Topher, take a look at Bug 545307. There you will see that Chase recently
developed a patch for the Kernel for recognizing Alps touchpad type listed.
It worked for me.  For me, now the tabs show up for me, but the settings
don't adjust.  I am not sure if my problem with that is unique to me
(because we were messing around trying to fix it earlier) or whether every
one will have it. But if you have the same type of touchpad and can find the
patch and install it, it is worth a try

On Tue, Mar 30, 2010 at 8:01 PM, Topher <email address hidden> wrote:

> Confirming that this problem also exists in Ubuntu 10.04 Karmic beta 1
> (ie, touchpad is recognized as a generic mouse device) on HP Mini 311.
>
> --
> Alps touchpad is recognized but neither gsynaptics nor mouse preferences
> work
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/550625
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>
> Status in “xserver-xorg-input-synaptics” package in Ubuntu: New
>
> Bug description:
> Binary package hint: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
>
> I have Ubuntu 9.10 and an Alps touchpad (E7: 73 02 64). Chase fixed the
> kernel so that it was recognized  and, indeed, the touchpad shows up in both
> gsynaptics and system>preferences>mouse, but when I actually try to adjust
> the settings nothing changes. My goal is to disable the tap-to-click feature
> or disable the touchpad when typing. Chase suggests it may be something
> related to the driver and to open another bug.
>
> ProblemType: Bug
> Architecture: i386
> Date: Sun Mar 28 22:02:25 2010
> DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
> InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release i386 (20091028.5)
> MachineType: Hewlett-Packard HP Pavilion dm3 Notebook PC
> Package: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics 1.1.2-1ubuntu7
> ProcCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-21-generic
> root=UUID=f1e2e19e-a0f8-407d-9533-c5ba95a8be50 ro quiet splash
> ProcEnviron:
>  LANG=en_US.UTF-8
>  SHELL=/bin/bash
> ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-21.58~alps4-generic
> RelatedPackageVersions:
>  xserver-xorg 1:7.4+3ubuntu10
>  libgl1-mesa-glx 7.6.0-1ubuntu4
>  libdrm2 2.4.14-1ubuntu1
>  xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.9.0-1ubuntu2.1
>  xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.12.99+git20090929.7968e1fb-0ubuntu1
> SourcePackage: xserver-xorg-input-synaptics
> Uname: Linux 2.6.31-21-generic i686
> XorgConf:
>  Section "InputDevice"
>        Identifier "Macintosh mouse button emulation"
>        Driver "synaptics"
>        Option "SHMConfig" "true"
>  EndSection
> dmi.bios.date: 12/04/2009
> dmi.bios.vendor: Insyde Corp.
> dmi.bios.version: F.22
> dmi.board.asset.tag: Base Board Asset Tag
> dmi.board.name: 3656
> dmi.board.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
> dmi.board.version: 44.1D
> dmi.chassis.type: 10
> dmi.chassis.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
> dmi.chassis.version: N/A
> dmi.modalias:
> dmi:bvnInsydeCorp.:bvrF.22:bd12/04/2009:svnHewlett-Packard:pnHPPaviliondm3NotebookPC:pvr0486110000241F00110320000:rvnHewlett-Packard:rn3656:rvr44.1D:cvnHewlett-Packard:ct10:cvrN/A:
> dmi.product.name: HP Pavilion dm3 Notebook PC
> dmi.product.version: 0486110000241F00110320000
> dmi.sys.vendor: Hewlett-Packard
> fglrx: Not loaded
> system:
>  distro:             Ubuntu
>  architecture:       i686kernel:             2.6.31-21-generic
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
>
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-input-synaptics/+bug/550625/+subscribe
>



-- 
Mary Henderson
(207) 212-8805