Fatdog64-813 Dell E6440 trackpad and hi-dpi screen

[dr__Dan]

[2022-10-17 moderator] moved to its own new topic

I'm upgrading from 811 to 813 on my primary computer, A Dell E6440. After installing without difficulty and modifying my syslinux.cfg with some difficulty, I'm booted onto 813 with no savefile. I used the small-initrd option in the installer.
Question: Under append in my syslinux.config settings, does the file the basefs parameter looks for have to be named fd64.sfs? The file boot-options-base.md implies that it can have a modified name,

This parameter tells Fatdog64 where to find the basesfs file (e.g. fd64-800.sfs).

but renaming it to anything else didn't work, so I put each version's fd64.sfs in its own directory and seem to be having no problem with it.
So far everything seems to be working, and sound card configuration with the aloopd options seems to allow more customization.
I have two caveats: libinput doesn't seem to like my touchpad, and tap-to-click isn't working, even with the box checked in the TouchPad Settings Control Panel applet. The touchpad help file mentions a man page for xf86-input-libinput, but the link (http://distro.ibiblio.org/fatdog/web/fa ... put.4.html) gets a 403 Forbidden result. The online version does the same. I'll switch to the synaptics option. More on that in another post.
Also, this laptop has a 1080p screen and should qualify as hi-dpi, but it doesn't actually happen (windows open at the standard-resolution dimensions). I looked it up online a while back and found that the built-in hi-dpi recognition in Linux doesn't perform perfectly. I suggest substituting a small script and an accompanying environment variable to determine the screen dpi.
I'm copying profiles, certain directories, and specific settings to the newly created savefile to save customization time. I'll report on any additional observations.
Another good release! For whatever reason, performance seems a little better, and battery life a little longer.

Dan

[jamesbond]

I'm upgrading from 811 to 813 on my primary computer, A Dell E6440. After installing without difficulty and modifying my syslinux.cfg with some difficulty, I'm booted onto 813 with no savefile. I used the small-initrd option in the installer.
Question: Under append in my syslinux.config settings, does the file the basefs parameter looks for have to be named fd64.sfs?

You can use a different filename but the name cannot use spaces. Can you post your syslinux line that tries to load a differently-named basesfs?

I have two caveats: libinput doesn't seem to like my touchpad, and tap-to-click isn't working, even with the box checked in the TouchPad Settings Control Panel applet. The touchpad help file mentions a man page for xf86-input-libinput, but the link (http://distro.ibiblio.org/fatdog/web/fa ... put.4.html) gets a 403 Forbidden result. The online version does the same.

It's a permission issue, sorry. It's fixed now.

Also, this laptop has a 1080p screen and should qualify as hi-dpi, but it doesn't actually happen (windows open at the standard-resolution dimensions). I looked it up online a while back and found that the built-in hi-dpi recognition in Linux doesn't perform perfectly. I suggest substituting a small script and an accompanying environment variable to determine the screen dpi.

Fatdog has poor hi-dpi support, I will have to admit that. What we have is a band-aid solution, because none of us has a hi-dpi screen (other than step may be). In addition, 1080dpi is only a hi-dpi if you have a small screen size (e.g. 13 inch or less), on larger screen it is not considered as hi-dpi.

Thanks your kind feedback as usual.

[step]

none of us has a hi-dpi screen (other than step may be)

I'm afraid not, no hi-dpi screen here either.

@dr__Dan, these two commands can help you to see what your trackpad can do: xinput --list to get a list of your input devices, then find your touchpad ID in the list and run xinput --list-props ID to read properties and their current value (substitute actual value for ID). Maybe also try the xf86-input-synaptics touchpad driver?

[dr__Dan]

Hi @jamesbond,

Thanks for the quick reply.

Can you post your syslinux line that tries to load a differently-named basesfs?

