With xorg-server-1.8 and udev-setup, the synaptics driver isn't used when both evdev and synaptics are installed. So all the fancy touchpad features are unusable. Solution: Install a file with appropriate options to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d. Could be a 10-synaptics.conf with the following content: Section "InputClass" Identifier "touchpad catchall" MatchIsTouchpad "on" MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*" Driver "synaptics" EndSection (this is taken from debian)
Egh... I really would rather shove all those files in /usr/share/doc or elsewhere and properly document how to set things up. We already have a catch-all rule for evdev, so touchpads will still work. But that's just me, feel free to convince me otherwise :) Cheers
at least add a comment to the elog/einfo stating what needs to be added to get it to work " normally " .. I've been very used to it "just working" for so long now that this "change" becomes an irritant.
oh yes and adding the above suggested file works and all is happy in synaptic land..:)
Rémi, using evdev for touchpads is more a workaround than anything working. It "works" in sense of it can be used to move the pointer and press the buttons, but it's just not using the normal features a touchpad has. It's been a great improvement to X being able to select the correct driver with hal and we shouldn't go with less in a post-hal Gentoo. Or in other words: The user just "doing no special configuration" should get the best defaults possible.
I was about to raise the same bug when I came across this one. Though I was going to suggest including /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-synaptics.conf with the x11-drivers/xf86-input-synaptics package. That way, if you don't install the synaptics package you still get a working touchpad via evdev. But, if you do install the synaptics package it will install that config, which overrides the fall-back evdev rule as it's numbered higher.
(In reply to comment #1) > We already have a catch-all rule for evdev, so touchpads will still work. "work" is an overstatement. it took me about 30 seconds to click the add to CC checkbox because even the slightest touch sends the cursor careening across the screen. add to that the loss of scrolling and other features, this is a huge regression.
(In reply to comment #6) > "work" is an overstatement. it took me about 30 seconds to click the add to CC > checkbox because even the slightest touch sends the cursor careening across the > screen. add to that the loss of scrolling and other features, this is a huge > regression. This is very much hardware-dependent. My own touchpad works fine with evdev and the old mouse driver (in fact, I don't even use synaptics on a regular basis, just when doing bumps). Anyhow, like I said, this is my own opinion and I'm not really 100% sure which way to go. It seems that more people want things to work out of the box. Since X is being easier to set up as time goes by, maybe doing this is the right thing... I'll give it some more thought. :) Cheers
Just to note, evdev is pretty unusable on my Samsung Q45 laptop too. The sensitivity is far too high and I can move the cursor with my finger being a full centimetre above the trackpad (which in many ways is pretty cool!). I've tried to find some way to restrict the rule to only affect Synaptic trackpads by using the MatchVendor/MatchProduct. However I've no idea what data X is using to match. I've tried the vendor ID from my trackpad and the exact name string, but neither work.
+*xf86-input-synaptics-1.2.2-r1 (21 Apr 2010) + + 21 Apr 2010; <chainsaw@gentoo.org> +files/1.2.2-xorg-inputclass, + +xf86-input-synaptics-1.2.2-r1.ebuild: + Install an X.Org 1.8 InputClass policy control file to actually use the + driver we installed. With thanks to Hanno Boeck & Stephen "steve" + Klimaszewski, closes bug #314989.
