaptic touchpad bug is the only thing holding me back from enjoying Vector to the fullest. If and when I figure it out I'll be sure to post the solution for future newbies. For now, synaptics touchpads are problematic.

Sean