Debian Touchpad Help...

[FireSBurnsmuP]

I just got into Debian Linux. I installed etch on my lappy, and I cannot get the sensitivity of the mouse pointer to go up. What file do I need to edit, and how, to put the sensitivity up?

I have an ALPS pointer device, on a Compaq pressy r3k. I am now running Debian 'etch' b3.

Any help you can give me would be appreciated, I just got into Linux.

[John A]

Go into the Control Center (Gnome/KDE), and under "Peripherals" choose "Mouse", and you will be able to set the mouse/trackpad sensitivity under there.

This link describes how to change the speed of the mouse/trackpad in X:
http://linuxreviews.org/howtos/xfree/mouse_speed_in_x/

Hope this helps

[FireSBurnsmuP]

Uhm... the prefs one doesn't work, I tried that first thing, and I can't get that site to work.

You mentioned X, that's terminal based, right? Because I really need to learn that kind of stuff if I'm going to use Linux ^_^U

[sn4rf3r]

X is your GUI base, you running gnome/kde on top of X. You can fire X up by typing startx in the shell, if your system defaults to a GUI login then X and your desktop env are already running. Try clicking on System->Preferences->Mouse

that site worked fine for me...

[FireSBurnsmuP]

Whenever I try to go to the site it sits there, loading, for like 15 minutes. I usually just close it down.

And the mouse prefs have my mouse sensitivity and acceleration all the way up. The touchpad is the problem; if I plug in a USB mouse, it goes Uber-fast. However, on the touchpad I move my finger farther than the mouse moves on the screen.

[John A]

Whenever I try to go to the site it sits there, loading, for like 15 minutes. I usually just close it down.

Here it is.

1. Changing the mouse speed on the fly using xset

The syntax for setting the mouse acceleration and threshold using xset is xset m acceleration threshold The first argument, "acceleration", is a multiplier number that defines how many times faster than the standard speed the cursor will move. Try numbers between 2 and 5, setting a high multiplier like 9 makes the mouse movements very jerky and jumpy. This does not need to be a whole number, you can use 1/2 to get half the standard speed or 5/2 (=2.5) if 2 is too slow and 3 is too fast.
The second argument, threshold, defines how many pixels the mouse must move in a short period of time before the acceleration setting is used. Using a threshold of 1, as in xset m 5 1 , disables this and gives you the same mouse speed at all times. Setting xset m 5 10 requires the mouse the move to move 10 pixels before the pointer is accelerated.
'xset m 5 1' is known to be a good setting. xset m default returns the standard setting.

• xset manual page

Add xset to ~/.xinitrc to get your desired mouse speed when X starts.
2. Setting the mouse speed in XF86Config

The mouse is configured in the file X config file XF86Config ('/etc/X11/XF86Config' or '/etc/X11/XF86Config-4').
Find the section named "InputDevice":

Section "InputDevice"
           Identifier  "Mouse0"
   Driver      "mouse"
           Option      "Protocol" "imps/2"
           Option      "Device" "/dev/mouse"
           Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
           Option      "Resolution" "500"
   EndSection

The Resolution option will set the mouse device resolution to N counts per inch. Not all mice and OS support this option, and this forces this setting on all users. USB mouse generally do not support setting the mouse speed this way.

[FireSBurnsmuP]

alrighty, let's give it a shot. Thanks again.

Just in case this doesn't work, Isn't there some way to get the drivers? does ndiswrapper work for any kind of driver?

[John A]

Isn't there some way to get the drivers?

The most important thing is that you find out the brand/model of your trackpad. Once you know this, driver information and hacks for making it work on Linux are easy to find. Google is your friend.

does ndiswrapper work for any kind of driver?

Although ndiswrapper is intended for wireless network cards, other devices are known to work: e.g., USB to serial port device, ethernet card, home phone network device etc. See Wiki entry List for devices known to work.

[FireSBurnsmuP]

alright, thanks. I'll take a look-see