Touchpad doesn't work

[arist]

I followed SteveRiley's quick how to for installing Kubuntu, on my HPMini netbook. I installed Ubuntu server 13.10, and following the instructions, removed the server and installed kubuntu-desktop. Both installations seemed to go without a hitch. I rebooted into Kubuntu, and the touchpad didn't work. Nor did a USB mouse. lsmod showed no module for touchpad or mouse. xinput showed no touchpad or mouse. The driver for the touchpad is supposed to be synaptics, but when I try to install it I'm informed that it has been replaced by tpconfig. So I installed tpconfig, and rebooted. The touchpad still doesn't work, but the USB mouse does, and lsmod and xinput show it. No sign of the touchpad, however. But there's this:

sudo tpconfig -i
Found Synaptics Touchpad
Firmware: 8.96

I have a disability that makes it very difficult to use a mouse, so I really want to get the touchpad working. Is there something I can do?

[zeeone]

Have you launched Synaptic from the main menu and set it up(main menu > Utilities > Synaptic) yet? There is a box to check for Synaptic to start on startup.


"I have a disability that makes it very difficult to use a mouse, so I really want to get the touchpad working. Is there something I can do?"

I find the touchpad under Windows and Linux to be very cumbersome to use however, Apple's touchpad is the cat's meow. I also have difficulties using
a mouse and use a trackball instead.

[arist]

When I click on Synaptics I get the error message "No touch pad was found in this system."

Some more information:

sudo apt-cache showpkg synaptics
Package: synaptics
Versions:
Reverse Depends:
   tpconfig,synaptics
Dependencies:
Provides:
Reverse Provides:

[Teunis]

Sorry to hear you have trouble working with a mouse.

Because I HATE touch pads I know a command to disable it, pretty sure it also works the other way around by replacing the 0 with a 1.

xinput set-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Device Enabled" 0

Google with this code and you might find more info.

Because I don't have my HP Mini at hand I can't tell you how it's set up, I do know the touch pad is working.

[arist]

xinput doesn't find the touchpad. It's nowhere to found in the system. When I enter xinput set-prop it returns "unable to find device".

I think I'll try installing Saucy again. Thanks a lot for your help.

[Teunis]

Not so quick!

There are ways to find the touch pad, try this one:

xinput list

[arist]

xinput list doesn't find the touchpad.

[Snowhog]

See if kde-touchpad is available for installation.

[arist]

See if kde-touchpad is available for installation.

It's not. I managed to get it working by doing a fresh install. See this thread for the problems I've having with that.

[Teunis]

Good that you have most working, sleep is overvalued anyway

To show the difference between HPmini's, this is the output of ours:

[EMAIL="helle@helle-HP-Mini:"]helle@helle-HP-Mini:[/EMAIL]~$ xinput list
⎡ Virtual core pointer                          id=2    [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer                id=4    [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ HP HP Wireless Optical Mouse              id=10   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad                id=13   [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                         id=3    [master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard               id=5    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=6    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                                 id=7    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                              id=8    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                              id=9    [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Webcam-101                                id=11   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard              id=12   [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ HP WMI hotkeys                            id=14   [slave  keyboard (3)]

Here the Touchpad is showing nicely.
The little HW button above it to enable/disable also works.

[arist]

Pretty much the same here:

⎡ Virtual core pointer                    	id=2	[master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer              	id=4	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad              	id=12	[slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                   	id=3	[master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard             	id=5	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                            	id=6	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Video Bus                               	id=7	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                            	id=8	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                            	id=9	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Webcam-101                              	id=10	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard            	id=11	[slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ HP WMI hotkeys                          	id=13	[slave  keyboard (3)]

I'm glad it's working, but Saucy for some reason doesn't like this computer: there's always one problem or another. Now I can't upgrade without breaking the screen resolution, and resume from hibernation doesn't work. This computer been through at least five versions of Kubuntu, with occasional problems, but nothing like this.