[ltp] R61 touchpad not recognized in Ubuntu

[Ugo Riboni]

> > So, ideally i'd like to get some advice on how to get the touchpad
> > recognized for what it is by the system, and failing that how to
> > disable the tap-to-click function completely.
>
> I can't help with this, but surely searching on the Ubuntu forums
> should turn up something.

That's what i did, but i found nothing about this specific issue.
I found posts of users wanting to use the touchpad as scroll-wheel,
and were suggested to do that via synaptics. The problem is my touch
pad isn't even recognized as a synaptics device (probably because it
isn't, in fact).

It also seems (even though i'm not sure) that earlier versions of the
R61 had a more compatible touchpad model, which was replaced in later
revisions of the hardware like mine.
(And they apprearently did the same thing for the fingerprint reader,
since thinkfinger doesn't recognize mine, so i wouldn't be surprised
about the touchpad too).

> > Since i'm not really used to typing on a laptop yet, i keep tapping
> > the (pretty sensitive) touchpad with the side of my hands while
> > writing.This ends up giving focus to other windows in the middle of a
> > sentence, which as you can imagine is truly maddening.
>
> When I got my first laptop three years ago that was the first thing I
> discovered. Actually it took me several days before I figured out it
> was my thumb on the damn touchpad.
> My T61 doesn't have a manual on-off switch for the touchpad, but it's
> simple enough to disable it in the BIOS. I left the button thingy
> active, but I'm considering disabling it as well. It's not as bad as
> the touchpad, but I still bump it occasionally and then find myself
> typing someplace else.

Good idea, i'll check the BIOS.
But that is just fine when I use an external mouse. However i often
need to actually use the touchpad to move around because there are
many instances when I can't attach a mouse.
The touchpad is perfect for movement, it's just the tap-to-click that
is the problem.

I know the tap-to-click can be somehow disabled, since in windows you
have that option, so likely the hardware supports disabling it,
appearently.
--
Ugo