calling all linux woodworking users......

[kityuser]

I`m having trouble with my Acer one netbook.
I`ve installed ubuntu netbook remix 9.04 and the touchpad is playing up :?

its really strange, if I "use" the touchpad whilst its booting then it works fine.

If I don't then when it boots I can only click in certain areas of the screen, I can scroll the pointer anywhere, but the clicks aren't accepted, only on the main desktop, not the toolbar at the top. Also any windows that pop up (like firefox) I can't click in.....

strange!

I think its all to do with the synpatics touchpad driver.

I`ve tried
synclient TouchpadOff=1
which turns off the mouse and
synclient TouchpadOff=0
which turns it back on, but to no avail.

If I plug a usb mouse in, when its in the "strange state", then the same thing applies..... not a hardware issue.

anyone know how to abandon the synaptic driver and use a generic one?

anyone any ideas...?

I`m getting stuck, and frustrated!

Steve

 

[MIGNAL]

Post a message on one of the Ubuntu forums. That's the only advice I can give.

 

[kityuser]

Post a message on one of the Ubuntu forums. That's the only advice I can give.

done/doing that

Steve

 

[MIGNAL]

Well if the Ubuntu lot can't help Steve then there is always the option of installing the much superior Mandriva.

 

[DeepBlue]

Sounds like something might be amiss with the synclient tool, try installing the gsynaptics tool from the package manager, then you can have a poke around in the settings.

Failing that, you're probably going to have to mess with the XOrg.conf file.

Find the section which mentions synaptics, which should look something like this:

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Synaptics Touchpad"
	Driver		"synaptics"
	Option		"SendCoreEvents"	"true"
	Option		"Device"		"/dev/psaux"
	Option		"Protocol"		"auto-dev"
	Option		"HorizScrollDelta"	"0"
	Option		"SHMConfig"		"on"
EndSection

Then try turning SHMConfig off.

Also, I *think* you can change Driver to "generic", but make sure you have a backup and a spare mouse in case this fails![/code]

 

[kityuser]

I tried all of this, yesterday :?


sadly stuff has migrated out of the XOrg.conf, nothing in there on my 9.04 install from default (to do with a mouse).

first thing I tried was gsynaptics....... no change (had to jump through hoops to enable SHMConfig first).

didn't start to poke around with the driver because as stuff has migrated out of XOrg.conf I`m not sure how.

I was going to blacklist the synaptics driver............

then I`ve seen today:

"" ************************************************

Note about touchpad in a newely-installed 9.04:

After making a fresh-install of current development version of 9.04 on 3 Mar 2009 on AspireOne model:ZG5, touchpad did not work. The fix is easy: install xserver-xorg-input-all package with the help of an external USB mouse, if it is needed.

Try first Fn-F7.


"" ***********************************************

and I`ll be trying it when I get home.
:roll:

Steve

 

[jlawrence]

Which laptop are you using it on ?
I had an oddity with my Dell XPS where I needed to add something to the kernel boot options otherwise the touchpad did some well weird things.
At the moment I'm booted into Windoze as I'm in the middle of a sketchup but when I re-boot I'll have a look at what I had to do.

 

[kityuser]

I`ve got it sorted chaps.

ended up doing a dual boot and installing xp just to check that the touchpad wasn't toast.


anyhow, after some low level debugging I came to the conclusion it was the bios layer.
So re-flashed the bios (which was a bit scary) and now we have a fully functional ubuntu netbook remix install (yay!).

just as a quick side by side comparison of xp against ubuntu 9.04 I can boot into ubuntu in about 40 seconds, xp is around 1min 45
ubuntu can shutdown in about 5 seconds, xp is around 2 mins.
Both of the above criteria are fundamental as far as I'm concerned for a netbook.

details are
acer aspire 1
1.6 gig atom
1gig ram
120 gb HD
atheros wireless
sd card reader
webcam
mic
multi card reader
no bluetooth

all for £150 off ebuyer (£100 off!!!)

bargin and Mrs KU is well chuffed now 8)

steve

 

[gasmansteve]

Interesting post Steve. A couple of years ago I was really into Linux and burnt many a midnight oil tweaking and trying to get the latest distro to work with the gear I had at the time and although I usually got there in the end I thought I`d leave it a year or two when maybe Linux would be just a little easier to install/configure but reading your post maybe its not quite there yet?.I still use XP which simply `works` and has never given me any probs at all. Reading the reviews on Ubuntu its supposed to be the dogs whatsits at the moment?. Keep thinking about having another go again.
Steve

 

[kityuser]

steve

big fan of linux as I use unix at work daily.
Used most distros, I think the netbook area with the netbook remix releases are still a bit "fresh"

been using ubuntu on an old celeron laptop for about 3 years now, xp was unuseable, ubuntu breathes new life into it!!!! and too boot full screen dvds with jitterless play back, xp stuggled to boot in less than 20 mins let alone play full screen dvds.

