[OmniBook] Synaptics touchpad (was: Omnibook XE3 and Linux 2.6.0-test4: No Touchpad)

[Andreas Ehn]

On Sat, Aug 30, 2003 at 11:58:55AM +0200, Patrick Ruckstuhl wrote:

> I also found a driver, but didn't have time to test it yet.
> http://w1.894.telia.com/~u89404340/touchpad/

I read this page, and it made me wonder. I have an Omnibook 900 with
touchpad and trackpoint devices. I don't know if the touchpad is of
the Synaptics kind -- actually, I've only heard the name once or twice
before. However, I use it as a standard PS/2 device, and have most of
the features that the document above claims will not work in PS/2
emulation mode, but needs a Synaptics driver (or maybe it doesn't --
it might just list those features anyway):

	* Button events through short touching of the touchpad.
	* Double-Button events through double short touching of the
	  touchpad.
	* Dragging through short touching and holding down the
	  finger on the touchpad.
	* Multifinger taps: two finger for middle button and three
	  finger for right button events. (Needs hardware support. Not
	  all models implement this feature.)

These features I don't have:

	* Middle and right button events on the upper and lower corner
	  of the touchpad.
	* Adjustable finger detection.
	* Run-time configuration using shared memory. This means you
	  can change parameter settings without restarting the X
	  server.

These features are related to scrolling, which was hardly thought of
when this machine was designed -- I even have to disable the internal
pointing devices if I connect an external IMPS/2 mouse with a scroll
wheel.

	* Vertical scrolling (button four and five events) through
	  moving the finger on the right side of the touchpad.
	* The up/down button sends button four/five events. [I don't
	  have up/down buttons.]
	* Horizontal scrolling (button six and seven events) through
	  moving the finger on the lower side of the touchpad.
	* The multi-buttons send button four/five events, and
	  six/seven events for horizontal scrolling. [I don't have any
	  multi-buttons.]

Don't know about this one:

	* Movement with adjustable, non-linear acceleration and speed.

What I'm wondering is if the Ombibook 900 has a Synaptics touchpad and
if I would have any use for the driver, or if HP managed to build a
touchpad with a better PS/2 emulation mode before they started using
the Synaptics touchpads.

Best regards,
Andreas Ehn