SynapticsTouchpad [FreeBSD WIKI]

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===== Synaptics Touchpad =====

===== Introduction =====

The Synaptics Touchpad is a pointing device found on many laptops and supported since %%FreeBSD%% 8.

By default, it is recognized and configured as a 3-buttons mouse. Additional features can be enabled with the ''%%hw.psm.synaptics_support%%'' sysctl tunable.

Also check out [[https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/faq/#x-and-synaptic|FreeBSD FAQ: My laptop has a Synaptics Touchpad. Can I use it in X?]]

===== Features =====

  * Improved movement smoothing. It's comparable to the Microsoft Windows driver from Synaptics, except when the finger reaches touchpad borders where the movement becomes chaotic.
  * Tap detection with one (left click), two (right click), or three (middle click) finger tap support.
  * Tap-hold detection with one, two, or three fingers.
  * Virtual scrolling. For now, an area must be dedicated to virtual scrolling; typically, one on the right (vertical scrolling) and one at the bottom (horizontal scrolling). Also, a patch must be applied to xf86-input-mouse to handle horizontal scrolling from sysmouse. Later, virtual scrolling with two fingers will be re-added, as found on Apple %%MacBook%%.

===== Setup =====

To enable psm(4) Synaptics support, add the following line to ''%%/boot/loader.conf%%''

<code>
hw.psm.synaptics_support="1"
</code>

Enable moused(8). Add the following to ''%%/etc/rc.conf%%''

<code>
moused_enable="YES"
</code>

To use it within X.Org, disable the X.Org-specific Synaptics driver, and configure a sysmouse mouse. Here's an example section for ''%%/etc/X11/xorg.conf%%''

<code>
Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier      "Mouse0"
    Driver          "mouse"
    Option          "Protocol"      "auto"
    Option          "Device"        "/dev/sysmouse"
    Option          "ZAxisMapping"  "4 5 6 7"
EndSection
</code>

Horizontal scrolling is disabled by default. To enable it, add the following to ''%%/etc/sysctl.conf%%''

<code>
hw.psm.synaptics.vscroll_hor_area=1300
</code>

===== Touchpad Configuration =====

==== Palm Detection ====

=== Finger Pressure ===

<code>
hw.psm.synaptics.min_pressure: 16
hw.psm.synaptics.max_pressure: 220
</code>

If the pressure is less than ''%%min_pressure%%'' or above ''%%max_pressure%%'', the packet is ignored but the current action isn't terminated. The pressure is comprised between 0 and 255. Here are some meaningful values, as stated by Synaptics specifications:
  * z = 0: no finger contact
  * z = 10: finger hovering near the pad
  * z = 30: very light finger contact
  * z = 80: normal finger contact
  * z = 110: very heavy finger contact
  * z = 200: finger lying flat on pad surface
  * z = 255: maximum reportable Z

=== Finger Width ===

<code>
hw.psm.synaptics.max_width: 10
</code>

If the finger width is above ''%%max_width%%'', the packet is ignored but the current action isn't terminated. The width is comprised between 4 and 15. Here are some meningful values, as stated by Synaptics specifications:
  * w = 4-7: finger of normal width (capPalmDetect needed)
  * w = 8-14: very wide finger or palm (capPalmDetect needed)
  * w = 15: maximum reportable width (capPalmDetect needed

==== Movement Smoothing ====

For movement smoothing, we use a weighted average then a division where both the weight and the divisor vary, depending on the movement speed. See "How it works".

<code>
hw.psm.synaptics.weight_current: 3
hw.psm.synaptics.weight_previous: 6
hw.psm.synaptics.weight_previous_na: 20
hw.psm.synaptics.weight_len_squared: 2000
</code>

''%%weight_current%%'' and ''%%weight_previous%%'' define the range of weights to use when calculating the average. ''%%weight_previous_na%%'' is used instead of ''%%weight_previous%%'' when the finger is inside the noisy area (see "Touchpad borders").

TODO: explain ''%%weight_len_squared%%''.

<code>
hw.psm.synaptics.div_min: 9
hw.psm.synaptics.div_max: 17
hw.psm.synaptics.div_max_na: 30
hw.psm.synaptics.div_len: 100
</code>

''%%div_min%%'' and ''%%div_max%%'' define the range of divisors to when calculating the final delta for x & y. ''%%div_max_na%%'' is used instead of ''%%div_max%%'' when the finger is inside the noisy area (see "Touchpad borders").

TODO: explain ''%%div_len%%''.

<code>
hw.psm.synaptics.multiplicator: 10000
</code>

This multiplicator is used during averages and divisions to increase the precision.

=== How Movement Smoothing Works ===

The smoothing is based on a weighted average:

<code cpp>
average = (weight_current * delta + weight_previous * average) / (weight_current + weight_preivous)
</code>

where :
  * ''%%average%%'' is the previous average, which is kept between each packet.
  * ''%%delta%%'' is the relative movement.
  * ''%%weight_current%%'' and ''%%weight_previous%%'' are configurable weights.

This average is calculated for each axis (x & y) separately.

The problem with a simple weighted average as above is that the user has to choose between a smooth but laggy movement (''%%weight_previous%%'' greater then ''%%weight_current%%'') or a sharp but imprecise movement at slow speed (''%%weight_previous%%'' smaller or equal to ''%%weight_current%%'').

The idea is then to change ''%%weight_previous%%'' based on the last packets:
  * If the movement is slow, we keep ''%%weight_previous%%'' at its original value.
  * If the movement is fast, ''%%weight_previous%%'' decreases and may reach 0 for the fastest movements.

