Seperate pointer speeds for both the touchpad and an external mouse-is it possible?

Hi, I've been playing with Ubuntu and i've noticed something that is really annoying. The default settings for mouse pointer speed makes the trackpad movements really slow. When I adjust it to make using the pad more comfortable, plugging in an external mouse results in the mouse pointer becoming "too quick"-the slightest push of the mouse will move the pointer to the edge of the screen, forcing me to change it back to the default settings.

Is there anyway to keep these settings separate? I like using Ubuntu, but hate having to remember to change pointer settings each time I use a mouse.

Thanks everyone

Ricky

 

I'm in the same shoes...reps for anyone with a solution

 

You can separately adjust the trackpad speed under Linux easily enough. First method is to try the following steps (for Ubuntu);

1) Open a terminal window and issue the following command, (you can easily substitute the gedit command with your favorite text editor);

Code:

gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

2) This will open the Gnome Text Editor in super user mode, and load your system's X configuration file, /etc/X11/xorg.conf. Now, look for the following section in that file;

Code:

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"

3) Next insert the following lines below the last line in that Section;

Code:

Option "SHMConfig" "true"
Option "MinSpeed" "0.5"
Option "MaxSpeed" "0.9"
Option "AccelFactor" "0.1"

4) Save the file. Reboot. And your trackpad speed should be quicker.

If you want to tweak things further you can look at these synaptics driver options, and try adding them to your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file Synaptics Touchpad Section, using the same steps above, until the trackpad works the way you like it.

The other method is to simply install the graphical management tool for the synaptics driver for Gnome, GSynaptics, and then use the sliders there to configure your trackpad. Here's the Ubuntu page explaining how to install GSynaptics, and the synaptics driver in more detail. Here's another general Ubuntu thread on configuring the laptop touchpad, for reference as well.

Good Luck..

 

Reps coming your way tomorrow when I have more (blegh...only 3/day is sadness )

 

Awesome, Just what I needed. Thanks a bunch

 

Thanks for the tip, I'll have to try it out!

 

Hey jas, I couldn't get the terminal to open up to xorg.conf correctly unless I used gksudo, instead of sudo.

Not sure why this is, but it worked.

 

Yeah, graphical stuff sometimes requires gksudo or kdesu.