So I got tired of playing with Linux from a USB drive and I didn't want to mess my Windows system up, so, I decided to buy a new laptop (HP Pavilion dm4). The first thing I did when I opened it up was to install a new 128GB SATAIII drive and doubled the RAM. Next I installed Mint12. The thing I'm having trouble with is that the track pad doesn't allow scrolling (either dos dedos or edge). I've done a bunch of research...changed the 50-synaptics.conf file; added a two-finger scroll.conf file. Nothing works. Has anyone successfully fixed this problem with Mint?
One issue is that you are applying fixes for synaptics touchpad and I believe the dm4 line uses an Alp's touchpad. Edit: Guess they used both... what's the full model number for your dm4?
From everything I've read, it's an Alp's trackpad, but it uses/accesses the Synaptics drivers. This is one of the posts I have tried. Ubuntu Forums This screen grab is where I've been editing the conf files. In the link above, he uses etc/... I don't have those same files in mine. I have a 2191us.
I spent waaaay too much time working on this problem. Judging from the stuff I read when trying to fix it, this issue has been around for at least two years. You'd think Ubuntu devs would have figured this out. So, I'm now running Pear OS4. Touch pad works fine.......
I have no experience with computer programming really, just tinkering around? Any chance you guys can put together a newbie starter Kit/Course so that I can get up to speed?
Pear has a really good installation tool called the App Store, however, I frequently get 'not connected to the Internet' even though I am. I wonder if this is because of the place it's contacting to get the app. I don't think most linux people would care for Pear because it doesn't require so much customization. Whereas, I just want something that works without spending 3 days trying to figure out how to fix the touchpad issue. However, and this even applies to Mint, I didn't find the desktop settings to either to be really customizable....but, I'm a n00b here, so, maybe I just didn't have the right junk installed. I've seen some installs that are really cool and has dynamic widgets all over the screen...but, these were quite boring. I just rooted & installed Ice Cream Sandwich on my 'droid tablet....that's pretty cool (but definitely not polished...it's a beta build). I think Pear uses Docky to give the appearance of Apple's OS X...but doesn't match it completely. I was able to do something similar on Mint. I can't say as I like Docky that much--gets in the way....maybe Cairo is a little better. It's hard to move Docky around and it doesn't autosize like OS X AFAICT. I thought Mint's 12 original desktop was quite useful with the hotspot in the corner. Pear has a few glitches: e.g., I accidentally dropped an icon on the top bar and I can't get it off. I posted the issue on the forum and someone replied that this is a Gnome 3 problem, not one with Pear. I'm guessing that you should be able to remove the top bar and docky, then re-install both and get it back to factor, but I don't know how to do that and I just don't want to fiddle with it....maybe when I was in my 20s, but not now. I recall now that this is why I originally quit messing with RedHat....I just spent too much time trying to fix things. I'm obsessive....if something is messed up, I can't sleep until I fix it. I went to work the other day on 1 hour of sleep because of Mint. I think ultimately, I'm going to buy a gizmo that clones the original HDD that came in the laptop (I upgraded to SATAIII) and keep Windows on there, but put a new partition on there and put some version of linux. I just haven't found the right one yet, but Pear HAS been the easiest to use of the 4 or 5 I've checked out. I think that's the thing though....linux users probably don't like easy. I'm going to try a few more distros...but, I'm worried I'm giving that SSD drive too much of a workout. BTW...I never did like HP products, but this laptop is pretty sweet. Nice and light and runs cool.
I don't think anyone is talking about computer programming (e.g., writing software in java, python, C++). This has been just trying out the different linux builds. You CAN program on linux (which is what I plan to do), but you don't have to....you can just use the whole setup for surfing, e-mail, chat, word processing, spreadsheets, and games. If you actually want to start learning how to program, I would suggest getting a book by John Smiley on learning how to program in java. C# or Visual basic are good languages too, but you have to be in Windows AND Microsoft's next OS is getting away from .Net, so I don't know what effect that will have on the software languages. The concept of java has remained the same since inception: write once, compile anywhere.
Ok, when I installed Mint12 on my Dell LT the touch pad didn't work. So in order for me start surfing around the web to find out why I hooked up my wireless mouse from my PC. Mint12 found the wireless and it worked great. Then my touch pad started working. Don't know how or why, but out of habit I tried to move the mouse with the touch pad and it responded. I disconnected the wireless mouse and it still works. May not be of much help, but that's how I got mine to work.
I just fixed this by uninstalling Gnome Panels (? maybe). I couldn't re-install due to the "network not detected" bs so I just re-booted. Upon reboot, the issue was gone...and so was the original top bar....the Pear is gone and a more regular top bar is there that has better stuff on it. Yep...you guessed it...I don't know what the hell I'm doing but sometimes that works. EDIT: Sweet! I just noticed the upper-left corner hotspot is now there. That's real nice....much better than factory setting of Pear.
So, I had on Pear OS4 for a while. This was actually an alpha release. There were a few buggy things, but nothing I couldn't live with. But....I wanted to try out some other distos (all of which have been Ubuntu/Debian based) and NONE of them had the touchpad working properly. And when I say "working properly," I mean you couldn't even use the track pad...it would jump all over the place. That is one of those deal-breaker things. The odd thing is...Pear OS4, which just released the beta, had no issues with the trackpad and is Ubuntu-based. How can that have no issues and everyone else have a massive fail? Why can't I find the driver in Pear and put it in the others? I'm going to try straight up Debian next. If that doesn't work, I'm putting Windows and Pear on and leaving it alone. I've spent way too much time trying to get a simple, but extremely import part of the OS to work. :-(l
I'm using straight Debian on my main desktop computer. I switched over from Mint 10. On an old laptop I reinstalled windows xp and them duel-booted it with Mint 9 for its long term support. I had trouble find wireless drivers that would work on it with anything newer than Mint 10. I probably will leave that computer alone from now on as the desktop I rebuilt last fall took over for the laptop as my main pc. I do not know if the issue you are having with the touchpad would be an issue with Debian or not - I'm using Debian Squeeze, and there is a live version available for that you can download and test. Melbo gave me the link in the thread I started about Mint 12. I did not like Mint 12 with Gnome 3 and hope that it gets fixed before Debian picks it up or I may not upgrade. I looked at Pear, but decided on Debian instead. Hoping the Mint 13 will be better once they get Cinnamon locked in as its DE.
I think I'll try Debian out. I had more issues with the beta2 than the beta1 on Pear. I should've left well enough alone. I saw a note the other day that they're finalizing it soon. The beta1 had a hot corner, beta2 doesn't. I put Cinnamon and XFCE desktops on it...I don't even use the Pear one anymore. Hey...do you guys set up a separate /home dir? On my last 3 installs, I set up a /boot, /swap, /home, and a / (root). I'm not sure if I need a /boot now, but I would if I had a dual install with Windows....correct? I ended up formatting the /home anyway because the settings in the /home kept junk I didn't like or that cause installs to be wonky.
I'm fairly satisfied with Debian Squeeze 6 for now as it works so much like Mint 9 through 11 did the difference is almost undetectable, probably because I was able to customize it similar to the way I was used to with Mint. I am not sure how my partitions are actually set up as I allowed Debian to do as it pleased. I've a 1 tarabite HDD so /root is 10 gig, not sure what else it did. Actually I was only thinking about getting something that I would not have to keep upgrading every couple of years. That is why I converted over to Debian Squeeze. However, when the next distro of Mint comes out, I will probably give it a look.
