Improve ALPS touchpad response speed

ALPS touchpad generaly have slower response when compared to the synaptic based touchpads.

Here’s a simple X hack to boost the sensitivity of my ALPS touchpad which has dramatically improved my experience with my touchpad. This worked on my openSUSE 10.3

1. First, check if you really do have a ALPS touchpad.

cat /proc/bus/input/devices | grep ALPS

sample output;

N: Name="AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint"

2. Make a backup of your xorg.conf file.

cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf  /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bkp

3. Edit the xorg.conf file.

vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf

4. Navigate to the InputDevice Section and look for the “synaptics” driver portion.

5. Replace everything between the Identifier line and EndSection with the settings below.

Section "InputDevice"
   Identifier   "Synaptics Touchpad"
########################################Start replace from here
   Driver       "synaptics"
   Option       "SendCoreEvents"        "true"
   Option       "Device"                "/dev/psaux"
   Option       "Protocol"              "auto-dev"

   Option       "LeftEdge"              "130"
   Option       "RightEdge"             "840"
   Option       "TopEdge"               "130"
   Option       "BottomEdge"            "640"
   Option       "FingerLow"             "14"
   Option       "FingerHigh"            "15"
   Option       "MaxTapTime"            "180"
   Option       "MaxTapMove"            "110"
   Option       "ClickTime"             "0"
   Option       "MaxDoubleTapTime"      "100"
   Option       "EmulateMidButtonTime"  "75"
   Option       "VertScrollDelta"       "20"
   Option       "HorizScrollDelta"      "20"
   Option       "MinSpeed"              "0.60"
   Option       "MaxSpeed"              "1.10"
   Option       "AccelFactor"           "0.030"
   Option       "EdgeMotionMinSpeed"    "200"
   Option       "EdgeMotionMaxSpeed"    "200
   Option       "UpDownScrolling"       "1"
   Option       "CircularScrolling"     "1"
   Option       "CircScrollDelta"       "0.1"
   Option       "CircScrollTrigger"     "2"
   Option       "SHMConfig"             "true"
   Option       "Emulate3Buttons"       "on"
########################################End replace here
EndSection
Here's a screenshot of my xorg.conf file.

8 Responses to “Improve ALPS touchpad response speed”

Author comments are in a darker gray color for you to easily identify the posts author in the comments

1. ben says:

   May 15, 2008 at 7:26 pm

   I just migrated over from ubuntu to OpenSUSE 10.4 (wanted something that worked a little better beth my Dell Inspiron hardware out of the box). So, I am still getting my bearings to where everything is in OpenSUSE. In the ALPS driver setup there is no option to make it so that the touchpad isn’t tap sensitive, which annoys the crap out of me. If I remove the two lines:
   Option “MaxTapTime” “180″
   Option “MaxTapMove” “110″

   do you think that would resolve the problem, or are there better ways to update “drivers” (i guess they are more like settings) in OpenSUSE. speaking of mouse response, it was setup as a IBM center touch thing (you know the little button that you could push around) and it was crazy sensitive. Sorry for the long comment, but I appreciate the help.

   Reply
2. Danny says:

   May 15, 2008 at 10:28 pm

   Hi Ben, I think you are either on 10.3 or 11 Beta since there is no 10.4 released.

   Anyways, in Yast Package Manager search for “synaptics”. Install the tool and you should be able to turn it off.

   Tell me if it works for you.

   Reply
3. Danny says:

   May 15, 2008 at 10:29 pm

   Ben, you could also try this http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php/Disable+-+Enable+Touchpad?content=50914

   It calls the commands,

   synclient TouchpadOff=1
   synclient TouchpadOff=0

   I can’t test now and my suse box is away

   Reply
4. Danny says:

   May 16, 2008 at 12:32 am

   Yeah, I don’t know why I keep thinking I am running 10.4, its 10.3. I appreciate the links and advice and will let you know how everything works. I am a linux noob anyways (only running since last fall) and now switching distros is taking me a bit to get used to. Getting there though.

   Ben

   Reply
5. Danny says:

   May 16, 2008 at 12:41 am

   Welcome to the Linux world Ben. We are here to help

   I’ll be setting up a forum soon for Linux too. Will drop you a note for sure.

   Reply
6. Rune Skou Larsen says:

   March 13, 2009 at 4:39 am

   Thank you Danesh! You are a lifesaver – now I can use linux on my laptop!

   Reply
   • Danesh says:

     March 13, 2009 at 11:09 am

     Rune, glad to hear your notebook’s working good now. Welcome to Linux

     Reply
7. Loco Ulysses says:

   May 14, 2009 at 4:37 pm

   Thank you, thank you! This did wonders for the touchpad on my Tecra. It was so bad as to be useless before. How’d you come up with these settings, trial and error?

   Reply