external touchpad for Thinkpad T23? (fwd)

[Jurjen Middendorp]

On Wed, Jan 03, 2007 at 02:49:48AM +1100, Ian Smith wrote:
>I originally posted this to -mobile three months ago, but got no
>nibbles.  The T23 is is running 6.1-RELEASE presently.  Anyone?
>
>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2006 05:18:23 +1000 (EST)
>From: Ian Smith <smithi at nimnet.asn.au>
>To: freebsd-mobile at freebsd.org
>Subject: external touchpad for Thinkpad T23?
>
>I've just bought a Thinkpad T23, and I'm loving it .. but I'm not sure
>I'll ever be able to love its TrackPoint, being spoilt by the touchpad
>on my old Compaq Armada 1500c, with which I can be quite productive ..
>
>The only one I've been able to google up that looks nearly small enough
>to work with below the keyboard is the Adesso/Cirque EasyCat PS/2 or USB
>pad .. any chance these will (some value of) work with FreeBSD 6? 
>
>moused(8) only mentions the older (serial, and way too chunky) ALPS
>Glidepoint, and the Interlink Versapad which looks more the right sort
>of size, but appears to be no longer available?
>
>I'd appreciate any clues.
>
>Cheers, Ian

Moused(8) doesn't mention the ALPS glidpoint nor the Interlink VersaPad. It mentions
the protocols those things use, so you could use all touchpad things that use that
protocol.

But i can't say that i have ever used one, so you might want to wait and see if
there is someone that has actually used them.  Maybe you can find a computer shop
where you can try it?

Anyway, if you buy the ps/2 touchpad specify the ps/2 proto... which is actually
described 15 lines below the ALPS gildepoint and 11 lines below versapad ;P And
the adesso usb touchpad is plug-and-play so i think that that one will work if you
set moused to 'auto' (don't forget usb-mice kernel options?).

You might also want to have a look at the ion window-manager. Especially on laptops
it's a real pleasure to work with because it decreases the need to use a mouse for
things, so you don't have to carry a lot of stuff - besides your laptop.  And for
simple stuff like clicking links in a browser you can use the trackpoint! :)