Driver to disable Alps Pointer Stick

Enter the following in the terminal to open the xorg.conf file.

sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Find this section under your 'nipple pointer'
"SendCoreEvents" "true"

And change true to false.

If these comments have solved your problem, please consider marking this request as answered. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SupportRequests contains useful information about managing your support request.

If you are still having problems, let us know and we'll keep working on them.

Best Regards,

Williamts99

Thanks williamts99 - I only have an entry for the touchpad that I can see and when I change that the touchpad stops working but the pointer still does (and cursor chaos ensues!). This is my xorg.conf

***
# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man /etc/X11/xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
 FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc"
 FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
 FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
 FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
 FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"
 FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi"
 FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi"
 # path to defoma fonts
 FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
 Load "i2c"
 Load "bitmap"
 Load "ddc"
 Load "dri"
 Load "extmod"
 Load "freetype"
 Load "glx"
 Load "int10"
 Load "type1"
 Load "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
 Driver "kbd"
 Option "CoreKeyboard"
 Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
 Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
 Option "XkbLayout" "gb"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier "Configured Mouse"
 Driver "mouse"
 Option "CorePointer"
 Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
 Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
 Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
 Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
 Driver "synaptics"
 Option "SendCoreEvents" "false"
 Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
 Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
 Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  Driver "wacom"
  Identifier "stylus"
  Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # Change to
                                                      # /dev/input/event
                                                      # for USB
  Option "Type" "stylus"
  Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  Driver "wacom"
  Identifier "eraser"
  Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # Change to
                                                      # /dev/input/event
                                                      # for USB
  Option "Type" "eraser"
  Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  Driver "wacom"
  Identifier "cursor"
  Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # Change to
                                                      # /dev/input/event
                                                      # for USB
  Option "Type" "cursor"
  Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Device"
 Identifier "NVIDIA Corporation NVIDIA Quadro FX Go700"
 Driver "nv"
 BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
 Identifier "Generic Monitor"
 Option "DPMS"
 HorizSync 28-84
 VertRefresh 43-60
EndSection

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Default Screen"
 Device "NVIDIA Corporation NVIDIA Quadro FX Go700"
 Monitor "Generic Monitor"
 DefaultDepth 16
 SubSection "Display"
  Depth 1
  Modes "1680x1050"
 EndSubSection
 SubSection "Display"
  Depth 4
  Modes "1680x1050"
 EndSubSection
 SubSection "Display"
  Depth 8
  Modes "1680x1050"
 EndSubSection
 SubSection "Display"
  Depth 15
  Modes "1680x1050"
 EndSubSection
 SubSection "Display"
  Depth 16
  Modes "1680x1050"
 EndSubSection
 SubSection "Display"
  Depth 24
  Modes "1680x1050"
 EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
 Identifier "Default Layout"
 Screen "Default Screen"
 InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
 InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
 InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
 InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
 InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
 InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
 Mode 0666
EndSection
***

Could it be the option "corepointer" under the normal mouse settings?

Cheers,
Hammers

Sorry for taking so long to reply, I forgot to subscribe to this request. Try adding the following to your mouse setting

Option "SendCoreEvents" "false"

and let me know how that goes. :-)

I forgot to add that you have to restart xorg to setting to take effect. ctrl+alt+backspace

Just wanted to check back with you and see how it went.

If these comments have solved your problem, please consider marking this request as answered. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SupportRequests contains useful information about managing your support request.

If you are still having problems, let us know and we'll keep working on them.

Best Regards,

Williamts99

Hi, sorry for the delay in responding - I was on the road.

I've tried that but it's still taking the pointerstick input.

I have to restart the machine any way (so restarting xorg isn't an issue) to test because I'm disabling the whole lot in the BIOS at the moment so Ubuntu is usable.

Thanks for your help so far.

Hammers

I'm having the same problem with a set of Dell Latitudes. On some no problem with about three of them the nipple sends the mouse all over the place. My xorg.conf file looks exactly the same as above. Is there a way to disable the nipple but not the touchpad. None of the above does so.

Seems odd that it is not working, have you tried commenting out that entire section in the file?

Very interesting that it is from static buildup and seems pretty common. Have you searched for a mechanical fix, a way to prevent the static from building up? What does the manufacturer say about it?

Sorry for the delay in responding - people keep making me work!!

I tried commenting the entire thing and x broke. I dusted off some very old memories of using vi and managed to fix it.

I've not raised it with Dell, I was hoping to find a driver workaround. I might just cut the wire the next time I have access to the right screw driver to get at my keyboard!

Any other suggestions welcome.

Thanks,

Hammers

I had read on some forums just by doing a google search, that they have
replaced a part to fix the problem. Hopefully it is still under
warranty for you.

I doubt anything on this machine is still in waranty - it's over 2 years old. I may just take my chances with the screw driver and scissors ;) Do you think there's any benefit in looking at a different driver that either ignores the pointerstick or controls it separately and therefore enables me to turn it off?

Thanks for all your help with this.

You could try the following in the terminal.

sudo modprobe -r psmouse

That kills the touchpad as well as the pointer, which is interesting because via commenting out parts of xorg.conf i was able to kill the touchpad but not the pointer. Now I just need to know how to do the opposite!

Wow, this should be something that is pretty simple, we must be missing something tiny.

I think cutting the wire might be the best answer but until I pluck up the courage could you tell me how to make "sudo modprobe -r psmouse" run on start up? I tried adding it under Preferences-->Sessions both as a command and as a .clp file but this hasn't worked.

Cheers,

Hammers

I've found something which may help - http://doc.gwos.org/index.php/Alps_touchpad

for me - cat /proc/bus/input/devices -

I: Bus=0011 Vendor=0002 Product=0008 Version=6337
N: Name="AlpsPS/2 ALPS GlidePoint"
P: Phys=isa0060/serio1/input0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input2
H: Handlers=mouse1 event2 ts1
B: EV=f
B: KEY=420 0 70000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
B: REL=3
B: ABS=1000003

So the question is now how do I disable this?

You could try adding the GuestMouseOff:

Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
 Driver "synaptics"
 Option "SendCoreEvents" "false"
 Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
 Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
 Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
 Option "GuestMouseOff" "True"
EndSection

I have an Dell Inspiron 8600, and I wanted to disabled the pointing stick. Here is how to do that:

 $ xinput list
 ⎡ Virtual core pointer id=2 [master pointer (3)]
 ⎜ ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer id=4 [slave pointer (2)]
 ⎜ ↳ AlpsPS/2 ALPS DualPoint TouchPad id=14 [slave pointer (2)]
 ⎜ ↳ Macintosh mouse button emulation id=15 [slave pointer (2)]
 ⎜ ↳ DualPoint Stick id=13 [slave pointer (2)]

The DualPoint Stick with id 13 is the device I want to disable.

 $ xinput -list-props 13
 Device 'DualPoint Stick':
 Device Enabled (117): 1
 [...several lines removed...]

Now, it is easy to disable it:

 $ xinput -set-prop 13 117 0