[TriLUG] touchpads in Linux

[Faheem Mitha]

Dear people,

I'm trying to find a good touchpad (as a standalone device) to use with
Linux in the place of a regular mouse. After spending quite a lot of time
surfing the web, I am more confused than ever.

The best general reference I found
http://www.tifaq.org/mice/touchpads.html

The main touchpads available all seem to have the name Glidepoint. The
major manufacturer of these appears to be Cirque, which has the Easycat,
Smartcat etc. However, Cirque has also licensed the technology to Alps,
which makes their own Glidepoint.

Strangely enough, the information I was able to find with regard to Linux
was mostly about the Alps version, though the Cirques seem to be the most
popular. I found traces of a driver someone has written for the Cirque
*cat series, called Kitcat, but the main site seems to be defunct.

To further confuse things, there appears to be something called the Adesso
Smartcat. I am not sure what this is.

If you are using one of these products under Linux, I'd be greatly obliged
if you could tell me how well it works, and whether you would recommend it
for use under Linux. Thanks.

                                                                 Faheem.