Comment 5 for bug 113278

I finally got synclient (SHMconfig) running. Once I figured out that in addition to having an InputDevice section for the Synaptics Touchpad, I had to add a line to the ServerLayout section (i.e., InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"). This addition allowed the option "SHMConfig" "on" in my previously added Input Device section to have effect.
At that point 'synclient -l <enter>' from a terminal window gave me all of the current option values. I shut off tapping with the command 'synclient MaxTapTime=0 <enter". This worked as I desired, so I set up an action in preferences->startup called "Synclient" with the command "synclient MaxTapTime=0". My ubuntu system now works as I like it to and has supplanted (mostly) use of windows xp dual boot.

This took a lot of digging and guessing (e.g., setting MaxTapTime=0). In Windows XP it works like this:
control panel -> Mouse ->Touch Pad
    "Tapping" button:
          if unchecked - all other options are diabled (grayed out)
          if checked - 2 other buttons are enabled:
              1. Drag Lock button
              2. Tap Off When Typing button
     Finally, there is a touch sensitivity dialogue.

I presume that the aforementioned buttons are hooks into the Windows XP Synaptics driver. Can similar things be done in xorg? In some other posts I have seen concerns about security with SHMConfig. I don't understand the concerns, particularly if a check is made that an alps or synaptics touchpad is present before enabling. This is after all on a laptop where multiuser is kind of a misnomer - generally only one person has the laptop at hand at a time, even if they are running several programs. If it is still a major concern, I would recommend the default be turning off tapping (I believe that most touchpads are shipped with one or more separate buttons, so you can live with tapping disabled) and then a detailed Howto for turning things on. Note that the applicable man pages do not hint at what the option MaxTapTime with a value of 0 might do, assuming a novice can even figure out how to find the applicable man page.