not so much tweaking needed these days as LOTS of drivers are packaged with the distros, give it a "livecd" try you'll not regret it.

quite a specialised problem this one, not really a fair reflection of the current state of play for a vanilla ubuntu install.

steve

 

[gasmansteve]

Well after reading up a few Linux mags about how good Ubuntu 9.04 is I got hold of a dvd and launched up the live version on my desktop which has a Buffalo usb wireless stick (which works fine on XP) and waited for it to detect the Buffalo...and waited..... well not a thing. Everything else seems ok ,graphics,sound,printer etc but no wireless maybe if I can be pineappled and fit a cable about 20ft from desktop to downstairs router it might work wired but maybe not,do I get involved again?? I can see the midnight oil getting warm again
Steve

 

[MIGNAL]

You might have to use ndiswrapper for that. You could also try Mandriva as a live CD, that may load a suitable driver but then again it may not.
Linux has come a long way in the last few years, at least as far as coming out with an OS that the avearage person can use. Then again XP (or Vista) has it's own share of driver issues.

 

[gasmansteve]

I read on some Linux forum that Live dvd`s don`t always load up wireless drivers so it seems plan B would be to do a full install where hopefully :shock: :shock: everything would work after mmmmm.
Never had to use Ndiswrapper so wouldnt know where to start with it. Thats the frustrating thing with Linux if it worked out of the box (like my experience of windows has been) everyone would be using it. I`ll suss out if I can loose stuff on my desktop for a full install if not make backups. I dont know if life is too short to get on the Linux wagon again :wink: .
Cheers
Steve

 

[seanybaby]

Thats the frustrating thing with Linux if it worked out of the box

It does generally work out of the box! Having over 20,000 possible software choices available through repositories enables you to have so many different 'out of the box' situations. And these are FREE!

Does microsoft offer you 20,000 pieces of software for free?

 

[gasmansteve]

And these are FREE! Does microsoft offer you 20,000 pieces of software for free?

Hi Sean
I`m not anti Linux far from it neither am I very pro windows and I applaud all the open source guys for the time and effort they put in and long may they continue. Like I said the problem I had a few years back was the configuring and other stuff, maybe I had some rubbish gear at the time :wink: .
If I put the time in like I used to then I wouldn`t have time for woodturning :? .
Cheers
Steve

 

[seanybaby]

If I put the time in like I used to then I wouldn`t have time for woodturning :?

I know what you mean computers and configuring them can be a right pipper at times :lol: I lost last Sunday trying to get gcaldaemon to update my google calendar. 7 hours later and still not working :evil:

 

[MIGNAL]

And these are FREE! Does microsoft offer you 20,000 pieces of software for free?

Hi Sean
I`m not anti Linux far from it neither am I very pro windows and I applaud all the open source guys for the time and effort they put in and long may they continue. Like I said the problem I had a few years back was the configuring and other stuff, maybe I had some rubbish gear at the time :wink: .
If I put the time in like I used to then I wouldn`t have time for woodturning :? .
Cheers
Steve

Not the gear. Some hardware manufacturers support Linux but many do not. It's the ones that put the blocks in place that cause the real problems and there's not a lot open source can do about it. Microsoft doesn't face the same problem,manufacturers aren't going to stop their equipment running on windowz - for obvious reasons.
Ubuntu and Mandriva are from different 'camps'. Sometimes one of the distros will work 'out of the box' whilst the other may fail to load a driver - it's all dependent on the type of equipment. That's why it's sometimes worth trying the other Distro, to see if it solves the problem and burning another live CD is hardly a huge expense.
A big time saver (if I hit a problem with Linux) is to simply post on the relevant messageboard - someone usually pops along and solves it.

 

[gasmansteve]

Hi all
Afraid I have to eat a very large slice of humble pie. Apparantly when using the Ubuntu live cd I had to `enable` the wireless side Doh!!!
I took the plunge and installed Ubuntu 9.04 along side my XP and I must say it Rocks :lol: :lol: .
Everything recognised with a full install and very pleased with the new Gnome desktop although not tried the KDE one yet. Converted back to Linux again.
Cheers
Steve

 

[kityuser]

Hi all
Afraid I have to eat a very large slice of humble pie. Apparantly when using the Ubuntu live cd I had to `enable` the wireless side Doh!!!
I took the plunge and installed Ubuntu 9.04 along side my XP and I must say it Rocks :lol: :lol: .
Everything recognised with a full install and very pleased with the new Gnome desktop although not tried the KDE one yet. Converted back to Linux again.
Cheers
Steve

:wink: I continue to be impressed with linux especially ubuntu.

Steve

 

[gasmansteve]

Oops think I spoke too soon. Everything worked fine yesterday when installed now tried my desktop today and cant get online with it . I`m sure its a root/usr problem. Think I was root yesterday now I log on as `Steve` and maybe the network priviledges arnt allowed. BTW anyone know what the default root password is please? don`t remember setting one up.
Regards
Steve
Maybe I should start another thread? sorry for hijacking this one