On Friday 14 September 2007, Matthew Saltzman wrote: >On Fri, 2007-09-14 at 12:29 -0400, Gene Heskett wrote: >> On Friday 14 September 2007, Aaron Konstam wrote: >> >On Thu, 2007-09-13 at 17:09 -0400, Tom Horsley wrote: >> >> On Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:06:51 -0400 >> >> >> >> "Lamar Owen" <lowen@xxxxxxxx> wrote: >> >> > I agree 100% with one of his beefs. Laptop touchpad sensitivity. >> >> >> >> When I'm >> >> >> >> > typing (and as I touch-type around 50 wpm, the keyboard is really a >> >> >> >> humming) >> >> >> >> > often the cursor will jump to where the i-beam for the mouse is; >> >> >> >> ooops, left >> >> >> >> > click. But I didn't touch the touchpad. Aggravating as all get >> >> >> >> out. (And >> >> >> >> > if someone knows a way to turn that down, please let me know, as >> >> >> >> I've not run >> >> >> >> > across the setting yet). >> > >> >It seems to me that Mossberg has identified a terrific business >> >oportunity. Someone for $50-$100 will configure all the things he feels >> >currently are obscure to configure. It only has to be configured once >> >and then mass copied. >> >> This complaint has been the order of the day for the synaptics touchpad >> used in a lot of lappies. And it is one reason I run a little gizmo >> called synaptics that shuts it off, and I use a pluggin wireless mouse >> instead. >> >> Fusses about it here, or on the lkml, are either ignored or teased about >> cuz I supposedly can't type. >> >> Of course I can't type when my thumbs must be pulled back against the >> wrist and taped in place with several turns of duct tape. That of course >> makes it difficult to hit the spacebarsomywordscomeoutalljumbledtogether. >> Strangely, I don't have to be near as carefull on those rare occasions >> when I have it running XP. >> >> I've asked politely, and I've asked obnoxiously, the same question: >> >> When is the touchpad going to be fixed? >> >> I'm a mostly retired broadcast engineer, the type that makes the high >> powered transmitters you watch tv from work. I deal routinely with high >> voltage power supplies capable of sucking a megawatt+ from the powerline >> under fault conditions. Its pure hell to be composing a long technical >> message, to people who just barely understand that turning on a light is >> done by making metal to metal contact in the light switch, only to have >> half of it highlighted by one misscue of that POS, and erased by the next >> keystroke because you don't see it quickly enough when working from and >> reading notes, nor can you stop typing that fast. More than one of my >> messages, or a record file of what I'm doing has been converted into total >> gibberish by such actions in 50 milliseconds. >> >> Or it can also cause a switch screens, any way to screw up what you are >> doing, it WILL find a way to do it. Seriously folks, the touchpad needs >> fixed. If winblow$ can do it, why can't linux? > >gsynaptics and (I think) ksynaptics both let you adjust the sensitivity >of the touchpad, the length of time for a double tap, and what scrolling >areas are active. In addition, syndaemon is a clever little thing that >inactivates the touchpad entirely while keys are being clicked. >Somehow, you should be able to use those tools to come up with an >acceptable arrangement. If not, there is are more settings available >via the synclient CLI tool. > >Windows only has a single desktop area, so switching screens isn't an >issue there. Also, I notice most Windows users seem to fill the screen >with whatever window they are working in, and the fonts are generally >huge. So switching windows isn't an issue if that's your work style. >If you keep the mouse cursor outside of your typing area, then >accidental tapping won't move the I-bar. Thanks, although the advice is a bit late, I rather like the mouse, it doesn't do anything I don't tell it to do. Thrifty too, I only have to feed it a battery every 6 mo or so, & no papers to change in its cage. >Gene, are you a western Pennsylvanian? "Needs fixed" is an idiom I >remember from Pittsburgh days... Nahh, Old Iowa farm kid, born in Des Moines back in 34. -- Cheers, Gene "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) Mr. Cole's Axiom: The sum of the intelligence on the planet is a constant; the population is growing.
