Adjust Synaptics Touchpad in Lucid Lynx

Until Lucid Lynx, HAL was used to control certain settings. For example, to adjust the Synaptics Touchpad on a laptop, settings could be put into /etc/hal/fdi/policy/11-x11-synaptics.fdi (see my previous post). However, HAL was removed in Lucid. How, then, does one make these adjustments to a Synaptics Touchpad? ... by using xinput.

I created a folder named .synaptics in my home directory (/home/myuser/). Then I made a text file named touchpad_adjustments.sh (filename doesn't really matter) which contained the following (the xinput lines beginning with # are adjustments I left in that I may want to easily enable later): (SEE UPDATE AT END OF THIS POST TO VIEW MOST RECENT ADJUSTMENT FILE I USE.)

#!/bin/bash
#
# list of synaptics device properties http://www.x.org/archive/X11R7.5/doc/man/man4/synaptics.4.html#sect4
# list current synaptics device properties: xinput list-props '"SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad"'
#
sleep 5 #added delay...
# xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Device Enabled" 8 1
# xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=32 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Pressure" 4
# xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=32 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Width" 9 # Below width 1 finger touch, above width simulate 2 finger touch. - value=pad-pixels
xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=32 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Area" 0, 0, 0, 4800 # set sensitive area of touchpad - value=left, top, right, bottom
xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=8 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Edge Scrolling" 1 0 0 # vertical, horizontal, corner - values: 0=disable 1=enable
xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=32 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Jumpy Cursor Threshold" 300 # stabilize 2 finger actions - value=pad-pixels
# xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=8 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Tap Action" 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 # pad corners rt rb lt lb tap fingers 1 2 3 (can't simulate more then 2 tap fingers AFAIK) - values: 0=disable 1=left 2=middle 3=right etc. (in FF 8=back 9=forward)
# xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=8 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling" 1 0 # vertical scrolling, horizontal scrolling - values: 0=disable 1=enable
# xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=8 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Circular Scrolling" 1
# xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=8 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Circular Scrolling Trigger" 3

exit

Then I made sure it had execute permissions by running:

chmod ug+x /home/myuser/.synaptics/touchpad_adjustments.sh

After that, to make sure it ran every time I started a session, I went to System > Preferences > Startup Applications and chose "Add," then gave it this filename for the command.

Update: The most current version of touchpad adjustment file I use is:

#!/bin/bash
#
# list of synaptics device properties http://www.x.org/archive/X11R7.5/doc/man/man4/synaptics.4.html#sect4
# list current synaptics device properties: xinput list-props "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad"
# To get list of devices and IDs, do xinput list
#
sleep 5 #added delay...
# xinput set-int-prop "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Device Enabled" 8 1
# xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=32 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Pressure" 4
# xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=32 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Width" 9 # Below width 1 finger touch, above width simulate 2 finger touch. - value=pad-pixels
xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=32 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Area" 0, 0, 0, 4800 # set sensitive area of touchpad - value=left, top, right, bottom
xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=8 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Edge Scrolling" 1 0 0 # vertical, horizontal, corner - values: 0=disable 1=enable
xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=32 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Jumpy Cursor Threshold" 300 # stabilize 2 finger actions - value=pad-pixels
# xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=8 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Tap Action" 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 # pad corners rt rb lt lb tap fingers 1 2 3 (can't simulate more then 2 tap fingers AFAIK) - values: 0=disable 1=left 2=middle 3=right etc. (in FF 8=back 9=forward)
# xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=8 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Two-Finger Scrolling" 1 0 # vertical scrolling, horizontal scrolling - values: 0=disable 1=enable
# xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=8 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Circular Scrolling" 1
# xinput --set-prop --type=int --format=8 "SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad" "Synaptics Circular Scrolling Trigger" 3

exit