Internaly, the driver keeps the last 10 packets. Here is the simplified algorithm:

<code cpp>
dx = abs(new_x - older_x) + 1; /* +1: to avoid a division by zero below. */
dy = abs(new_y - older_y) + 1;

/* "len" is really the length squared. */
len = (dx * dx) + (dy * dy);

/* "sysctl_weight_len_squared" is the length squared at which the
 * "weight_previous" will start to decrease. */
weight_previous = sysctl_weight_len_squared * weight_previous / len;
weight_previous = imin(weight_previous, sysctl_weight_previous);
</code>

The driver will do almost the same with the divisor to calculate the acceleration. The rest of the division is also kept between each packet; otherwise, with slow movements, the pointer doesn't reproduce well what the finger is doing.

==== Touchpad Borders (Margins) ====

Touchpad edges (borders) can generate a lot of noise in reported coordinates. There are two sets of sysctl tunables that control this area:

<code>
hw.psm.synaptics.margin_top: 200
hw.psm.synaptics.margin_right: 200
hw.psm.synaptics.margin_bottom: 200
hw.psm.synaptics.margin_left: 200
</code>

These margins act as a high-pass filter: for instance, the point [50; 170] will be reported as [200;200].

<code>
hw.psm.synaptics.na_top: 1783
hw.psm.synaptics.na_right: 563
hw.psm.synaptics.na_bottom: 1408
hw.psm.synaptics.na_left: 1600
</code>

''%%na%%'' stands for noisy area. Movements inside these larger margins will be smoothed using different max weight and divisor. See "Movement Smoothing".

==== Points History ====

<code>
hw.psm.synaptics.window_min: 4
hw.psm.synaptics.window_max: 10
</code>

''%%window_min%%'' indicates the minimum number of packets to receive before an action is considered to be real and wanted. ''%%window_max%%'' is the maximum number of packets to use in calculations.

==== Tap and Tap-hold ====

<code>
hw.psm.synaptics.tap_max_delta: 80
hw.psm.synaptics.tap_min_queue: 2
</code>

''%%tap_max_delta%%'' is the maximum delta between points to treat the action as a tap. This is to prevent any unwanted click. ''%%tap_min_queue%%'' is the minimum number of packets needed to consider a tap.

<code>
hw.psm.synaptics.taphold_timeout: 125000
</code>

''%%taphold_timeout%%'' is the time (in microseconds) between two taps to consider a tap-hols action.

==== Virtual Scrolling ====

<code>
hw.psm.synaptics.vscroll_hor_area: 1300
hw.psm.synaptics.vscroll_ver_area: -600
hw.psm.synaptics.vscroll_min_delta: 50
hw.psm.synaptics.vscroll_div_min: 100
hw.psm.synaptics.vscroll_div_max: 150
</code>

An area must be dedicated to virtual scrolling for now. This area is defined by ''%%vscroll_hor_area%%'' (positive for an area at the bottom, negative for an area at the top) for horizontal scrolling and ''%%vscroll_ver_area%%'' (positive for an area on the left, negative for an area on the right) for vertical scrolling. ''%%vscroll_min_delta%%'' is the minimum delta between points to consider a scrolling action. This is to prevent unwanted scrolling when tapping for instance. ''%%vscroll_div_min%%'' and ''%%vscroll_div_max%%'' are the divisors used instead of ''%%div_min%%'' and ''%%div_max%%'' respectively.

===== Toggling Synaptics Touchpad with devd =====

Although touchpads can support palm detection, it is sometimes desirable to disable them if a USB mouse is plugged in.

These instructions assume a USB wired or wireless mouse. For a mouse that connects via Bluetooth, you will also need to identify your mouse ''%%device-name%%''.

==== Setup ====

We will be triggering a script from devd in order to toggle synaptics.

Create a new script in /usr/local/bin named "synaptics-hotplug".

In this script, paste the following:

<code>
#!/bin/sh

trackpad_disable(){
        /sbin/sysctl hw.psm.synaptics.min_pressure=220
}

trackpad_enable(){
        /sbin/kldunload ums
        /sbin/sysctl hw.psm.synaptics.min_pressure=32
}

synaptics_$1
</code>

Then you will want to make the script executable.

<code>
chmod +x synaptics-hotplug
</code>

Next you will want to open /etc/devd/usb.conf and navigate to line 5686, it should look like the following:

<code>
nomatch 32 {
        match "bus" "uhub[0-9]+";
        match "mode" "host";
        match "intclass" "0x03";
        match "intsubclass" "0x01";
        match "intprotocol" "0x02";
        action "kldload -n ums";
};
</code>

That last line in the block, 'action' is what runs everytime we plug in our USB mouse, edit it so it runs our script:

<code>
action "kldload -n ums && /usr/local/bin/synaptics-hotplug disable";
</code>

Now everytime we plug in our USB mouse, it will run our script with the "disable" argument variable which runs our script's "synaptics_disable" function, this changes our synaptics trackpad minimal pressure to 220, disabling it.

Next open /etc/devd.conf as root and put the following at the end of the file(or anywhere):

<code>
detach 100 {
        device-name "ums[0-9]+";
        action "/usr/local/bin/synaptics-hotplug enable";
};
</code>

With this done, the only thing you'll need to do is restart devd

<code>
service devd restart
</code>

Once devd is restarted, the synaptics trackpad should turn off and on depending whether your USB mouse is plugged in.

Credit for scripted synpatics toggle via devd goes to SamuelGogarty.

===== Other Resources =====

  * [[https://www.freshports.org/sysutils/iichid/|FreeBSD Port: sysutils/iichid -- Generic FreeBSD HID layer for I2C and USB devices]]

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{{tag>HowTo}}
{{tag>Laptop}}