Autoconfigured MacBook touchpad unusably slow (Intrepid alpha 4)

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please attach your X server configuration file (/etc/X11/xorg.conf) to the bug report as an individual uncompressed file attachment using the "Attachment:" box below. Could you please also try to run without any /etc/X11/xorg.conf and let Xorg autodetect your hardware?
Make sure you backup /etc/X11/xorg.conf with:
cd /etc/X11/xorg.conf
sudo cp xorg.conf xorg.conf.backup
Please also attach the /var/log/Xorg.0.log from this attempt. Thanks in advance.

As you can see, it is almost everything autoconfigured. Is it still necessary to run without a xorg.conf file?

Yes please, give it a try.
Remember to also attach your Xorg.0.log

Same behaviour. I forgot to say that tapping doesn't work in both cases.

With the latest upload of xserver-xorg-input-synaptics-0.15.0+git20080820-1ubuntu4, 3-finger tapping works (context menu).

Well I must say I've never seen so many errors in a log. I'm afraid I cannot help you from here.
You may like to seek help on the forums at http://ubuntuforums.org/ or by searching google.
I'm assigning this bug to Xorg.
Thank-you for your bug report!

Well, I'd say that the erros don't have anything to do with synaptics. I'd say that the problem is the default configuration, but I don't know how or where to change that (maybe in the fdi file?).

Confirmed for a rev. 3 MacBook Pro and Ubuntu 8.10 Alpha 4 with all updates.

Please test the package from my PPA:

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/tjaalton/ubuntu intrepid main

(when it's built)

disabled a patch which might confuse things now that the driver supports input properties (you can set various options with xinput).

Installed xserver-xorg-input-synaptics_0.15.0+git20080820-1ubuntu4.3_i386.deb on Macbook Pro 1st edition. Didn't help.

After upgrading to Ubuntu 8.10 alpha 4 I noticed the same behavior. Touchpad is unusable because of its slowness. My laptop is Dell D620. Please find my xorg.conf attached to this message.

cheers,
Patryk

Timo Ramvi, I tried your xserver-xorg-input-synaptics 0.15.0+git20080820-1ubuntu4.3 package and I am still having the problem, should I try your xserver-xorg-core ?

Try with the older kernel (2.6.26).

Tried with 2.6.26-5-generic, same problem.

On Wed, Sep 3, 2008 at 10:52 AM, Timo Aaltonen <email address hidden> wrote:
> Try with the older kernel (2.6.26).
>
> --
> Intrepid: autoconfigured touchpad too slow
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/262276
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of a duplicate bug.
>

Tried with 2.6.26-5-generic, same problem.

With kernels about 10 days older than this one touchpad did not work at all (there happened just nothing at all when you tested it).

While experimenting with Debian experimental, I noticed something that might be of help. When I was using the X server from Debian unstable, everything worked fine. As soon as I upgraded to the version from the experimental repository and restarted the X server, the touchpad started to behave in the same bogus way as it does in Intrepid Alpha 4 and Alpha 5. I’m not sure which component of X.org is causing the regression but I’m trying to find that out now.

Using an older version of xserver-xorg-input-synaptics fixes the problem for me. I put the version that was working for me into my PPA under https://launchpad.net/~philippedelmann/+archive

Now we should try to find the difference that causes the regression.

add these to the fdi file at /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/20thirdparty/11-x11-synaptics.fdi, under appletouch:

        <merge key="input.x11_options.MinSpeed" type="string">0.79</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.MaxSpeed" type="string">0.88</merge>
        <merge key="input.x11_options.AccelFactor" type="string">0.0015</merge>

and report back if that works?

Adding these values makes the touchpad usable in xserver-xorg-input-synaptics-0.15.0+git20080820-1ubuntu5 again. I’m using the standard xorg.conf file. Thanks for the help. :-)

I noticed that the tapping behavior is different from the one I was used to in Hardy. On MacBooks that are lacking a right mouse button two-finger tapping is usually used as button 3 while three-finger tapping is button 2. Am I right in the assumption that appletouch is only used for Macintosh hardware? Then it should be safe to set those values for appletouch.

I also noticed that SHMConfig is disabled by default, which makes it impossible to change any of the touchpad settings on the fly with programs like synclient.

Timo,

I tried adding those lines to all 3 sections (synaptics, ALPS and appletouch) because my touchpad is an ALPS on a Sony Vaio and restarted X but no improvement. I also tried some different numbers for the 3 fields above (0.9, 1.0 and 0.01) which I thought would cause an obvious difference but cursor tracking is still very slow.

You don't need to use SHMConfig, you can use 'xinput' to set most of the values (but not float ones like these).

Please try the package from my PPA (0.15.1-0ubuntu0.1, when it's built):

http://ppa.launchpad.net/tjaalton/ubuntu/pool/main/x/xfree86-driver-synaptics/

Hi Timo, this package works great for me and fixes the problem on my Macbook Pro Santa Rosa.

0.15.1-0ubuntu0.1 Solves the problem for me as well, many thanks to Timo and anyone else who helped with this bug.

One slight regression for me though with the latest package is that it is much harder to get a three finger tap to register as a right click.

If you have new issues with the current driver, please file new bugs. Closing this one.