# How to use synaptics touchpad with FreeBSD



## Rajesh (Aug 9, 2018)

Hi,

I am trying to use synaptics touchpad driver with FreeBSD.  From wiki, I see we need to set hw.psm.synaptics_support to enable driver for synaptics touchpad.  I tried setting this tunable, also loaded the necessary i2c driver.  But I am not able to move the mouse pointer.  Am i missing anything?  I also tried setting moused_enable="YES" in /etc/rc.conf, but no luck.   I suspect whether the psm driver itself is not loaded. 

kldstat -v  | grep psm  :
 436 acpi/psmcpnp
 435 isa/psmcpnp
 434 atkbdc/psm

Any clue?


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## ShelLuser (Aug 9, 2018)

FreeBSD or Xorg? FreeBSD itself doesn't use a mouse you know 

Did you install x11/xorg?   Because that port depends on x11-drivers/xf86-input-synaptics which should be enough to get this working.

(edit)

I'll look into that wiki because that seems like flawed info to me (at first impression). Normally you only need to install the port and then things should work.


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## scottro (Aug 9, 2018)

I've found that sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, from 10.x to 11.2.  (The wiki instructions). Currently, working for me on a Lenovo Yoga2 and not working on a Thinkpad L420.


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## shepper (Aug 9, 2018)

There are 3 Different manufacturers of touchpads; Synaptics, Elantech and ALPS.  Adding to the challenge is that Linux and OpenBSD are moving away from xf86-input-synaptics to libinput.

X input: devd, dbus, hald, evdev... ???


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## Rajesh (Sep 7, 2018)

Thanks for your response Guys.  Sorry, I have to take up some other work for a while. So couldn't spend time on this.  



ShelLuser said:


> FreeBSD or Xorg? FreeBSD itself doesn't use a mouse you know
> 
> Did you install x11/xorg? Because that port depends on x11-drivers/xf86-input-synaptics which should be enough to get this working.



I haven't tried it on Xorg.  I just tried it on the FreeBSD terminal.  When I have USB mouse connected, I see it's movement.  So tried with Touchpad to see if it works.  But I don't see it working.  It will take some more time for me to start working on it again. I will keep posted whenever I get some updated. 

Thanks again anyway.


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## bart (Sep 9, 2018)

Have you try this:

echo 'hw.psm.synaptics_support="1"' >> /boot/loader.conf
sysrc moused_enable=YES
service moused start

see https://wiki.freebsd.org/SynapticsTouchpad


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## Martin Paredes (Sep 16, 2018)

Does FreeBSD detect it? What is the output of `dmesg | grep psm`

What is the output of `ps axw| grep mouse`

What configuration you have in /etc/rc.conf for `moused`? give us the output of `grep moused /etc/rc.conf`

FreeBSD provides the ability to use a mouse pointer in text terminals to cut & paste text, and that's all you can do with a mouse in a text terminal.

Without `hw.psm.synaptics_support`, the touchpad is recognized as a standard 3-buttons mouse, in a text terminal you don't need more.

In case that your final objective is to use it in X, the FAQ has your question

11.6 My laptop has a Synaptics touchpad. Can I use it in X?

It says you must remove `moused_enable` from rc.conf

Also make some modification to the file /boot/loader.conf and /etc/X11/xorg.conf.

More information in psm(4) and moused(8)


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## scottro (Sep 16, 2018)

Complete opposite of what the wiki says, which, although it talks about FreeBSD-7 was last updated in April of this year. 
https://wiki.freebsd.org/SynapticsTouchpad

For what it's worth, it sometimes works for me with moused enabled and sometimes doesn't, depending upon laptop.


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## blackhaz (Sep 16, 2018)

Using it here with moused enabled on ThinkPad Yoga X1. Everything works, including two-finger scroll. bart's instructions should work.


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## bart (Sep 16, 2018)

blackhaz said:


> Using it here with moused enabled on ThinkPad Yoga X1. Everything works, including two-finger scroll. bart's instructions should work.


Yes  I'm using also thinkpad X1


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## jfoucry (Nov 12, 2018)

Hello folks,

I come back to this old thread because I have a small issue with the touchpad of my ThinkPad x280.

Everything works well, but, I cannot find the correct setting to disable the touchpad when typing on the keyboard. It's very annoying to see the cursor move to another part of the text because your thumb touch the pad.

If one of you know the correct setting he/she will be my god/goddess for a day 

Jacques


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## Martin Paredes (Nov 12, 2018)

Check the Thread how-to-disable-mousepad-tapping.17370



ohyes said:


> add hw.psm.synaptics_support=1 to /boot/loader.conf
> add hw.psm.tap_timeout=0 to /etc/sysctl.conf
> add moused_enable to /etc/rc.conf


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