Vostro 1700 TouchPad "tap zones"

[bigmo]

On my E1705 I had a Synaptics touchpad with which I could set "tap zones" each corner of the touchpad could be set to do certain things. Which is very important to me because it makes it easier when I do not have an actual mouse to use. On my Vostro 1700 it is a generic Dell Touchpad from what I can tell and there aren't any ways to set up the "tap zones." Does anyone know if there is any way to set these up on the new system?

[bigmo]

Anyone have any ideas?

[DoubleBlack]

It's an Alps touchpad, and there is scrolling...but no tap zones...

[bigmo]

do you think there is some other driver or manufacturer software that will allow this?

[Joe6Pack]

I have the same issue with my new 1420 and I can't find an alternate solution anywhere. I even called Dell tech supt to see if they could help and they said they said tap zones and page back/forward options are not possible. Pretty disappointing how limitted the touchpads are. These are such basic features.

I'm hoping to find a solution (modded driver, etc) in the next couple of days before I send it back.

[bigmo]

ya I'm def gonna complain to them about it I don't think I'll send it back tho, I will threaten. Thanks for the help please update if you find a solution.

[bigmo]

Alright after getting absolutely NO help from Dell chat I continued to search for a solution to tap zones and found a compromise. Maybe I'll find a better solution yet but if you download the ALPS touchpad driver for the Latitude D420 you should get the ALPS utility that gives you the middle-click option and some other options....I have been unable to get the forward and back buttons to work.

[Joe6Pack]

Holy crap, that driver enabled EVERYTHING on my touchpad! I can now do all of the following on my 1420:

- page back/forward
- four corner tap zones
- touchpad disabled while typing
- re-size scroll areas independently of each other (one can be larger than the other)

This driver is 10X better than the one preloaded and recommended by Dell. You'd think their tech guys would know this option exists.

Thanks so much for finding this fix. It's the difference between me keeping this lappy or sending it back. I'll share it with the 1420 community (with credit to you of course). Hope you're able to find a better option for your 1700... I'm sure it's out there.

Thanks again!!! :D

[bigmo]

did you get the corners to allow you to forward and back and reload etc? or just the stupid options they had?

[Joe6Pack]

did you get the corners to allow you to forward and back and reload etc? or just the stupid options they had?

I could only configure the pre-set options. Would be nice if you could customize more, but my main issue was back/forward.

[bigmo]

I could only configure the pre-set options. Would be nice if you could customize more, but my main issue was back/forward.

I couldn't get the forward/back to work....do you tap the top part of the pad in the middle left for back and middle right for forward?

[Joe6Pack]

The back/forward works as a gesture (slide finger across the top of the touchpad left/right).

[bigmo]

hmmmm.....weird its still not seeming to work....maybe i'm just not talented enough lol

[Joe6Pack]

Maybe it has something to do with the different hardware between the Vostro 1700 and the Inspiron 1420? Are you seeing the tab that says "Gestures" in the configuration window?

BTW, I'm not using the tab that says "Dell Touchpad" at all. That tab is the one that supposed to take you to the custome Dell configuration window. It's actually disabled on my 1420 now (thankfully).

[bigmo]

ya same here.....it must be some hardware difference that won't allow the forward/back gestures to work....kinda sucks but that middle click is the biggest for me because i use it in Firefox all of the time i open everything in new windows.....and i am almost always using my BT mouse so its only when I'm on the go pretty much that i need the touchpad

[biohzrd]

Just as an update on this...

I downloaded the Latitude D420 ALPS driver for my Vostro 1400, and it works like a charm. The tap zones aren't very customizable, but they are there. You can do a LOT more with your touchpad and these drivers than the ones for the 1400 supplied by dell. One thing I do like: you can adjust the width of the scroll zones independently for vertical/horizontal scrolling. I made my vertical scroll wide, and horizontal scroll very narrow. Hope this helps someone who is looking for more customizability!

[biohzrd]

Oh yeah, and here (http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd&releaseid=R140031&SystemID=LAT_PNT_PM_D420&servicetag=&os=WLH&osl=en&deviceid=2514&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=1&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=1&libid=17&fileid=187207) is the location for the driver.

[plsdonotbug]

my friends compaq came with an alps touchpad - c772tu presario, it was with freedos, but they installed xp - and, forgot the touchpad driver... after some time at google, i found the alps driver, with scrolling, off when typing, back, forward, etc etc... just google it up and there wont be any problem!