Vostro 1700 TouchPad "tap zones"

bigmo · 08-18-2007, 11:12 PM

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 · 08-19-2007, 02:18 PM

Anyone have any ideas?

DoubleBlack · 08-19-2007, 02:43 PM

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

bigmo · 08-19-2007, 02:45 PM

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

Joe6Pack · 08-19-2007, 04:24 PM

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 · 08-19-2007, 04:50 PM

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 · 08-21-2007, 08:15 PM

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 · 08-21-2007, 10:48 PM

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!!!

bigmo · 08-21-2007, 10:50 PM

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

Joe6Pack · 08-21-2007, 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigmo

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.