Public bug reported: Binary package hint: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
The cursor speed of a Synaptics pad depends on your screen size. Or rather, "the speed value defines the scaling between touchpad coordinates and screen coordinates." (man synaptics, line ~418). So supposedly, even if you raise or lower your resolution, moving your finger n millimetres across the pad surface should still make it move the cursor n centimetres across your screen, regardless of whether the screen's pixel resolution is at 800x600 or at 1600x1200. Connecting an external monitor seems to count as adding screen realestate, affecting the "effective screen speed" as much as raising your resolution by that of the external monitor would. To put into a concrete example: if your netbook screen is 1024x600, and you connect a 1600x1200 monitor, then the screen realestate becomes 2624x1200 if put side-by-side, or 1600x1800 if put above the other. (Unsure of the details of how the driver calculates this.) The sensitivity that you get on your 1024x600 netbook screen, when the Synaptics driver scales its speed to match your total 2624x1200 realestate, is much too high. How to reproduce: 1) Acquire a netbook with a puny ~10" screen with 1024x600 native resolution (MSI Wind, et al) 2) Get a feel for the touchpad's cursor speed 3) Attach 1600x1200+ external monitor 4) Using xrandr, set the external monitor's output to be next to or above the laptop screen's output, as such; $ xrandr --output VGA1 --above LVDS1 --auto 5) Compare cursor speed to earlier speed 6) Try to perform simple to complex mouse tasks on your small screen and watch the cursor consistently overshoot The speed is acceptable when maneuvering on the external monitor, but very little physical pad movement is needed to totally pan over the entirety of the small netbook screen. Cursor speed should be screen-dependent, if that's even technically possible. Alternatively, it should only take the "primary" screen (output) into consideration when scaling pad movement speed to screen cursor speed. ProblemType: Bug Architecture: i386 Date: Thu Feb 18 01:11:21 2010 DistroRelease: Ubuntu 10.04 DkmsStatus: ipheth, 1.0+git20100207, 2.6.32-12-generic, i686: installed ipheth, 1.0+git20100207, 2.6.32-13-generic, i686: installed InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx" - Alpha i386 (20100201) MachineType: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD U-100 Package: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics 1.2.0-3ubuntu2 ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-13-generic root=UUID=bfe2926e-f8bf-41dd-a237-690b609cafe6 ro quiet splash ProcEnviron: LANGUAGE= PATH=(custom, user) LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SHELL=/bin/bash ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.32-13.18-generic RelatedPackageVersions: xserver-xorg 1:7.5+1ubuntu2 libgl1-mesa-glx 7.7-0ubuntu8 libdrm2 2.4.17-1ubuntu1 xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.9.1-1ubuntu4 SourcePackage: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics Uname: Linux 2.6.32-13-generic i686 dmi.bios.date: 10/06/2008 dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc. dmi.bios.version: 4.6.3 dmi.board.asset.tag: To be filled by O.E.M. dmi.board.name: U-100 dmi.board.vendor: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD dmi.board.version: Ver.001 dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M. dmi.chassis.type: 3 dmi.chassis.vendor: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD dmi.chassis.version: Ver.001 dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr4.6.3:bd10/06/2008:svnMICRO-STARINTERNATIONALCO.,LTD:pnU-100:pvrVer.001:rvnMICRO-STARINTERNATIONALCO.,LTD:rnU-100:rvrVer.001:cvnMICRO-STARINTERNATIONALCO.,LTD:ct3:cvrVer.001: dmi.product.name: U-100 dmi.product.version: Ver.001 dmi.sys.vendor: MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD system: distro: Ubuntu architecture: i686kernel: 2.6.32-13-generic ** Affects: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: New ** Tags: apport-bug i386 lucid -- Synaptics cursor speed is not screen-dependent - speed on small screen is too high after connecting big external monitor https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/523558 You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu-X, which is subscribed to xserver-xorg-input-synaptics in ubuntu. _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat Post to : ubuntu-x-swat@lists.launchpad.net Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp