this was getting quite annoying for me and I was trying to cookup various solutions..

this one is perfect and elegant…

thanks again…

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

Yes, Touchpad is enabled (ticked) in Start-up applications.

When I execute ls -la /etc/hal/fdi/policy/shmconfig.fdi the first part is “-rw-r–r–” so looks the same as yours (assuming the two hashes are joined).

Again, appreciate your help on this.

Sorry for the confusion . I haven’t enabled SHMConfig command in my xorg,conf, what I meant was that it works without – the shmconfig.fdi enables it.

Whilst you can add it to your xorg.conf, you will need to add device and server layout sections and other stuff too, and all this isn’t really required – I don’t have it and SHMConfig is enabled.

Can I get you to try something else? In Preferences, Startup applications, do you have a program called “Touchpad”. Is it enabled (ticked)?

If not can you add a new program, the name is “Touchpad” and the command is “gsynaptics-init –sm-disable”. Don’t worry about a comment. Reboot and see if that helps.

Also, can you execute the following command: “ls -la /etc/hal/fdi/policy/shmconfig.fdi”. You should see something similar to:

$ ls -la /etc/hal/fdi/policy/shmconfig.fdi
-rw-r–r– 1 root root 244 2009-04-26 19:58 /etc/hal/fdi/policy/shmconfig.fdi

If the “-rw-r–r–” or “root root” part is different, let me know.

I will continue to investigate while you try that.

It’s all a mystery as my shmconfig.fdi is, I believe, correct:

True

I followed your terminal instructions, copied the above in the fdi file and saved it then restarted (as I have a number of times).

The strange thing is the touchpad is actually fine (that is, the cursor doesn’t jump about when I type), it’s just when I try to open the TouchPad option in Preferences, I get the error previously mentioned.

You mentioned that your xorg.conf file has the shmconfig set to true. Mine of course, doesn’t. What would happen if I copied and pasted the same code as what you have? Probaby suicide I suppose…

Appreciate your help Kayno.

My xorg.conf reads like a minimalist’s living room:

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Configured Screen Device"
Device "Configured Video Device"
SubSection "Display"
Virtual 2048 768
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

I have not made any changes to it, and I believe it was empty until i recently connected an external monitor to my agora. I also can confirm that with this xorg.conf, SHMConfig is enabled for me:

$ cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log |grep SHMConfig
(**) Option "SHMConfig" "True"

My /etc/hal/fdi/policy/shmconfig.fdi looks like:

edit: the code does not display in comments – see this for details: http://agoranetbook.kayno.net/2009/04/26/installing-gsynaptics-a-graphical-interface-to-control-the-touchpad/

If you do not have this in /etc/hal/fdi/policy/shmconfig.fdi, then add it and reboot!

I hope this is helping

GSynaptics couldn’t initialize.
You have to set ‘SHMConfig’ ‘true’ in xorg.conf or XF86Config to use GSynaptics

Can I ask someone with UNR installed for a copy of their xorg file? My xorg.config file is:

“# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type “man xorg.conf” at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# Note that some configuration settings that could be done previously
# in this file, now are automatically configured by the server and settings
# here are ignored.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section “Device”
Identifier “Configured Video Device”
EndSection

Section “Monitor”
Identifier “Configured Monitor”
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier “Default Screen”
Monitor “Configured Monitor”
Device “Configured Video Device”
EndSection”