This works:

Code: Select all

append rootfstype=ramfs autoswap savefile=none dofsck basefs=expand:/mnt/sda3/boot/813/fd64.sfs

but this would not:

Code: Select all

append rootfstype=ramfs autoswap savefile=none dofsck basefs=expand:/mnt/sda3/boot/fd64-813.sfs

Regarding libinput, It seems there are add-on methods to get more function from it, but I don't know how to implement them. synaptics works fairly well, but I encounter a bug on occasion. flSynclient does alright to adjust the settings, but I found Mistfire's pSynclient https://oldforum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic.php?t=117240 and found it to perform better. I've modified it a little, removing some deprecated settings and adding or modifying a few others. It's an unfinished project, but I've attached it below. I believe it needs components of the flSynclient package to function correctly. If anyone is interested, it is easy to compare it with the original to see what I've done.

1080dpi is only a hi-dpi if you have a small screen size (e.g. 13 inch or less), on larger screen it is not considered as hi-dpi.

That's just what I have. I looked at the method used in, for example, fatdog-control-panel.sh and fatdog-control-panel-legacy.sh, and it seems reasonable, but for this laptop I calculate 155 dpi from 1920x1080@60Hz 30.9x17.4cm as reported by hardinfo, vs. ~/.Xresources gives Xft.dpi: 108. (Or this:

Code: Select all

# xrdb -query
*font:	-misc-dejavu sans mono-medium-r-normal--*-100-*-*-m-*-*-*
Xft.dpi:	96

to complicate a bit more.)
The lower limit for hi-dpi in the control panel applet is 132, which seems to me to be just about right. The same few lines of code could be inserted into other Fatdog utilities (with appropriate dimesions) fairly easily, but if the dpi is not reported correctly, it won't matter. Could there be a startup or first run script to find the correct dpi and write it to ~/Xresources?

@step, hi, thanks for the suggestion. I did just that some years back. Synaptics is what I need, mostly because I want features that libinput doesn't offer. Using that with the adapted psynclient works pretty well.

I'm curious what your macbook dpi is?

I'll pass on any additional observations if I have them.

Thanks as always to the whole team,

Dan

(edited to add attachment)

[JakeSFR]

Can you post your syslinux line that tries to load a differently-named basesfs?

This works:

Code: Select all

append rootfstype=ramfs autoswap savefile=none dofsck basefs=expand:/mnt/sda3/boot/813/fd64.sfs

but this would not:

Code: Select all

append rootfstype=ramfs autoswap savefile=none dofsck basefs=expand:/mnt/sda3/boot/fd64-813.sfs

Both don't look right to me.
The syntax, in this case, is basesfs=option:device:dev:path, so it should be something like:

Code: Select all

basesfs=expand:device:sda3:/boot/fd64-813.sfs

No idea why the first one works...

Greetings!

[step]

Regarding libinput, It seems there are add-on methods to get more function from it, but I don't know how to implement them.

The FAQ link points to Xorg configuration settings for libinput. You can apply them in your Xorg.conf file then restart X. Note: the linked page recommends against configuring libinput devices via Xorg.conf for hot-pluggable devices but I don't think your trackpad is hot-pluggable, unless you're used to disable it

Xorg.conf man page

I'm curious what your macbook dpi is?

113 as seen here.

[dr__Dan]

Hello neighbors,
Am I missing something obvious? Yes.
@JakeSFR wrote

Both don't look right to me.

and

No idea why the first one works...

I modified my stanza to follow the given example basesfs=expand:device:sda3:/boot/fd64-813.sfs, but it still did not work, until I changed mine from basefs= to basesfs= (meaning that it never was functioning, and instead was picking up an older base.sfs file). Apparently I have been using the wrong base.sfs for some while, running some kind of hybrid monstrosity! It always worked, so I never gave it a thought.
Now, with it actually booting and loading as I intend, it is giving noticeably better battery life.
Thanks JakeSFR for the clear information. I've read the help file very carefully in the past, but I still wasn't clear on the necessary details, (leaving out the spelling error) or even that they existed in regards to the base.sfs parameter. I'll suggest some minor changes to the help file.
Thanks to the rest as well,

Dan

[jamesbond]

Glad you found it, Dan. "basesfs" and "basefs" ... I will have to admit that I make those kind of mistakes too.
Thanks in advance for the docs update, you've always been so helpful on this matter