On a fresh install of Kubuntu Natty Beta 1, the touchpad on an Acer 7552G-6436 is correctly detected as Alps. In Kubuntu 10.10 the Alps touchpad is only detected as a generic PS/2 mouse.
Unfortunately, in System Settings > Input Devices > Touchpad, although "Vertical scrolling at right edge" is checked, scrolling still does not work.
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: kde-config-touchpad 0.5.3-0ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-7.39-generic 2.6.38
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-7-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: wl fglrx
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri Apr 1 05:56:45 2011
InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Beta amd64 (20110330)
ProcEnviron:
LANGUAGE=
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: synaptiks
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
Possibly related, the pressure required to register a mouse click when tapping the pad varies wildly, for no apparent reason. Sometimes the tap requires only light pressure, as expected, while other times the tap must be quite firm to register. This is distinct from the behavior in the preinstalled Windows 7.
I have had two different revisions of this same notebook, an Acer 7552G-6436, and unfortunately had to return the first due to a faulty hard drive. The first version had a Synaptics touchpad which worked well with the Natty Alpha series. Both machines have identical specifications for the touchpad in regards to features like gestures, scrolling, etc. As another interesting aside, the first revision used an Atheros wifi chipset while this version uses Broadcom.