[vox-tech] Synaptics driver problem on Lenovo Thinkpad e455

[Alex Mandel]

On 04/27/2015 06:54 AM, Nick Schmalenberger wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 27, 2015 at 01:21:17AM -0700, Bill Kendrick wrote:
>>
>> My wife just picked up a used Thinkpad e455 laptop and it's
>> working fairly well with Kubuntu 14.04 (trusty).
>>
>> One big problem is: we're unable to get KDE to disable the
>> touchpad while she types (or, like, at all).  The KDE
>> control center's "Touchpad" module complains that the
>> Synpatics driver is not loaded.
>>
>> I've dug around the web, hitting a lot of 2008 & 2009 threads
>> mostly, to no avail.  Has anyone got any experience with this
>> kind of trouble on a _recent_ version of Linux?  I'm done
>> stabbing in the dark, using recommended tips that are probably
>> useless nowadays.
>>
>> The main issue is an inability to type on the thing, w/o the
>> mouse flying all over the screen.  (There are all sorts of
>> great settings to disable touchpad when typing, or when it
>> detects a palm vs. fingers... none of which are available to
>> us until we figure out this driver problem.)
>>
>> Thanks in advance!
>>
> Does lsmod say any synaptics kernel modules are already loaded?
> Assuming it is referring to the kernel module and not some
> separate X Windows driver, it might help to load one of
> synaptics_usb or synaptics_i2c, maybe before X starts? The usual
> place to put kernel modules to be loaded for no apparent reason
> is /etc/modules. Once it does load, dmesg might have helpful
> information about how the module is detecting the touchpad.
> -Nick

Appears to be a known issue with a possible simple workaround using
syndaemon:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/299868/disable-touchpad-while-typing-does-not-work

Not sure its necessary but this user goes as far as building upstream
drivers
http://askubuntu.com/questions/462135/touchpad-issue-jumping-cursor-while-typing-ubuntu-14-04-syndaemon-dont-help

-Alex