How to get laptop point stick working?

[MDesigner]

I was wondering how to get the point stick working on a Dell laptop. Part of the reason I'm having trouble finding help via google is I can't even figure out what the damn thing is called :) Pointer stick, track stick, point stick.. who knows. It's that little nub thing you can use to move the mouse.

Anyway.. does anyone know how to get it working in Linux? (specifically Slackware 10)

[cybertron]

Don't have one myself, but I've heard them also called eraserheads. Not sure that helps any but it's another thing to Google:)

[bs_texas]

Go here:
http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/dell.html

Look for your model. Might find an answer in there.

Good luck.

[MDesigner]

Hmm, nothing there.

I did find out though that most people call it "eraser" :) Google brought up a lot more results that way.

It seems I just need to figure out which device in /dev is the eraser. Anyone have any ideas?

[gehidore]

Originally posted by MDesigner
Hmm, nothing there.

I did find out though that most people call it "eraser" :) Google brought up a lot more results that way.

It seems I just need to figure out which device in /dev is the eraser. Anyone have any ideas?

cat /dev/input/mice move it around if you get garbled info then thats it
cat /dev/mouse
cat /dev/psaux

there are others but i dont remember them, there is probably an easier way but this is all i can think of atm

[Icarus]

'eraser' that's new to me :)
We always called them 'nipples'...lonely repressed nerds we were, yes! :)

Shouldn't that just use the ps/2 mouse input? /dev/psaux or something?

What's the laptop model? Here's (an older) copy of my /etc/X11/XF86Config that I use on my 600m for both the touchpad and USB mouse...
http://paradoxinc.net/files/XF86Config

The touchpad uses "DevInputMice"

[quip]

On my Dell laptop, the touchpad (synaptics) uses a driver that does not allow the touchpad and the track stick to be used at the same time. (On 2.6 kernels, anyway)

Just a thought.

[MDesigner]

Hm, maybe if I reboot, and the first mouse device I use is the pointstick.. maybe that's how it works? I'll try catting the various mouse devices to see if it's a separate device. If not.. maybe the first one that sends a signal gets used.

[cybertron]

Yeah, my laptop is sort of like that. If I have my USB mouse plugged in when it boots I can't use the touchpad, but if I plug it in later I can use both.

[Icarus]

That is a bit messed up. Mine works how it should, all the time. Boot with or without the external mouse.

Maybe you should check your XF86Config and make sure you have both devices listed, use my config as an example

[MDesigner]

Just to clarify, I'm not using an external mouse. I've got a touchpad and the point stick ("eraser"). I'm trying to get the point stick working..even if it disables the touchpad. I don't need both.

[cybertron]

Originally posted by MDesigner
Just to clarify, I'm not using an external mouse. I've got a touchpad and the point stick ("eraser"). I'm trying to get the point stick working..even if it disables the touchpad. I don't need both.

I know, that was just a comment along the lines of which one it finds first.

Even after I installed synaptics and made sure both were listed it still worked that way though. It doesn't really bother me because I rarely want to use both at once anway, so I think I'll spend my troubleshooting time on something else:)

[MDesigner]

Weird. I rebooted, and before I touched the touchpad, I moved the point stick..and it worked! The touchpad also works. I didn't even change any settings..so who knows. Maybe it was because I moved the point stick first. Or maybe not. :)

[rdeschene2]

I have a Dell Latitude C600 with a Synaptics touchpad, and note that in the BIOS setup there are some variables related to the pointing device.

This is the section from my XF86Config file (SuSE 8.1, 2.4.19-4GB kernel):

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "mouse"
Identifier "Mouse[1]"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
Option "Protocol" "ps/2"
EndSection


Something else that might be worth trying is booting off a Knoppix CD-ROM and see if it can configure it properly. If so, check out ITS XF86Config file.

[MDesigner]

Update:

I guess the point stick worked all along.. I never noticed it. The problem is, when the laptop goes into sleep mode, and then it wakes up, the point stick is dead. Anyone have any idea why the point stick would stop working after the laptop comes out of sleep mode?

I always close the laptop lid, so that's why I thought the point stick didn't work, period.

[y0ink]

on toshiba's at least they used to call them accupoints or somesuch.

Y0ink

[mrBen]

IBM have always called them trackpoints, although I have heard them called joysticks by some users!

Mostly they're just called nipples, but that makes it a little harder to search on Google for solutions :)

My friends Dell has both working when it boots Knoppix - if you have a copy of Knoppix kicking about then boot it up and check out the XF86Config file.

[MDesigner]

Yeah, that's the thing.. if I boot up Slackware, it works fine. Try putting the laptop into sleep mode though, then waking it up. When I do that, the point stick stops working.

[mrBen]

Originally posted by MDesigner
Yeah, that's the thing.. if I boot up Slackware, it works fine. Try putting the laptop into sleep mode though, then waking it up. When I do that, the point stick stops working.

Hmm - yeah. IME X doesn't like it when pointing devices are 'removed' (I have a USB Trackball), and I guess that maybe the sleep mode 'disconnects' the device, and that is what X objects to.

[MDesigner]

But why doesn't sleep mode disable the touchpad?

[VoiDeR]

My old laptop did that to when it went in to sleep mode. I found that if i log out of x in to the commandline then closed the lid it worked fine when i opned the lid back up.

[MDesigner]

I have to keep this laptop in graphical mode though for ease of use's sake.