Ubuntu
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics package

touchpad too sensitive. focus jumps all over document on text input

Bug #1323006 reported by Susan Cragin
6
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
High
Maarten Lankhorst
Ubuntu ubuntu-14.10
Trusty
Incomplete
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

I am a very fast typist.
When I type into emacs, gedit, and libreoffice, the focus jumps around when I am typing. I look up and find I have just entered text in a different area. This happens all the time.
I have set the touchpad to "disable during text input" and this doesn't seem to work. Perhaps this command is broken.
I have a lenovo x230 tablet computer, with touchpad.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.10
Package: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics 1.7.4-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.15.0-2.6-lowlatency 3.15.0-rc6
Uname: Linux 3.15.0-2-lowlatency x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.2-0ubuntu4
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Sun May 25 09:27:11 2014
DistUpgraded: Fresh install
DistroCodename: utopic
DistroVariant: ubuntu
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-04-22 (32 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140417)
LightdmGreeterLog:
 ** (lightdm-gtk-greeter:1171): WARNING **: Failed to load user image: Failed to open file '/home/susan/.face': No such file or directory
 g_dbus_connection_real_closed: Remote peer vanished with error: Underlying GIOStream returned 0 bytes on an async read (g-io-error-quark, 0). Exiting.
LightdmGreeterLogOld: ** (lightdm-gtk-greeter:1161): WARNING **: Failed to load user image: Failed to open file '/home/susan/.face': No such file or directory
MachineType: LENOVO 3434CTO
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.15.0-2-lowlatency root=UUID=7a4f9c50-a2d1-43cb-865b-dbc9949a4cf7 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 07/25/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.bios.version: GCET21WW (1.10 )
dmi.board.asset.tag: Not Available
dmi.board.name: 3434CTO
dmi.board.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.board.version: Not Defined
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: LENOVO
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnLENOVO:bvrGCET21WW(1.10):bd07/25/2012:svnLENOVO:pn3434CTO:pvrThinkPadX230Tablet:rvnLENOVO:rn3434CTO:rvrNotDefined:cvnLENOVO:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 3434CTO
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad X230 Tablet
dmi.sys.vendor: LENOVO
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.11+14.04.20140423-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.54-1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 10.1.3-0ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 10.1.3-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu5
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.8.2-1ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:7.3.0-1ubuntu4
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.99.910-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.10-1ubuntu2
xserver.bootTime: Sun May 25 09:20:59 2014
xserver.configfile: default
xserver.logfile: /var/log/Xorg.0.log
xserver.outputs:
 product id 728
 vendor LGD
xserver.version: 2:1.15.1-0ubuntu5

Revision history for this message
Susan Cragin (susancragin) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Maarten Lankhorst (mlankhorst) wrote :

Interesting, it seems disable touchpad while typing is broken with synaptics 1.8.0.

Changed in xserver-xorg-input-synaptics (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
importance: Undecided → High
assignee: nobody → Maarten Lankhorst (mlankhorst)
milestone: none → ubuntu-14.10
status: Confirmed → In Progress
Revision history for this message
Maarten Lankhorst (mlankhorst) wrote :

According to sarvatt it also affects trusty.

Revision history for this message
Maarten Lankhorst (mlankhorst) wrote :

Hm looking some more, gnome-settings-daemon runs syndaemon with -t which is 'disable tapping and scrolling'.

The moving the mouse is still allowed in that case, hardware buttons too. But scrolling and using tap to click shouldn't be.

Keys used with modifiers are ignored by syndaemon too, it's passed by gnome-settings-daemon.

Is this what you're experiencing?

Also sarvatt notes that using the same key repeatedly disables things for a second, then enables it for a second, then disables etc etc.

Revision history for this message
Maarten Lankhorst (mlankhorst) wrote :

Ok so the bug seems to be that syndaemon -R doesn't work correctly, sometimes not finding keys if you're unlucky. I'm pushing out a updated xserver-xorg-input-synaptics to fix this. Can you reopen the bug if this fails to fix this issue?

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

This bug was fixed in the package xserver-xorg-input-synaptics - 1.8.0-1~exp2ubuntu2

---------------
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics (1.8.0-1~exp2ubuntu2) utopic; urgency=medium

  * Remerge from debian-experimental to pick up libxtst-dev.
    - Fixes touchpad sometimes not disabling by allowing
      'syndaemon -R' to use XRecord correctly. (LP: #1323006)
 -- Maarten Lankhorst <email address hidden> Tue, 15 Jul 2014 15:07:15 +0200

Changed in xserver-xorg-input-synaptics (Ubuntu):
status: In Progress → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Jason Gerard DeRose (jderose) wrote :

Maarten,

System76 has been using a patched unity-settings-daemon that launches syndaemon with:

    syndaemon -i 0.75 -K -R

This has worked extremely well for us on Trusty (and we have solid customer survey data confirming that this has greatly improved the user experience).

However, something strange is going on with xserver-xorg-input-synaptics in Utopic. If you get syndaemon into its "disabled" state by typing a quick burst of characters, you can often keep it stuck in this disabled state by moving your finger back and forth on the track pad.

It seems as if the inactivity countdown isn't starting till there is a period when neither any keypresses nor any mouse movement has happened.

Can you think of any changes that might have cause this behavior?

Steps to reproduce:

1) open gedit
2) move finger back and forth on clickpad, confirm that cursor is moving back and forth
3) while continuing to move finger back and forth on the clickpad, type a few characters... cursor should disappear
4) cursor should be re-enabled around 0.75 seconds after you stop typing, but sometimes it will remain stuck in the disabled mode as long as there is more or less continuous motion on the clickpad
5) if stuck in the disabled state, it seems briefly lifting your finger off the track pad is reliable way to unstick it

Revision history for this message
Maarten Lankhorst (mlankhorst) wrote :

Well, on trusty XRecord was not working, so -R was a noop.

I've uploaded a fix for trusty to ppa:canonical-x/x-staging . Could you try that package and see if you get the same issues as utopic?

Maarten Lankhorst (mlankhorst)
Changed in xserver-xorg-input-synaptics (Ubuntu Trusty):
status: New → Incomplete
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