MX-16: Palm detection doesn't work (DELL Latitude 3150)

[MX-16_fan]

Hi all,

just wanted to inform you that palm detection doesn't work with a standard MX-16 64-Bit December 2016 stable installation on a DELL Latitude 3150.

Code: Select all

xinput list

gives me a

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(...)
SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad | id=11 | [slave  pointer  (2)]
(...)

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xinput list-props 11

then tells me

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Synaptics Palm Detection (293):	0
Synaptics Palm Dimensions (294):	10, 200

MX-16 can hardly be used on the machine beacuse the touchpad is extremely big and I can hardly avoid touching it with my palm while typing.

I tried to "block the touchpad while typing" but that doesn't really do the job in daily use.

I suppose that palm detection would require the libinput5, which, however, wasn't installed by the MX-16 installation routine.

Since this is a machine required for productive work, I didn't really dare to install libinput5 and see what happens.


Greetings, Joe

[v3g4n]

Are you using Xfce's setting to disable the touchpad while typing? There is also touchpad indicator that Stevo recently packaged and is now available in the main repo.
viewtopic.php?p=409679#p409679

[Stevo]

Do you have any synaptics configuration file in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d, and if so, what's in it?

[MX-16_fan]

Do you have any synaptics configuration file in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d, and if so, what's in it?

@Stevo:

Yes, there's a file in that directory, named synaptics.conf, and in that there's the following:

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Section "InputClass"
        Identifier      "touchpad catchall"             # required
        MatchIsTouchpad "on"                            # required
        Driver          "synaptics"                     # required
        Option          "MinSpeed"              "0.5"
        Option          "MaxSpeed"              "1.0"
        Option          "AccelFactor"           "0.075"
        Option          "TapButton1"            "1"
        Option          "TapButton2"            "2"     # multitouch
        Option          "TapButton3"            "3"     # multitouch
        Option          "VertTwoFingerScroll"   "1"     # multitouch
        Option          "HorizTwoFingerScroll"  "1"     # multitouch
        Option          "VertEdgeScroll"        "1"
        Option          "HorizEdgeScroll" "1" 
        Option          "CoastingSpeed"         "8"
        Option          "CornerCoasting"        "1"
        Option          "CircularScrolling"     "1"
        Option          "CircScrollTrigger"     "7"
        Option          "EdgeMotionUseAlways"   "1"
        Option          "LBCornerButton"        "8"     # browser "back" btn
        Option          "RBCornerButton"        "9"     # browser "forward" btn
EndSection

Greetings, Joe

[v3g4n]

See disable touchpad while typing section.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/To ... ile_typing

[MX-16_fan]

@v3g4n:

See disable touchpad while typing section.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/To ... ile_typing

Thanks, as mentioned before, I already tried that out, but that doesn't do the whole job. Palm detection is much more advanced.


Greetings, Joe

[MX-16_fan]

@Stevo:

I went further into this. In the meantime I discovered that middle-clicking doesn't work either, so I really have to do something about this. A laptop without a working touchpad is pretty much useless.

I didn't find any discussion about the exact DELL notebook I have here, but some about close relatives, so I guess that one of those should definitely apply to this notebook here.

1) Some discussion indicates that this is a kernel issue, and it has been fixed with some Ubuntu 4.9.* kernel version (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... ug/1590590) (provided that the other DELL users have the same Touchpad). However, I remember testing some 4.9.* liquorix kernel, and I don't remember it fixing anything. EDIT: I tried out the 4.10.0-15.2-liquorix-amd64 once more, but to no avail. Btw., according to the above-mentioned Launchpad discussion, seems that this touchpad actually is not a Synaptics one but from ALPS. The DELL driver for MS Windows is called Input_Driver_WWVKD_WN32_19.0.27.3_A04.EXE.

2) The Arch people recommend trying the libinput (https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Libinput), and libgestures, but I can't find libinput in any MX-16 Repo. Here: https://medium.com/@patrickmmartin/dell ... d9b551d291 is an instruction about how to add lines for the palm detection to your 90-libinput.conf file. Would it be possible to provide libinput and libgestures in the MX Test Repo, or would that collide with the Xfce desktop?

3) Here: https://www.reddit.com/r/chrultrabook/c ... alk_about/ some guy who says that he is the developer of the Windows driver for the DELL Chromebook 13 says that in Linux xf86-input-cmt (https://github.com/hugegreenbug/xf86-input-cmt) would be preferable. Seems that you need libgestures here also. Would it be possible to provide xf86-input-cmt and the above-mentioned libgestures in the MX Test Repo, or would that collide with the Xfce desktop?

4) Talking about it, when I thought I'd just have to tweak the configuration a little, I happened to miss gpointing-device-settings. Can that be used in MX-16 also?


Greetings, Joe

[richb]

A laptop without a working touchpad is pretty much useless.

Wireless mouse as a work around.

[MX-16_fan]

@richb:

A laptop without a working touchpad is pretty much useless.

Wireless mouse as a work around.

Yeah, but to my experience, they hardly ever work properly on glass. Plus it's nearly impossible to use a mouse in public transportation.


Greetings, Joe

[MX-16_fan]

UPDATE: Since the machine I tested this on is by now falling apart (very bad quality), I can't work on this issue any more. I'll leave this thread as it is, so that other 3150 users can go on with this.


Greetings, Joe