KDE4 still lacks a module for touchpad.
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=189567

I recommend Synaptiks which is actively supported and has many features:
http://synaptiks.lunaryorn.de/
http://kde-apps.org/content/show.php/synaptiks?content=114270

It's true, that synaptiks provides more features, but it requires python2. IMHO kcm_touchpad is more lightweight and simpler to use.

I activated the option to switch off the touchpad temporarily when typing (for 0.5 seconds). everytime I type a notification is shown, and everytime stop another. "the touchpad is switched on,the user is typing"...

It would be nice, if the notifications could be turned off.

This is a great tool! It has fulfilled a long-felt need :) In my humble opinion, though, it would be nice if a few more touchpad options could be set, like the touchpad area, MinSpeed, MaxSpeed
and AccelFactor (if they are
applicable to all touchpads, of course). The touchpad area, in my opinion, is
the most important; the width of the scrolling region being incorrectly set is
one of the most common touchpad problems.

Hi, I have a new vaio F series. To run the touchpad I had to put a i8042.nopnp option following the kernel input of the grub. Unfortunately this application doesn't detect it, ¿do you know what can I do? Thanks

Follow language file is fot zh_TW (Traditional Chinese)...
=====================================
# SOME DESCRIPTIVE TITLE.
# This file is put in the public domain.
# FIRST AUTHOR <EMAIL@ADDRESS>, YEAR.
#
#, fuzzy
msgid ""
msgstr ""
"Project-Id-Version: PACKAGE VERSION\n"
"Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: \n"
"POT-Creation-Date: 2009-10-25 17:00+0100\n"
"PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n"
"Last-Translator: Ranma Kuo <ranmakuo@ms2.url.com.tw>\n"
"Language-Team: LANGUAGE <LL@li.org>\n"
"MIME-Version: 1.0\n"
"Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n"
"Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n"

#: rc.cpp:3
msgid "一般"
msgstr "一般設定"

#: rc.cpp:6
msgid "觸控板"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:9
msgid "啟用觸控板."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:12
msgid "啟用"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:15
msgid "觸控板關閉."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:18
msgid "關閉"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:21
msgid "只有關閉點擊和捲動."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:24
msgid "允許移動"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:27
msgid "訊息"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:30
msgid "觸控板名稱:"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:33
msgid "沒有找到觸控板"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:36
msgid "智慧模式"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:39
msgid "打字時關閉觸控板"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:42
msgid "再啟用延遲:"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:45 rc.cpp:201 rc.cpp:213 rc.cpp:225 rc.cpp:234
msgid "100"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:48
msgid "ms"
msgstr "單位微秒"

#: rc.cpp:51
msgid "觸控板靈敏度"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:54 rc.cpp:78 rc.cpp:114
msgid "低"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:57 rc.cpp:72 rc.cpp:117
msgid "高"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:60 rc.cpp:63
msgid "捲動"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:66
msgid "當沿右邊界滑動時啟用垂直捲動功能."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:69
msgid "啟用垂直捲動"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:75
msgid "垂直捲動時之手指移動距離."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:81
msgid "當沿下邊界滑動時啟用水平捲動功能."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:84
msgid "啟用水平捲動"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:87
msgid "進階設定"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:90
msgid "當手指移開後保持邊緣捲動."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:93
msgid "啟用滑行"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:96
msgid "捲動速度轉換滑行的門檻."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:99 rc.cpp:177
msgid "慢"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:102 rc.cpp:183
msgid "快"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:105
msgid ""
"當手指停留角落時保持邊緣捲動."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:108
msgid "啟用角落滑行"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:111
msgid "觸發水平捲動的手指移動距離."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:120
msgid "當兩隻手指碰觸觸控板上時啟用垂直捲動."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:123
msgid "啟用雙手指垂直捲動"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:126
msgid "當兩隻手指碰觸觸控板上時啟用水平捲動."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:129
msgid "啟用雙手指水平捲動"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:132
msgid "圓捲動"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:135
msgid "啟用時使用圓捲動功能."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:138
msgid "啟用圓捲動"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:141
msgid "觸發圓捲動功能的觸控板區域."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:144
msgid "觸發模式:"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:147
msgid "所有角落"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:150
msgid "上緣"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:153
msgid "右上角"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:156
msgid "右緣"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:159
msgid "右下角"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:162
msgid "下緣"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:165
msgid "左下角"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:168
msgid "左緣"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:171
msgid "左上角"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:174
msgid "無觸發點"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:180
msgid "手指產生捲動功能的移動角度 (圓周)."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:186 rc.cpp:243
msgid "點擊"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:189
msgid "模擬"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:192
msgid "啟用點擊"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:195
msgid "單次點擊超時的間隔."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:198
msgid "單擊超時:"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:204 rc.cpp:216 rc.cpp:228
msgid "ms."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:207
msgid "偵測到雙擊的最長間隔時間(微秒)."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:210
msgid "雙擊間隔:"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:219
msgid "點擊時模擬滑鼠按鍵時間長度."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:222
msgid "按鍵時間:"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:231
msgid "最大點擊範圍:"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:237
msgid "pts."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:240
msgid "按鍵"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:246
msgid "右上角"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:249
msgid "右下角"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:252
msgid "左上角"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:255
msgid "左下角"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:258
msgid "單指"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:261
msgid "雙指"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:264
msgid "三指"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:267
msgid "代表"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:270
msgid "無"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:273
msgid "左鍵"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:276
msgid "中鍵"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:279
msgid "右鍵"
msgstr ""

