Ubuntu Headache

August 3, 2006 3:35 PM

So I installed Ubuntu on my HP Pavilion zv5000 AMD64 laptop and don't have a clue what I am doing. This may have been a horrible mistake, but I am semi-determined to make it work. My efforts to be functional are being completely hampered by a problem with my touchpad.

I asked this question on the ubuntuforums beginner's section without much help. I was originally having problems with the "tap to click" feature for touchpads. It was much too sensitive. So I installed a new driver that was supposed to help by doing this. Now every time I drag my finger across my touchpad I end up moving about 1 inch on the screen.

I have also downloaded this driver but haven't a clue how to install it using the "Synaptic Package Manager" or if I should even try to.
Can anyone help me get the touchpad to work so I can get to working on my wireless card!! Thank you to anyone who replies!

posted by aburd to computers & internet (19 comments total)

Synaptic is not useful for installing packages you've already downloaded; generally, this is a bad idea for a beginner anyway. It's too easy to screw up your system (been there).
(incidentally, Synaptic the package manager has nothing at all to do with Synaptics the touchpad manufacturer, it's just a coincidence).

You can configure mouse sensitivity by going to System [on the top bar]->Preferences->Mouse->Motion. Also, see if tpconfig works (use Synaptic's search function to look for it, then install it.)
posted by nasreddin at 4:01 PM on August 3, 2006

Sometimes, we get so wrapped up in a small problem, we get sidetracked. There may be a solution ready to hand for your problem, that someone else has worked up, but it may take longer than you hope to surface, and so you have to have some patience, and an alternate plan. Since I don't have your touchpad solution (but expect it is going to involve editing your x.conf files), let me offer an alternate plan.

Plan A: Read the HardwareSupportMachinsLaptopsHewlettPackard- Ubuntu Wiki entries for ideas. As there are several entries for touchpad issues, I'll move on the plan B:

Plan B: Get a USB trackball or mouse, with known Ubuntu kernel support. It's cheap, it's usable, and it eliminates GUI frustration while you move on to setting up wireless networking, and getting to know Ubuntu.
posted by paulsc at 4:03 PM on August 3, 2006

To get things back how they were before:

sudo apt-get remove xfree86-driver-synaptics
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg-input-synaptics

Re the original question you posted, this used to happen to me, and I eventually realised that I was dragging my hand ever so lightly across the touchpad without noticing.

Re installing that driver - you shouldn't need to, but for the record, what you've downloaded is a bunch of source code that needs compiling and installing by hand. Synaptic and apt-get only work on .deb packages.

This document describes how you can configure sensitivity. What you're going to have to do is either install synclient, or edit your xorg.config by hand and add FingerLow and FingerHigh as Options in the InputDevice section. I'm sorry I'm at work and don't have my laptop to hand, otherwise I'd paste the correct voodoo in here. I will do so in a few hours if no one beats me to it.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 4:11 PM on August 3, 2006

Thank you all for your help. I have uninstalled the xfree86 driver and reinstalled the xorg driver. So I can at least move the cursor even if it seems to interpret every second touching of the pad as a "click".

I tried to play with the mouse settings but that didn't do anything too noticable. Is it possible to just disable the "tap to click" feature? If that is on the synclient page, I don't think I understand how to do it.

I have installed the tpconfig program, but don't have a clue how to use it either. I keep finding instructions that say things like "just edit the /etc/hiddenawesomeness/thingyouwant file to say..." without any instructions on how to get to that file in order to edit it.

If I am hopeless please let me know...
posted by aburd at 4:26 PM on August 3, 2006

An example of a possible solution that I have no idea how to impliment is the second post of this thread.
posted by aburd at 4:30 PM on August 3, 2006

aburd, you're not hopeless, you're just caught in n00b panicland. Relax, it's just a PC with a free operating system. You're smarter, you're better looking, and people like you.

From a command prompt, you could use "find" or "locate" commands to search your drive for the file /etc/hiddenawesomeness/thingyouwant

Manpage "find" or "locate" to verify those commands are on your system, and syntax.

Use any editor to edit the files as you need. Have you met vi?
posted by paulsc at 4:51 PM on August 3, 2006

pico will probably be friendlier to him, but it's probably not installed by default. I try not to recommend vi to total noobs as it is a harsh mistress....
posted by beerbajay at 5:07 PM on August 3, 2006

OK, here's a few pointers.

First up, most config files can only be written by someone with the permissions of the root user. That's what the "sudo" command you see a lot does - it says "please execute the things on the rest of this line as though I were an administrator."

Second, you can use "gedit" to edit files. It will remind you very much of good old Notepad.

