My mouse isn't functioning correctly.

[Terid]

Ok, I'm pretty new to linux so talk to me like im stupid please.

Im using the latest version of salix 32-bit on a Dell Inspiron 1525.

My touchpad is a bit sluggish and I cant get it to feel right, any suggestions to get this smoother would help. In windows i use no acceleration and put it up 2 notches from default speed. On salix I only see acceleration and threshold no general speed

I tried plugging in my standard microsoft optical mouse which feels alot better to use but the mouse button doesn't stay held in and is being eratic. Sometimes it will click when I don't tell it to, when i right click it lefts clicks on its own after, when i try to drag an icon it will open it or the right mouse menu will come up or it jsut wont do anything.

I tried switching it to "Microsoft 5 Button Mouse" in "Devices" but it keeps switching back to "Virtual Core XTEST Pointer." Same with the theme, If I choose another mouse pointer, it is sometimes on my new choice and sometimes on the default one.

Just as a note i'm still trying to get my wireless working on it so I cant download anything as of yet

Sorry for the stupid questions, just finding it hard to make the transition from xp to linux!
All suggestions appreciated.

[salixcylic]

A lot of problems with Dell 1525 touchpad:

http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.p ... 68303.html
http://www.linlap.com/wiki/dell+inspiron+1525

In the second link someone give this solution:

I also have an Inspiron 1525. I use the Xubuntu 8.10 with Linux 2.6.28.3, the latest kernel.
I was really bugged by the touchpad clicking on it's own when moving the cursor, so I tried a few things (most suggestions didn't work).
Happily, it is now annoyance free with MaxTapTime set to zero by running “synclient MaxTapTime=0” on startup. I had to apt-get synclient though.

There may be other settings, but this is the final step:
Click the XFCE / Xubuntu menu > Settings Manager > Autostarted Apps
Click Add, and put in the command “synclient MaxTapTime=0” (without quotes).

What didn't work was messing with X. The touchpad wasn't even mentioned in “xorg.conf”.
Reportedly, X isn't even used for handling the touchpad for this latest update.

But hopefully this will help some people out there.

Salix uses Xfce so it can works for you.

Sorry about my English and good luck!

[Terid]

thanks salixcylic,

I have already done this to stop the touchpad clicking. Im trying to make its movement even tho, if i move my finger like normal it goes really fast, if i move it slow it hardly moves. Messing with acceleration / threshold makes it worse.

Also when i plug in my intel mouse it random clicks on its own and i cant drag anything or it opens something else. Could xfce possibly think that my USB mouse is a touchpad? Would explain alot

PS. Managed to get my ethernet and wireless working with lots of research. learning slowly but totally worth it, lovin the O/S

[salixcylic]

It's not a problem of Salix or GNU/Linux, Windows users have same problem width it. You can see a lot of examples:
http://en.community.dell.com/search/Sea ... 5+touchpad

It's a defective design of Dell. Is it on warranty? If not, someone gives a technical solution:
http://en.community.dell.com/support-fo ... x#19505726

About your wireless, I think you should open a new thread.

[salixcylic]

You can also try to disable the touchpad and see if usb mouse works ok.
Some experiments:

- Some laptops have a key for disable touchpad. For example, in an Acer you can use Fn + F7. Has your Dell a similar combination?
- Open a console (Alt + F2, write xterm, and try this command

Code: Select all

 synclient TouchpadOff=1

. The same with an 0 to activate again.
- See if you can disable it on BIOS (press F2 when boot)

Please, try this and give feedback.

[Terid]

My wireless is working fine i figured all that out.

The touchpad is pretty much fine, its when I plug in my usb mouse that goes crazy. Everything worked fine in winxp.

If i try to drag something (like resizing a window) it wont grab for the first second, then it will grab but after 2 seconds when i hold in the mouse button, it will let go and then click something an inch away from where i was trying to drag, If i right click it usually thinks im hitting left click too.

I disabled the touchpad to see if this helps but it still doesn't.

Setting the mouse to microsoft mouse in mouse settings doesnt work, when i exit settings and open again it goes back to virtal mouse.

Driving me nuts

[ibka]

If you change Acceleration and Threshold on your Microsoft mouse and exit and then open it again, does the settings for Acceleration and Threshold stick to what you selected?
On mine it save the settings on my Logitech mouse but the virtual is selected when i open mouse settings again, but my Logitech setting is saved and the Logitech mouse is using the settings i did for the Logitech mouse.

[salixcylic]

I know this is not an elegant solution, but it can help you until you find another better. Unplug your usb mouse and type:

1. Fn + NumLk (check that you have the numeric lock light on)
2. Shift + Fn + NumLk

Now you can use numeric keypad to move the cursor and click.

Code: Select all

                                             8 (up)
                                 U (left)                 O (right)                                            
                                             K (down)

If your touchpad buttons are right, you can use them to left and right click. If not, you can use the "i" key:

Press "/" and then "i" = left click
Press "-" and then "i" = right click

You can drag a file using "M" key to click and hold and "i" key to release.

More info about keys combinations here: http://www.tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/movecursor.html

[Terid]

@ibka

I think mine is the same as yours, its hard to tell. I just wish you could turn off acceleration and increase sensitivity but I have no idea how.

@cylic

Thanks for the guide, but its more practical for me to use the touchpad until I get my usb mouse working. Is there a setting file I can add a second device and tell it that its a USB mouse?

[zAchAry]

I know this is not an elegant solution, but it can help you until you find another better. Unplug your usb mouse and type:

1. Fn + NumLk (check that you have the numeric lock light on)
2. Shift + Fn + NumLk

Offtopic: cylic, thank you for the tip, I may need it in the future