This works for me with a synaptics touchpad.
Here is a german instruction in the archlinux wiki:
http://wiki.archlinux.de/title/Synaptics_Touchpad_Treiber
To google for it, ask for "synaptics MaxTapTime", "synaptics MaxTapMove" or simply "disable tapping".
In short, I do this.
First, the touchpad must be recognized by X11 and you need the appropriate driver. OK. that's shipped with paldo. Here is the troubleshooting text for the driver:
http://web.telia.com/~u89404340/touchpad/trouble-shooting.txt
Then you have to insert an InputDevice-section for the touchpad into xorg.conf
_and_ you must insert a pointer to this section into the ServerLayout. - The touchpad-section contains some options, among them:
option "MaxTapTime" "0"
option "MaxTapMove" "0"
With me, it is "0" here, but you can control how hard you have to hit the touchpad to get an effect, so that entry might be interesting for you as well.
I print my adapted xorg.conf below. There I commented SHMconfig out, because I don't need (i.e. want) gsynaptics, a gnome menu entry to control the touchpad.
Best, erch
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/etc/X11/xorg.conf
Section "ServerFlags"
Option "DefaultServerLayout" "Default"
Option "AllowEmptyInput"
EndSection
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default"
Screen "Screen0"
InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "extmod"
Load "glx"
Load "dri"
Load "dbe"
Load "record"
Load "bitmap"
Load "freetype"
Load "type1"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "intel"
Screen 0
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizEdgeScroll" "0"
Option "MaxTapTime" "0"
Option "MaxTapMove" "0"
# This is for gsynaptics to control the touchpad.
# Option "SHMConfig" "true"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
EndSection
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~end