So if someone says "just edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf", what you will need to do is:

1. Find a command prompt (a "terminal"). Click on the big foot (the "gnome menu") and look for it - I think it'll be under "System tools"
2. At the prompt type:
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
3. Make changes as required, and save.

That thing you linked to:

/usr/share/doc/xorg-driver-synaptics/README.gz is a compressed text file. You can read it with "zless", which is like "less" but works on gzip compressed files.

So get yourself a command prompt, and type:
zless /usr/share/doc/xorg-driver-synaptics/README.gz

(use the page up and page down keys, hit "h" for help, hit "q" to exit)

Docs on all kinds of things are lurking in /usr/share/doc, by the way.

The poster malmjako is suggesting that you edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf, which is a file that tells your display how to behave. It pays to make a backup copy of this file, so before you make changes, tell gedit to "save as". Then if disaster strikes, and X can't start, you can log in at a command prompt, and type:

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup /etc/X11/xorg.conf
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart

to restore it and restart X.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 5:32 PM on August 3, 2006

What paulsc said: don't panic.

I found a couple of things that might help (through web browsing -- I don't have this machine.) Like paul said, you'll need an editor; in this example, I use gedit, which is installed in Ubuntu by default.

Start a terminal (it's under Applications -> System Tools -> Terminal, according to this, but I thought 6.06 moved it to Accessories)

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bkp
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

The first line makes a backup of the file you're about to change. You can undo your changes at any time with:

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bkp /etc/X11/xorg.conf

In the editor, find a section called InputDevice. Try adding this:

Option "MaxTapTime" "0"

to the other options (after the Driver line, before the EndSection line.)

Save your work, close the terminal (and save anything in any other applications and close them) and kill Gnome by hitting ctrl-alt-backspace. Log back in.

If that doesn't work try this one.

Let us know how it goes.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 5:34 PM on August 3, 2006

Lot of redundancy between me and i_am_joe's_spleen. To clarify a couple of points:

Ubuntu 6.06 doesn't have a footprint icon (that's Gnome's default and how it appears in some other distros.) It has the orange Ubuntu logo.

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart and hitting ctrl-alt-backspace do the same thing for these purposes. Take your pick.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 5:46 PM on August 3, 2006

Thank you all very, very much for the help.

I used gedit, which was very easy. I added the "MaxTapTime" "0" which didn't solve the problem. I referred back to this document, that I am Joe's spleen recommended, and added the "MaxTapMove" "0" and "MaxDoubleTapTime" "0" and now it is functioning like a dream.

Honestly, the best part of this is that the explanations on ubuntuforums no longer look like gibberish to me. Thanks for the very simple and clear help.
posted by aburd at 6:03 PM on August 3, 2006

Also, I'm marking all of you because I will most likely be referring to bits and peices of your explanations quite a lot.
posted by aburd at 6:07 PM on August 3, 2006

A big part of getting into linux is just knowing where to search for information. Once you get that down, linux is rad... since whatever you want to do, the chances are, some madman out in, like, Uzbekistan has sorted it out and posted it to the internet.
posted by ph00dz at 7:10 PM on August 3, 2006

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart and hitting ctrl-alt-backspace do the same thing for these purposes

Just to clarify: I made that suggestion for the case when xorg.conf is so screwed that X wouldn't start. Once X has died and you're at the console, sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart is a clean way to restart it. I agree that if you just want to kill X to restart after a change ctrl-alt-backspace is far easier.

Note to newbs: if you bail out of X with ctrl-alt-backspace, all running X programs are going to die with it. So don't expect unsaved files etc to be ok.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 8:04 PM on August 3, 2006

Ubuntu Absolute Beginners Talk - Blog for Ubuntu newbies. Go back through the archives for some useful background.

UbuntuGuide - more complicated but no more so than the commands you typed in today. Contains a load of useful, practical information.
posted by blag at 8:04 PM on August 3, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

aburd, if you found we we said helpful, please go back to the ubuntu forums and add a post describing how you fixed things, maybe with a link back to this askMe post. Then the next person trying to solve this problem might have an easier time.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 8:06 PM on August 3, 2006

Shit, how did I forget Automatix?
posted by blag at 8:06 PM on August 3, 2006

aburd, if you found we we said helpful, please go back to the ubuntu forums and add a post describing how you fixed things, maybe with a link back to this askMe post.

Good idea!
posted by aburd at 8:13 AM on August 4, 2006

Pico is, in fact, not installed by default, but it's aliased to Nano, which is.
posted by hoborg at 3:36 PM on August 4, 2006