#: kcmtouchpad.cpp:351
msgid ""
"<h1>觸控板</h1> 這個模組可以讓你調整觸控板的工作方式. "
"設定的作用會因為個別觸控板的硬體, 或是您所使用的 "
"X server 及 KDE 的版本而有不同的表現."
msgstr ""

Follow language file is fot zh_TW (Traditional Chinese)...
=====================================
# SOME DESCRIPTIVE TITLE.
# This file is put in the public domain.
# FIRST AUTHOR <EMAIL@ADDRESS>, YEAR.
#
#, fuzzy
msgid ""
msgstr ""
"Project-Id-Version: PACKAGE VERSION\n"
"Report-Msgid-Bugs-To: \n"
"POT-Creation-Date: 2009-10-25 17:00+0100\n"
"PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n"
"Last-Translator: Ranma Kuo <ranmakuo@ms2.url.com.tw>\n"
"Language-Team: LANGUAGE <LL@li.org>\n"
"MIME-Version: 1.0\n"
"Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8\n"
"Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n"

#: rc.cpp:3
msgid "一般"
msgstr "一般設定"

#: rc.cpp:6
msgid "觸控板"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:9
msgid "啟用觸控板."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:12
msgid "啟用"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:15
msgid "觸控板關閉."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:18
msgid "關閉"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:21
msgid "只有關閉點擊和捲動."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:24
msgid "允許移動"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:27
msgid "訊息"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:30
msgid "觸控板名稱:"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:33
msgid "沒有找到觸控板"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:36
msgid "智慧模式"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:39
msgid "打字時關閉觸控板"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:42
msgid "再啟用延遲:"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:45 rc.cpp:201 rc.cpp:213 rc.cpp:225 rc.cpp:234
msgid "100"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:48
msgid "ms"
msgstr "單位微秒"

#: rc.cpp:51
msgid "觸控板靈敏度"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:54 rc.cpp:78 rc.cpp:114
msgid "低"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:57 rc.cpp:72 rc.cpp:117
msgid "高"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:60 rc.cpp:63
msgid "捲動"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:66
msgid "當沿右邊界滑動時啟用垂直捲動功能."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:69
msgid "啟用垂直捲動"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:75
msgid "垂直捲動時之手指移動距離."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:81
msgid "當沿下邊界滑動時啟用水平捲動功能."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:84
msgid "啟用水平捲動"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:87
msgid "進階設定"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:90
msgid "當手指移開後保持邊緣捲動."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:93
msgid "啟用滑行"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:96
msgid "捲動速度轉換滑行的門檻."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:99 rc.cpp:177
msgid "慢"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:102 rc.cpp:183
msgid "快"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:105
msgid ""
"當手指停留角落時保持邊緣捲動."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:108
msgid "啟用角落滑行"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:111
msgid "觸發水平捲動的手指移動距離."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:120
msgid "當兩隻手指碰觸觸控板上時啟用垂直捲動."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:123
msgid "啟用雙手指垂直捲動"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:126
msgid "當兩隻手指碰觸觸控板上時啟用水平捲動."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:129
msgid "啟用雙手指水平捲動"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:132
msgid "圓捲動"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:135
msgid "啟用時使用圓捲動功能."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:138
msgid "啟用圓捲動"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:141
msgid "觸發圓捲動功能的觸控板區域."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:144
msgid "觸發模式:"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:147
msgid "所有角落"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:150
msgid "上緣"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:153
msgid "右上角"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:156
msgid "右緣"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:159
msgid "右下角"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:162
msgid "下緣"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:165
msgid "左下角"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:168
msgid "左緣"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:171
msgid "左上角"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:174
msgid "無觸發點"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:180
msgid "手指產生捲動功能的移動角度 (圓周)."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:186 rc.cpp:243
msgid "點擊"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:189
msgid "模擬"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:192
msgid "啟用點擊"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:195
msgid "單次點擊超時的間隔."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:198
msgid "單擊超時:"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:204 rc.cpp:216 rc.cpp:228
msgid "ms."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:207
msgid "偵測到雙擊的最長間隔時間(微秒)."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:210
msgid "雙擊間隔:"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:219
msgid "點擊時模擬滑鼠按鍵時間長度."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:222
msgid "按鍵時間:"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:231
msgid "最大點擊範圍:"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:237
msgid "pts."
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:240
msgid "按鍵"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:246
msgid "右上角"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:249
msgid "右下角"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:252
msgid "左上角"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:255
msgid "左下角"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:258
msgid "單指"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:261
msgid "雙指"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:264
msgid "三指"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:267
msgid "代表"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:270
msgid "無"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:273
msgid "左鍵"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:276
msgid "中鍵"
msgstr ""

#: rc.cpp:279
msgid "右鍵"
msgstr ""

#: kcmtouchpad.cpp:351
msgid ""
"<h1>觸控板</h1> 這個模組可以讓你調整觸控板的工作方式. "
"設定的作用會因為個別觸控板的硬體, 或是您所使用的 "
"X server 及 KDE 的版本而有不同的表現."
msgstr ""

Bought a new netbook, compiled kcm_touchpad on Arch, using 2.6.35 kernel and xorg1.8 and kcm_touchpad says "touchpad name device not found"

Any ideas please?

Hi,

Thanks a lot for this!

Is there any progress on integrating this module into upstream KDE? IMHO this is a basic feature that should be available out of the box. Since there isn't any depency on the synaptics driver any more, I guess it wouldn't take much to convince KDE people to pick it up.

For KDE 4.5 systemsettings has changed a lot. You may want to add the following line to the the .desktop file:

X-KDE-System-Settings-Parent-Category=input-devices

This would move it from "Lost and found" into "Input devices".

Cheers

This is exactly what I was looking for! Disabled tapping so no more pesky mouse jumps!!

Thanks,

-J

Please, I insist, how to build kcm_touchpad with full debug support?

Hello, since Xorg-input-synaptics upstream decided disable tapping by default, i cannot use your application to enable tapping in Debian unstable. But the Gnome tool is working perfectly.
The same result is expected for future releases of other distributions unless they decide to patch Xorg-input-synaptics or you update your application with a fix for this.

Tapping works just fine here. Could you please give reference to GIT repository and commit where it happened, because I do not see anything obvious in xf86-input-synaptics log? Can you enable tapping using synclient?

I have confirmed right now that this tapping issue is still present, the only way to enable tapping is by synclient, kcm_touchpad config is ignored.
I think the changes were done around line 437 in ../src/synaptics.c

"line 437" of which package? Which version?

I am talking about package xserver-xorg-input-synaptics , i am not sure in what commit or version came the change. I am looking to the sources of the versions 1.2.0 and 1.2.1.

I have left button and tapping works. In any case, driver code only sets defaults; kcm_touchpad is there exactly to make adjustments if defaults are not suitable.

Please show your ~/.kde4/share/config/kcmtouchpadrc and output of synclient -l.

Hi, I can not check the "Smart Mode" option, why?

Current GIT version supports Smart Mode using syndaemon (which is normally part of X11 synaptics driver). It is up to author to release new version though :)

So what exactly are you saying here. I have syndaemon on my machine, it even works but it's not possible to enable it via the kcm_touchpad module.
The option is there but it is grayed out.
What exactly is in git version?

Please tell me some tip to compile kcm-touchpad with full debug capabilities to get a good backtrace from a crash.

can someone please post a screenshot of touchpad tapping configuration.

i have trouble configuring my tapping times, and can't get double tap (for moving windows, like press and hold) to work fine.

here is my configuration screenshot:
http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/5388/plasmadesktopgj1304.jpg

this may be stupid question but i have tried so many things to get it to work without success.

Hello, is Smart Mode supposed to work in 0.3.1 version?
I haven't got it available.

No, it isn't.
Damn, I have to remove it to avoid confusion. :)